The

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

n rail network has had a peculiar development throughout its history.

History

Gauges

All railways in Bolivia are now

Metre gauge Metre-gauge railways ( US: meter-gauge railways) are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre. Metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by several European colonial powers including France, Britain and ...

. The

Antofagasta Antofagasta () is a port city in northern Chile, about north of Santiago. It is the capital of Antofagasta Province and Antofagasta Region. According to the 2015 census, the city has a population of 402,669. Once claimed by Bolivia follo ...

to Uyuni line was originally gauge.

Maps

File:Railway map of Bolivia 1942.JPG File:Ferrocarril-Arica-La-Paz.jpg

FCAB Line from Antofagasta

Rail link to Peru

Bolivia built a line to the shores of

Lake Titicaca Lake Titicaca (; ; ) is a large freshwater lake in the Andes mountains on the border of Bolivia and Peru. It is often called the highest navigable lake in the world. Titicaca is the largest lake in South America, both in terms of the volume of ...

Lines in the south, east

A line from São Paulo, Brazil, enters Bolivia at Puerto Suarez and connects to this line at Santa Cruz. In the 1950s this last major rail system was completed. A line was intended to run from Santa Cruz to Trinidad (about in the north center of the country, but never reached there, it ended north of Yapacani (), from where since 2014 an industrial spur is under construction to the ammonia/urea factory near Bulo Bulo (). Spur lines were run to mining districts and the regional capital of Cochabamba.

Mamore and Madeira Railway

Another railway was a local line in the Amazonian jungle. The

Madeira-Mamoré Railroad The Madeira-Mamoré Railroad is an abandoned railroad built in the Brazilian state of Rondônia between 1907 and 1912, during the rubber boom. The railroad links the cities of Porto Velho and Guajará-Mirim. It became known as the "Devil's Railro ...

runs in a loop around the unnavigable section to Guajará-Mirim on the Mamoré River.

Steel lines to the Silver at Potosi

Rio Mulatos-Potosí line is a train line in Bolivia, containing Cóndor station, the world's ninth highest railway station ().

Future plans

The government of Evo Morales has proposed a rail line uniting La Paz, Cochabamba, and Santa Cruz, connecting onwards to Brazil and the Pacific coast. The department of Cochabamba and the national government are contracting design studies in 2011 for regional trains to run on two routes: Cochabamba-Caluyo- Tarata- Cliza- Punata- Arani and Sipe Sipe-Vinto-Cochabamba- Sacaba-Chiñata. A 180-day study on Sipe Sipe-Chiñata line is being carried out between August 2011 and February 2012. This project, known as Mi Tren, is under construction and due for completion in 2020.

International rail links to adjacent countries

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

– yes – both countries *

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

– yes – gauge both countries *

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

– yes – gauge both countries *

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

–

Shipping Freight transport, also referred to as freight forwarding, is the physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it has been ...

car float A railroad car float or rail barge is a specialised form of Lighter (barge), lighter with railway tracks mounted on its deck used to move rolling stock across water obstacles, or to locations they could not otherwise go. An unpowered barge, it i ...

from railhead in Guaqui to railhead in

Puno Puno ( Aymara and ) is a city in southeastern Peru, located on the shore of Lake Titicaca. It is the capital city of the Puno Region and the Puno Province with a population of approximately 140,839 (2015 estimate). The city was established in ...

across

Incidents

In 2007 thieves had stolen 100 meters of Bolivian track overnight, and the morning freight had insufficient distance to stop. Photo of the site shows locomotives 1021 and 951 remained upright, but extensive damage ensued.

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

* Historia de los ferrocarriles en Bolivia
Ferrocarriles Bolivia. Del anhelo a la frustración. Desarrollo, producción, economía y dependencia.

Empresa Ferroviaria Andina (FCA)Empresa Ferroviaria Oriental S.A.Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia

Ferrocarril de Guaqui a La Paz
* {{South America in topic, Rail transport in