Work is under way to rebuild a railway “to the skies” that was shut down after being damaged by El Nino storms 14 years ago.

The 600-mile long railway which climbs from near sea level into the mountains of the Andes in South America has been declared a national treasure by the president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa Delgado.

Harvard economics graduate Correa ordered that government expertise and money should be directed into the Guayaquil-Quito railway and he reopened the 13-mile section from Duran to Yaguachi in July last year. The railway runs down the middle of the street in both towns.

The aim is to have the line open throughout by next year or by 2013 when it is hoped it will be a world class tourist attraction to complement the country’s other world attraction – the Galapagos Islands. There are also plans to extend the railway into Colombia and Venezuela.

Work was also under way last year on the Devil’s Nose section of the line between Alausi to Sibambe.

A tunnel will be built on the Chanchan-Sibambe section to avoid problems with recurrent landslides.

At its highest point near Urbina, the railway climbs to 11,841 ft but then drops to 9,350 ft at Quito.

In the 19th century it was hoped that the railway would eventually continue to connect with the United States of America.

latintracks.net