Chile today and tomorrow

by L. E. Elliott Joyce

Also of British construction, capitalisation and operation is a short line, dating from 1855, connecting the city of Tacna with the port of Arica, 63 kilometres of 1.43 metre gauge track; and formerly British, but sold in 1920 to the Lota Coal-mining Company is the railway connecting the city of Concepción with the ports of Coronel and Lota and with the flourishing coal mine of Curanilahue. The British owners were the Arauco Company, Ltd., operating 103 kilometres of 1.68 metre gauge track. The line from Los Sauces to Lebu, whose construction was suspended during war years, is also a British enterprise.

Chilean capital and enterprise is responsible for several private lines, as the Ferrocarril de Copiapó, whose first conception was due to Juan Mouat of Valparaiso, in 1845. The original line connected Copiapó with Caldera Port, 81 kilometres, but extensions were afterwards added to Pabellón, and thence, after acquiring a mule tramway to the Chañarcillo mines, to Chañarcillo, another ramification running northeast towards the Argentine border but terminating at Puquios. The gauge of the line is 1.43 metres, and the length 231 kilometres. Also Chilean is the Ferrocarril de Carrizal y Cerro Blanco, uniting Carrizal Port to the copper mines of Cerro Blanco, due east, with a southerly branch to manganese deposits near Chañar Quemada and Astillas and another to the copper mines of Jarilla, the line terminating at Merceditas. The line with its branches has a gauge of 1.27 metres and a length of 184 kilometres.

The Ferrocarril del Llano de Maipo, running between Santiago and Puente Alto, 22 kilometres, is Chilean; so also is the electric line between Santiago and San Bernardo, 15 kilometres, and a similar link between Concepción and Talcahuano, as well as the short railway connecting Concepción and Penco. A new Chilean railway runs between Quintero Port and Cousiño, while the lines serving coal regions of the south are practically all Chilean today, but their length and direction is subject to change according to need.

The Ferrocarril Transandino por Antuco is the beginning of an ambitious Chilean project to cross the Andean barrier into Argentina at a low-level pass. The line starts from the station of Monte Aguilar on the state longitudinal railway, in the province of Concepción, runs almost due east towards the volcano Antuco and Lake Laja, and has a present extension of about 85 kilometres. It has a metre gauge track, will have a length of 129 kilometres when it reaches the Argentine frontier, the mountain pass which it is planned to traverse having a height of but 1862 metres above sea level, or not much more than 3000 feet. Within sight of this pass the river Neuquen has its rise, and it has been contemplated to follow its valley southeastward to connection with the line running from Bahia Blanca.

A Chilean trading and cattle company with headquarters in Valdivia is constructing a new southerly line, running eastward from the longitudinal station of Collilelfu, about forty miles from Valdivia, to Lake Riñihue: here a line of connecting steamers will carry passengers farther to the east, and a second strip of railway will connect with the lake of Pirihuaico, whose easterly point almost touches the Argentine border. About 40 kilometres of this line is open to traffic.

Far south, running from Punta Arenas to the coal mines of Loreto, is another small Chilean line of nine kilometres.

Of North American construction and operation is a 25 kilometre ore-carrying line between Caleta Cruz Grande and the Tofo iron mines; a narrow-gauge private line of 70 kilometres joining the copper mines of El Teniente (Braden Copper Co.) to Rancagua town; and a link between Pueblo Hundido and the copper beds of Potrerillos. German interests (Gildemeister & Co.) constructed a small line, for the exclusive use of a related copper mining company, from Challocollo to Cerro Gordo, in Tarapacá, with an extension to La Granja, in 1897, 36 miles of narrow-gauge track.

Investment in private lines (most of which are open to the public, but are distinguished from the state-owned railways) is reckoned at a total of 238,000,000 Chilean pesos of eighteen pence, divided amongst British companies, 209,000,000 pesos; Chilean, 24,000,000; and North American, 5,000,000. The German investment of two or three millions does not appear in statistics of Chile since 1916. The former German-operated tramways of Santiago and Valparaiso have passed into British hands and are now controlled by S. Pearson & Son, Ltd.

Three new Andes-crossing lines are contemplated in Chile. Two are planned to the north of Santiago, the third to the south. The latter is already in construction as part of the state system, running from Cajón station, just above Temuco, through Cautín province eastwards. The mountain barrier is here below 5000 feet in height, and negotiation of the Andean section, plus extension to the Argentine line running west from Bahia Blanca, presents no difficulties beyond that of finding sufficient capital for construction. Chile’s eastward extension will traverse the green fields of the Lonquimay Valley, crossing by the Pass of Maullin Chileno.

To the north, one project indicates a line extending east from Antofagasta through Boquete and Huitiquina on the Argentine frontier, and joining with Argentine systems at Salta; another plans a railway to continue the branch running out from Coquimbo along the Elqui Valley to Algarrobal and Rivadavia. Crossing the Andes by the Tortolas pass, the line would link with the Argentine system of Rioja province. Regarding the two first-named lines, the Argentine and Chilean Governments have agreed upon a close mutual policy, and work upon unified plans is being rapidly advanced.