Several of the largest cities in Mexico still operate inter-city lines for transport within their metro areas. Within the Mexican capital region, also is known as "D. Metro lines similar to Mexico City's operate in the northern city of Monterrey and the southwestern city of Guadalajara.
Robert Schrader is a writer, photographer, world traveler and creator of the award-winning blog Leave Your Daily Hell. When he's not out globetrotting, you can find him in beautiful Austin, TX, where he lives with his partner. Tours by Train in Mexico. But a handful of passenger train projects are poised to bring big changes to the lives of locals and travelers alike.
Four are under way, with about a dozen more planned. If completed, these new trains would mean life-changing shorter commutes and faster transportation for the millions of post-pandemic tourists who are expected to travel throughout the country each year.
The environment, too, could benefit from the thousands of polluting cars and buses that trains would pull off the roads for decades to come.
Yet many projects face multiple challenges, signaling that the track toward a better transportation future may not be as close as riders hope. A pandemic quiets mariachis and tourism in Mexico City. After a brief setback caused by the revolution, train development chugged along at a relatively brisk pace, peaking in the s, when there were about 14, miles of track and ridership numbers were at their highest.
At the same time, the promotion of highway travel by the Ford company and others north of the border was creeping southward. As a result, from to train ridership fell 30 percent, from Rail companies said it was becoming increasingly difficult to turn a profit from passenger travel, and by , the government privatized what remained of the national railroads. This photographer went on a train-hopping adventure.
The current plan includes not only passenger service at different price points for locals and visitors , but also hotel and tourism infrastructure along the route. Meanwhile, the Istmo de Tehuantepec train is slated to cross Mexico from Coatzacoalcos in Veracruz to the port town of Salina Cruz in Oaxaca , connecting both oceans and serving as a kind of overland Panama Canal.
While these trains will likely increase tourism and development, as well as improve transport throughout many Mexican cities, each project faces unique challenges, among them funding, technical problems, derecho de via land rights , and accusations of corruption.
One of the more prominent issues at the moment is environmental. Statistically, trains are less damaging to the environment than cars or buses—the U. Department of Transportation reports that cars emit. The Guadalajara metro alone is expected to remove more than one million tons of carbon dioxide from the air by He says that the Tren Maya will take cars off the road and pollution out of the air for years to come.
The service south to Villamontes has similar service and a complicated schedule and goes almost every day. The train is comfortable and for the eastbound journey pretty much the only way to go overland. There is also a ferrocarril - a Mercedes bus on steel wheels - from Sucre to Potosi going three times a week, "whose existence is denied by almost everyone in Sucre" so ask at the station. This train is cheaper and more comfortable than a bus.
It leaves daily at from Vitoria and from belo Horizonte, arriving at its destination around There's a restaurant car, although the food does not get good reports. Operated by the most prosperous freight railway in Brazil, the journey is very scenic and it's a pleasant way to spend a day.
The most scenic section is towards the Belo Horizonte end of the trip, so you'll see more of this in daylight if you start at the Belo end, travelling in the Belo to Vitoria direction.
The train information part of their website is www. Cafe car on the Vitoria-Belo Horizonte Minas train. Photos courtesy of Jorge Degrazia Sarturi View from the train Photo courtesy of Pietro Ferreira. Executivo class Economica class If you are travelling on weekends, it is highly advisable to buy your ticket two or three days in advance, as they may sell out quickly.
Executive-class cars are comfortable and silent, although somewhat cold. Meals are charged separately and can be served at your seat. Drinks trolleys are frequent and are available on both classes.
A great way to spend your time is to stand in the smokers area, where large windows are kept open throughout the journey. It is also a nice place to engage in conversation with other travellers.
The other operating train is a steam tourist oriented train but it offers transport in between two important Brazilian tourist towns, Sao Jao del Rei and Tiradentes. The steam train makes a nice alternative to the bus. The trip takes an hour and is about 20km. It runs daily leaving Sao Jao del Rei at and returning in the afternoon. The train ticket gives free entry to the train museum at the station in Sao Jao del Rei.
Internet info: www. There is now no train service at all between Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. There's a list of all Brazilian train services regular and tourist-orientated at www. The Chilean state railways official website is www. Three of these trains have a bus connection from Chillan to Concepcion. Sadly, the rest of Chile's main line south from Chillan towards Temuco and Puerto Montt is currently not working, though there are plans afoot to restore service in the future.
There are odd trains on a few other routes, such as Valparaiso to Limache which crazily no longer goes on to Santiago. See map of Chile. If you have any feedback, please email me. Traveller Douglas Clark reports : "I took the Terrasur train from Santiago confusingly, listed as Alameda on the online booking system. This is an excellent service with two classes - standard and Preferente.
There are two services a day to Chillan, one leaving at hrs and the other at hrs. The Preferente seating is extremely comfortable with wide, well-upholstered seats that recline fully.
There is an at-seat service of refreshments in Preferente for which you pay the normal cafeteria prices. I tried to book my tickets to Talca and return online but the site rejected my credit card. In the event, I was glad I had to go to the booking office at Alameda station on the morning I was intending to travel. I stayed overnight in Talca so that I could catch the hrs train the next morning to Constitucion. I got to the station a little before hrs and just as well that I did as there were few tickets still available to non-residents at that time.
Residents get priority on the train and you can only buy tickets in the couple of hours before the train departs. The train was full to capacity when it left Talca and we picked up lots of passengers en route. I travelled on a Sunday morning and after leaving the station at Gonzalez Bastia we picked up people at lineside halts most of the way to Constitucion - local farmers who were bringing produce to the Sunday market in Constitucion.
Long before we arrived at our destination the train was overflowing with people standing in every available space and with baskets full of tomatoes and other vegetables. I had intended to take the train back to Talca. I turned up at the station in Constitucion at about hrs, two hours before the train was due to leave, only to find a notice on the door of the closed station to say that were no spaces available to Talca on the train that afternoon.
Fortunately, the bus station is right by the railway station and there are several bus companies offering services to Talca. I was able to get a space on the hrs PullmanSur bus to Talca for about the same price as the train and was transported by air-conditioned bus in contrast to the rickety Buscarril in a little under two hours the train takes 3. However, the Buscarril is an experience as the last branch line in Chile.
The train trundles through a part of Chile that you would not otherwise see - along the Maule River valley - where there are no proper roads. For the sparsely-scattered communities along much of the line, the train is the only transport link that they have. I am so glad I managed to travel by train in Chile. It is such a pity that the rail network has been allowed to decay as it has: the coaches that ply frequently between the towns and cities provide an excellent service but there is no comparison with the Preferente class on the train.
Unfortunately, the train is much slower than the coaches as the Chileans have invested heavily in the road system, whereas the rail network has been allowed to decline.
There are signs of a revival, at least in the suburbs south of Santiago, where new track is being laid and new stations built for what I assume is to be a new fast suburban rail service by MetroTren. I think this should also allow the acceleration of the Terrasur service to Chillan, as many level crossings are being closed with overbridges and underpasses replacing them.
Who knows how much longer the Buscarril service will operate? There were rumours when I was in Chile that the government is considering withdrawing the subsidy that allows the Buscarill to operate. That would be a pity - the line is not really marketed as a tourist attraction but it could become a well-used one.
There are few working railways in Colombia, after the State rail operator went bankrupt a few years ago. However, a useful tourist train links Bogota with Zipaquira , where the salt cathedral is not to be missed. The train makes a daily round trip at from La Sabana station in Bogota, with time in Zipaquira and Cajica. Traveller Sebastien Ferenczi reports: "It's a touristic train, but aimed at tourists, not railway buffs, as it's the best way to visit the tourist attractions of Zipaquira, famous for its salt cathedral listed as "not to be missed" by Lonely Planet, which is how I found the existence of the train.
All information is on their website www. I used the train in June With only a short week-end in Bogota, I tried the online booking but they refused my credit card. So on saturday afternoon I rushed to La Sabana station where I grabbed one of the last seats, not on the steam train which was already full, but on the Autoferro they put as a relief train technically, a two-car dmu pulling two more cars, quite comfortable. Touristically, this was even better as it left Bogota later 9.
The train was full of local families, the trip was pleasant and Zipaquira is a very nice place, otherwise reachable only by crowded local buses or expensive taxis. In Bogota, La Sabana station is close to the district of La Candelaria where all tourists stay, and served by the Transmillenio express bus network; a stop is also made at Usaquen to serve the "beaux quartiers" of Bogota. The famous km Guayaquil to Quito railway was completed in , and was described even then as 'The most difficult railway in the world' in terms of the Andean landscape through which it passes.
The line rises from around sea level at Duran across the river from Guayaquil to over 2, metres above sea level at Quito, with parts of the line above 3, metres. Landslides blocked the line in the s, and at present the line is no longer operational from end to end.
However, parts of this route are open with occasional train services designed for tourists. In summer it's reported that the whole line has finally been reopened and a 4-day 3-night cruise train has started operation end-to-end, see below. Train times, routes, prices: See www.
The trains: Until the whole line reopens, operational sections in include:. The Surcos Andinos from Riobamba to Palmira at every day the next section of line on to Alausi is under reconstruction and may open in or There are also now 3 daily tourist trains from Alausi over the famous Devil's Nose switchbacks and back to Alausi.
Trains over the Devil's Nose leave Alausi at , and every day. They take an hour to travel over the Devil's Nose including 15 minute photo stop , there's a 1 hour stop for a picnic, then 45 minutes back to Alausi.
See the photos below. Until the Palmira-Alausi section of line is restored, you'll need to reach Alausi by bus 2 hours from Riobamba. The and tourist trains from Alausi over the famous 'Devil's Nose' consist of wooden carriages hauled by a locomotive pictured above left. The train may also be like this, but if there aren't enough passengers it may be an 'autoferra', pictured above right.
Photos courtesy of Colin Hodgkinson. Going over the Devil's Nose on the tourist train in Ecuador. Above left, the train stops at a Devil's Nose viewpoint. Above right, Sibambe station. Photos courtesy of Matthew Perret. Mexico used to have a good train service linking all major cities, using restaurant cars, sleeping-cars and observation cars, many inherited from the USA.
Sadly, the Mexican government pulled the plug on almost all long-distance passenger train service some years ago, and buses and planes are now the only way to get around Mexico.
A couple of very minor service exist in certain areas, including the famous scenic 'Copper Canyon' service. For a summary of remaining Mexican train services see www.
For times and prices see chepe. There's no online booking, but their website gives phone numbers and email addresses.
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