The Tren a las Nubes ( en, Train to the Clouds) is a tourist train service in

Salta Province Salta () is a province of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the east clockwise Formosa, Chaco, Santiago del Estero, Tucumán and Catamarca. It also surrounds Jujuy. To the north it borders Bolivi ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

. The service runs along the eastern part of the

Salta–Antofagasta railway The Salta–Antofagasta railway, also named Huaytiquina, is a non-electrified single track railway line that links Argentina and Chile passing through the Andes. It is a railway with a total length of 941 km (571 in Argentina and 330 in Ch ...

line Line most often refers to: * Line (geometry), object with zero thickness and curvature that stretches to infinity * Telephone line, a single-user circuit on a telephone communication system Line, lines, The Line, or LINE may also refer to: Art ...

of the Belgrano Railway (also known as the "C-14" line) that connects the

Argentine Northwest The Argentine Northwest (''Noroeste Argentino'') is a geographic and historical region of Argentina composed of the provinces of Catamarca, Jujuy, La Rioja, Salta, Santiago del Estero and Tucumán. Geography The Argentine Northwest comprises ...

with the border in the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

mountain range, over

above mean sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance ( height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''. Th ...

, the fifth highest railway in the world. Originally built for economic and social reasons, it is now primarily of interest to tourists as a

heritage railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...

, though cheaper tickets are also available for locals to use the train as transport.

Overview

The railway line has 29 bridges, 21 tunnels, 13 viaducts, 2

spirals In mathematics, a spiral is a curve which emanates from a point, moving farther away as it revolves around the point. Helices Two major definitions of "spiral" in the American Heritage Dictionary are:zigzags. Because of the design decision not to use a

rack-and-pinion A rack and pinion is a type of linear actuator that comprises a circular gear (the ''pinion'') engaging a linear gear (the ''rack''). Together, they convert rotational motion into linear motion. Rotating the pinion causes the rack to be driven i ...

for traction, the route had to be designed to avoid steep grades. The zigzags allow the train to climb up driving back and forth parallel to the slope of the mountain. The train departs from Salta every Saturday at 07:05, and returns around midnight, though most tourists simply do the 8-hour one-way trip and return by other means. The train is composed of a dining carriage, bar carriage, a first aid area and two passenger carriages with room for 170 people, though this is expected to increase to 400 over time. Currently, the train leaves Salta station for the 15-hour, round trip to the ''Polvorilla''

viaduct A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide v ...

, located above sea level. The curved viaduct is long and high. Once the train has left Salta, it first enters the ''Valle de Lerma'', and then the ''Quebrada del Toro'', before reaching the puna. There are numerous stops along the way, some with markets selling artisan goods and locals offering regional cuisine.

History

Beginning

The possibility of a railway in the area began to be explored as early as 1889, and numerous studies were carried out up until 1916 analysing the feasibility of the line given the steep gradients and harsh terrain. Construction of the railway officially started in 1921, with the intention of connecting the North of Argentina with Chile across the Andes. The ''La Polvorilla'' viaduct, the highest of the line, was finished on 7 November 1932. The route was designed by

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

engineer

Richard Maury Richard Fontaine Maury (Philadelphia, 18 December 1882 – Córdoba, 10 July 1950) was an American railway engineer and naturalized Argentine. He became known for the project of the Argentine "Ramal C-14" of the Ferrocarril General Manuel Belgr ...

, (who later died in Salta) and after whom one of the stations has been named. The complete railway was inaugurated on 20 February 1948, following numerous delays and complications and a two-year period where work was stopped. The line got its name in the early 1960s after students filmed a trip on the Salta-Antofagasta railway from inside the train carriages, often showing the vapor from the then-steam locomotive which – together with the cold mountain air – formed large vapour plumes. The footage was later offered to the '' Clarín'' newspaper to make a documentary, which was subsequently called ''Tren a las Nubes'' ("Train to the Clouds") because of the vapour clouds in the film.

Ferrocarriles Argentinos Ferrocarriles Argentinos (abbreviated as FA; ) was a state-owned company that managed the entire Argentine railway system for nearly 45 years. It was formed in 1948 when all the private railway companies were nationalised during Juan Perón's fir ...

(FA) later adopted the name to make it more appealing to tourists. It was not until 1972 that the route began being officially used by tourists as a

Privatisation

State-owned company A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the governmen ...

operated the service until early 1990s when the privatization process carried out by

Carlos Menem Carlos Saúl Menem (2 July 1930 – 14 February 2021) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. Ideologically, he identified as a Peronist and supported economically liberal policies. He ...

's administration granted Tren de las Nubes in concession to a

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local operator that took over the line in 1991. In 2005 a train stopped at a height, with passengers having to be evacuated using helicopters. Since then, the National and Provincial Governments rebuilt the line, replacing of tracks and granting a new concession to private company "Ecotren" to operate the Tren a las Nubes. The train was again opened to the public on 6 August 2008,

Renationalisation

In July 2014 a train derailed near Abra Muñano, at a height, . before reaching

San Antonio de los Cobres San Antonio de los Cobres is a small town of population 5,482 (per the 2001 INDEC census) in northwestern Argentina. It is the capital of the Los Andes Department of the Salta Province. Geography The town is known for its high elevation of app ...

. About 400 passengers had to be evacuated from the train. After the incident, the Government of Salta rescinded the contract with "Ecotren", alleging safety failures. Following these events, the service was re-nationalised and the Province took over the operation and maintenance of the service. With the Government of Salta as operator of the service, the Tren a las Nubes was announced to be running again by March 2015, although the service did not begin running again until 4 April 2015. During the 8-month closure of the line, both the National Government and the government of Salta had restored much of the

railway track A railway track (British English and UIC terminology) or railroad track (American English), also known as permanent way or simply track, is the structure on a railway or railroad consisting of the rails, fasteners, railroad ties (sleeper ...

as well as the

rolling stock The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, freight and passenger cars (or coaches), and non-revenue cars. Passenger vehicles ca ...

. For that refurbishing, coaches were remodeled by the Province along with freight transport company

Belgrano Cargas Belgrano Cargas S.A. was an Argentine State-owned company which operated the gauge freight rail network built by Central Northern and Province of Santa Fe Railways, which became part of Belgrano Railway network after railway nationalization ...

, while diesel locomotives were repaired at Alta Córdoba workshops. As of August 2017, the majority (>80%) of the route is by bus.

Gallery

File:Tren a las nubes crossing bridge.jpg, Recently restored train crossing railway bridge. File:Tren a las nubes crossing viaduct.jpg, The train crossing one of 13 viaducts. File:Artesanías en Viaducto La Polvorilla.jpg, ''La Polvorilla'' viaduct with an artisan market. File:Tren a las nubes crossing viaduct2.jpg, The restored trains were painted in the

Trenes Argentinos Operadora Ferroviaria Sociedad del Estado (abbreviated SOFSE; trading name: Trenes Argentinos Operaciones) is an Argentine state-owned company created in 2008 to operate passenger services in Argentina. It is a subsidiary of the Ferrocarriles Ar ...

livery. File:Train to the clouds in Salta -ARGENTINA- 003.JPG, Train in EcoTren livery parallel to National Route 40. File:Tren a las nubes train interior.jpg, Interior of dining carriage.

References

External links

* {{coord, 24.7769, S, 65.4114, W, source:wikidata, display=title Named passenger trains of Argentina Heritage railways in Argentina Tourist attractions in Salta Province Tourist attractions in Argentina Railways with Zig Zags Railway lines in Argentina Transport in Salta Province