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Ecuadorian Train - Tren Crucero

Train Cruise won the Wider World Project or better tourism product outside Europe, this award was given by the British Guild of Travel Writers. The Ecuador train was started by president Gabriel Garcia Moreno in 1873 and was restored by president Rafael Correa in 2008 who named the railroad a "National Cultural Patrimony". Some of the routes are from Quito - Cotopaxi National Park to Latacunga, Alausi to Saimbambe (Devil's Nose / Nariz del Diablo), El Tambo to Baños del Inca, Duran to Yaguachi and Ibarra to Salinas.

Train Ecuador crossing Chimborazo

History

Train Ecuador construction in 1873

Railroad started a service 41 kilometers of track from Yaguachi to Miracle on the coast. In 1895, with the triumph of the Liberal Revolution, the railroad work was taken over by General Eloy Alfaro Delgado. In 1897, the company “Guayaquil and Quito Railway” was established and began the construction of the Southern Railroad. 'The Devil's Nose', a very challenging work of engineering, which led to it's designation as "The most difficult Railway in the World". In 1905 the train arrives for the first time at the train station of Chimbacalle.

Train in the early 1920s
Photo: Katharine Brainard - www.railroadinthesky.com

1975 marks the beginning of the decadence of the Railways caused by competition with road transport and lack of government interest. 1992 In an attempt to recover the Railroads, the government of Rodrigo Borja acquires electrodiesel locomotives, however without any success. During 1993 the stretch of the Chanchán river is destroyed by the climatic phenomenon 'El Niño'. On April 1, 2008, the National Institute of Cultural Heritage (INPC) officially declares the Railway Network in Ecuador as property belonging to the Cultural Heritage of the State.