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Empresa de los Ferrocarriles del Estado


Empresa de los Ferrocarriles del Estado (EFE) is the national railway of Chile.

The track gauge is Indian gauge 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) in the south and 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 38 in) metre gauge in the north. The Santiago Metro uses 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 12 in) standard gauge.

The company was created on January 4, 1884 by means of the purchase of the companies that exploited the longitudinal routes and the SantiagoValparaíso route. Since then, the company acquired the railways of the sodium nitrate mining companies in the north of Chile. From 1913 on the network of the EFE extends from Iquique to Puerto Montt. Apart from the company, Chilean Army also built a 60 kilometres (37 mi) small rail line, known to be Puente Alto-El Volcan Railway for Military purpose to safeguard from Argentina attacks, which were opened in 1914 and closed during 1985. (more translation from to come)

A stable political and economic climate allowed EFE to complete its largest-ever investment programme in December 2005. This involved spending US$1bn in 2003-05 to increase capacity on commuter networks and improved long-distance services.


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