Empresa de Ferrocarriles Ecuatorianos


The Ferrocarriles del Ecuador Empresa Publica is the national railway of Ecuador. The railway system was devised to connect the Pacific coast with the Andean highlands. After many decades of service the railway was severely damaged by heavy rainfall during the El Niño in 1997 and 1998 and from general neglect as the Pan-American Highway siphoned off passengers.
In 2008 the president Rafael Correa named the railroad a "national cultural patrimony" and indicated that it would be restored. The government of Ecuador started to rehabilitate the railway and service was restored between Guayaquil and Quito by 2013.
Tourist trains and railbuses are running from Quito via Cotopaxi national park to Latacunga, between Alausi to Sibambe, between El Tambo and Baños del Inca, between Duran and Yaguachi and between Ibarra and Salinas.

Construction

The project of an Ecuadorian railway was started by President Gabriel García Moreno in 1861. The first section was opened between Durán and Milagro in 1873, and Bucay was reached by 1888.
The push into the Andes was made under President Eloy Alfaro who planned to link Quito in the highlands to Guayaquil on the coast of Ecuador. For advice, Alfaro turned to Col. William Findlay Shunk, a well-known North American engineer who designed the New York El, and who had mapped a route of the InterContinental Railway through Ecuador, Colombia, and Panama in 1892. The InterContinental Railway was never built. However, in 1897, Eloy Alfaro commissioned a contract with Archer Harman and a team of investors for the newly created New Jersey corporation, the Guayaquil and Quito Railway Company," or the G&Q, to rehabilitate and complete the railroad from Guayaquil to Quito. Archer Harman and his brother, Major John A. Harman were from Staunton, Virginia. Together, Archer and John helped Alfaro to realize his dream of connecting disparate parts of Ecuador, break the hold of the Catholic Church, and usher the 20th Century and modernity into Ecuador.''
The G&Q Rwy line was built between 1897 and 1908, when the line reached Quito amidst celebration that lasted for days, and shortened the often lengthy trip from Quito to Guayaquil to two days.
The G&Q Rwy line evolved into the Southern Division of Empresa de Ferrocarriles Ecuatorianos.

Operation

The railway represents the largest infrastructure of the country with a total length of. Its single track uses a gauge of. The Southern Division starts at the harbour of Guayaquil with a ferry to Duran and then heads east into the Andean mountains where a more than difference in altitude has to be overcome to reach Riobamba at. A major gain in altitude is made at the Devil's Nose where the train shunts back and forth along the rocky promontory. From Riobamba the train heads north passing its highest point at Urbina an altitude of to reach Quito at an altitude of.
The Northern Division was completed in 1957. It connects Quito to the northern sea port of San Lorenzo over Ibarra, Primer Paso and Cachavi.
The Cuenca line branches off near Sibambe and represents the Subdivision Sur. It was constructed between 1915 and 1965.
The railway used to be of general economic significance for many decades. Initially steam engines were obtained from the Baldwin Locomotive Works. The last set of 2-8-0 steam engines were obtained in 1953. In 1957 the first Alstom diesel-electric engines were delivered, later engines were delivered in 1968, and again in 1992. The last delivery consisted of Alstom AD24s BBB with the numbers 2401-9.
Few steam and diesel engines are in an operational mode and numbers of availability conflict. Also a number of railbuses are part of EFE.

Demise

Since the 1997/98 disruptions no continuous service has been conducted and further degradation has made the railway almost useless. Road services have taken over passenger and freight transportation in Ecuador. At the 2008 centennial only 10 percent of the railway was open only tourist trains remain active.

Restoration

In 2008 the president Rafael Correa named the railroad a "national cultural patrimony" and indicated that it would be restored. The EFE was transformed in a public corporation: Ferrocarriles del Ecuador Empresa Publica The first section which was reopened, was from Riobamba to Urbina, which now is only used for charter service. In 2009 a small section of the side branch to Cuenca from El Tambo to Baños del Inca was reopened. In 2010 the Quito - Latacunga - Section restarted service after restoration. At the coast the section between Duran near Guayaquil and Yaguachi was reopened in 2010. Also the section Alausí - Sibambe which entails the switchback at the Devil's Nose was repaired by 2011.
The section Riobamba - Alausí and the section Riobamba - Urbina - Ambato were restored in 2011. According to a contract the Spanish narrow gauge railway company FEVE three of the Alstoms AD24 BBB will be repaired in Spain.
By 2013 the Guayaquil/Duran - Quito railway was restored and open to the public.

Southern Division (Division Sur)

Guayaquil <> Quito; 1897-1908;
PlaceReachedDetailsSituation
Guayaquil?-
ferryferry
Durán1873-
+ 2010 = restored 2010, see above
Yaguachi1873?-
2010
Milagro1873-
?
Bucay1888-
?
Sibambe2011-
Devil's Nose+
Alausí?branch line: > Azogues > Cuenca -
+ 2011
Riobamba1905
2011 		-
+ 2011
Urbina?highest point -
+ 2011
Ambato1906
2012 		Original station built in what is now Av. 12 de Octubre, where the Central Market now occupies the old station grounds; current station located in Ingahurco next to the interprovincial bus terminal. Active line as of 2012, as a waypoint on the Tren Crucero and as the departure point for the Tren de Hielo II loop.-
?
Latacunga?-
+ 2010
Machachi?-
+ 2010
Quito1908-

Northern Division (Division Norte)

Quito <> San Lorenzo; > 1957;
PlaceReachedDetailsSituation
Quito1908-
? unknown
Cayambe?-
?
Ibarra?-
?
Primer Paso?-
?
Cachavi?San Javier de Cachavi -
?
San Lorenzo?-

There are plans to expand the services further to Colombia and Venezuela.

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