Chile Forum

Santiago to Chillan (Terrasur), Talca to Constitución (a buscarril rather than a train but worth doing), and Tacna to/from Arica (autovagón). There is the Metrotren Santiago to San Fernando and the Merval in Valparaíso to Limache.
http://www.terrasur.cl/link.cgi/Servicios/Buscarril/
http://www.latercera.com/noticia/portad ... tren.shtml

I don't see the train south ever going further south than Chillan again. They tried a skeleton service to Temuco a few years ago during the summer but it didn't take. People seemed to prefer the bus or driving. I think the idea was to see if there was a market before sinking more money into it. Lagos' government sank a lot of money into the train south, new stations etc, but then one of their own pocketed a lot of that money.

Donnybrook:

>I don't see the train south ever going further south than Chillan again.

>Lagos' government sank a lot of money into the train south, new stations etc,...

So, you can no longer go by train to Concepcion or Puerto Montt?

Was Lagos trying to revive the passenger traffic? What happened with the cargo transport? Gone too?

frozen-north wrote: So, you can no longer go by train to Concepcion or Puerto Montt?

Nope, only buses.

frozen-north wrote:Donnybrook:

>I don't see the train south ever going further south than Chillan again.

>Lagos' government sank a lot of money into the train south, new stations etc,...

So, you can no longer go by train to Concepcion or Puerto Montt?

Was Lagos trying to revive the passenger traffic? What happened with the cargo transport? Gone too?

The idea was to revive the trains. They built new stations, bought second hand cars from Spain. EFE started to bleed money and the trains spent most of the time broken down between the nice new stations as they were constantly breaking down. There were accusations of kickbacks and worse. It was a big scandal and legal accusations were made, some people went to jail, as far as I remember, but not the top guys. Suppliers who had not been paid started to take the stations apart to at least recover something. I can't see any government throwing more money at trains in Chile. They have kept what are basically commuter lines and the train south as far as Chillan. You can buy bus combos beyond that if you want.

I remember the old tren al sur with the sleeping compartments, the steward who came in to make up the beds, the separate dining car (you had to get down at a station to go to dinner and wait for another one to return to your carriage). I remember them with a good deal of nostalgia. I think the last one we took (with our car transported on the same train) must have been in the early 90s. But nostalgia doesn't sell tickets and unless the long distance trains were seen as big money spinners I don't think they will return.

http://wwwcronicaferroviaria.blogspot.c ... t-efe.html

frozen-north wrote:Donnybrook:

I remember the old tren al sur..........

So do I, 1830 hrs from Santiago in 1981, the 'rapide' train to Puerto Montt which got there at about 1000 the next day! Rent a recliner in the Super Salon overnight, with a blanket, but then the Chilean thinking steps in. Coming back we went on a Super Salon train and came the night no blankets or reclining seats. "But Senor as everybody knows it you want that you want the Super Super Salon !" Difference, who could tell, apart from somebody taking the money, and then rapidly giving it back when a ticket inspector got on board!

It was pretty run down then, two trains a day to Puerto Montt, the rapido (15 hrs), the correos (21 hrs). But in a country where a car seems to be a neccessity I am not surprized.

We first took the tren al sur in 1974 and probably 5 times after that, but always in the sleeper. We never used the dining car so as to offset the cost (took a picnic) as it was a lot more expensive but definitely worth it. I know it is nostalgia and one has to let things go but no one ever waves at the bus as it goes by and everyone waved at the train. Oh dear, I'm getting old - but hopefully not cranky.

Donnybrook wrote:. Oh dear, I'm getting old - but hopefully not cranky.

My wife found out about my dark secret when we were on honeymoon. Got to Osorno, there was a puff of black smoke on the horizon, and on the railway, and I started walking towards it.

But then if you are interested in railways you are not a crank, but my wife of more than thirty years now would probably disagree!

If you are traveling to southern Chile chances are you might take the route passing into Argentina, then down and back into Chile at the Futa crossing. If you do that, you pass through the town of Esquel where the worlds last narrow guage train operates (so my father, a train nut...oops, sorry Dad, enthusiast says). The ticket office in on the main drag going through town and serves as a quite interesting mini-museum. The train is called La Trocita, or Trochita maybe. Beautiful scenery and a nostalgic ride on the Old Patagonia Express. Esquel is approximately one-half hour/+ before the Futa border crossing where you once again pick up the Caraterra Austral south.

Vicki and Greg Lansen wrote:If you are traveling to southern Chile chances are you might take the route passing into Argentina, then down and back into Chile at the Futa crossing. If you do that, you pass through the town of Esquel where the worlds last narrow guage train operates (so my father, a train nut...oops, sorry Dad, enthusiast says). The ticket office in on the main drag going through town and serves as a quite interesting mini-museum. The train is called La Trocita, or Trochita maybe. Beautiful scenery and a nostalgic ride on the Old Patagonia Express. Esquel is approximately one-half hour/+ before the Futa border crossing where you once again pick up the Caraterra Austral south.

btw - the small rail museum in esquel is also worth a wee gander...

~
g~j lived 6 months in esquel...
a quite wonderful place...!
(the argie wines are also muy bueno...)
salud!

Donnybrook:
>>I remember the old tren al sur with the sleeping compartments, the steward who >>came in to make up the beds, the separate dining car (you had to get down at a >>station to go to dinner and wait for another one to return to your carriage). I >>remember them with a good deal of nostalgia. I think the last one we took (with >>our car transported on the same train) must have been in the early 90s. But >>nostalgia doesn't sell tickets and unless the long distance trains were seen as >>big money spinners I don't think they will return.

>We first took the tren al sur in 1974 and probably 5 times after that, but always >in the sleeper. We never used the dining car so as to offset the cost (took a
>picnic) as it was a lot more expensive but definitely worth it. I know it is >nostalgia and one has to let things go but no one ever waves at the bus as it >goes by and everyone waved at the train. Oh dear, I'm getting old - but hopefully >not cranky.

Sleeper? The 'coche-cama'? I only know of the old German made ones. Those ones?

I remember going to the dining car at a time when you could walk from car to car till you got there.

I remember having heard different things about the economic aspect of freight transport, but I don't know when and why it can still work. As for the passenger trains I believe that here in Canada there are only a few tourist routes left. --Nostalgia *does* sell tickets.
Now I'll have to do some reading regarding the economic side of running a railway.

Sleeper? The 'coche-cama'? I only know of the old German made ones. Those ones?

That's right, they were German.