This through line is made up of three different systems, and there are as many different gauges of track. The longest section is that through Argentina, which is seven hundred and seventy-eight miles in length, or seven-eighths of the entire distance. All of this is now owned and operated by the Buenos Aires and Pacific Railway, although it was built in several different sections and by different companies.
From Buenos Aires to Mendoza, a distance of six hundred and fifty-five miles, this road is built on the broad gauge plan. At Mendoza a change is made to the narrow gauge railway, known as the Trasandino Argentino, with tracks of one meter (3.28 feet) width. The scenery on this line is very beautiful as it winds around bends, passes through tunnels and continues to climb up the passes of the Andes. In several sections on this side, as well as on the Chilean side, where the grade is over 2½ per cent., the Abt system of cogs and racks is used to assist the engine on the steep climbs. On the way the famous natural bridge, known as the Bridge of the Incas, is passed, and a hotel has now been built there by the railroad company. The Trasandino Argentino ends at Las Cuevas, which is the beginning of the tunnel on that side of the “cumbre.” Las Cuevas is 10,468 feet above sea level. The tunnel, which passes almost directly underneath the “Christ of the Andes,” is 10,385 feet in length, of which a little more than half is on the Argentina side, which is just a few feet less than the altitude above the sea.
The Chilean terminus of the tunnel is at Caracoles, which is nothing more than a camp for labourers, and is a few hundred feet higher than Las Cuevas. From here another railroad of meter gauge, called the Trasandino Chileno, carries the traveller to the station of Los Andes, a distance of forty-five miles. It has been found necessary to construct snow sheds in many places in order to protect the track from snow slides, which are likely to occur in August and September. From Los Andes to Valparaiso the route is over the state railroad of Chile, which is of standard gauge (4 feet 8½ inches), and passes through some rich and fertile valleys on its way towards the Pacific.
This project, which has now reached completion, has had many vicissitudes. Its real history may be said to date from 1873, when the first practical step was taken by two brothers named Clark. It was while engaged in connecting Chile and Argentina by telegraph in 1869 that these brothers conceived the idea that this route was the most feasible for a transandine railway. The Clarks obtained a concession for a railroad between Buenos Aires and the Chilean boundary from the Argentine government, and were soon afterwards climbing over rock and ridge in the work of surveying these desolate mountains. Several routes were considered, but the most practical one seemed to be the old Inca trail across the Andes, and this was the shortest as well. Along this trail innumerable hordes of the primitive races have passed for unknown centuries. The Spaniard named it Camino de los Andes, the Andean Trail. For almost four centuries since the white men found this route, they have followed it on foot or on mule between the two countries. The first section was built from Mendoza to Villa Mercedes, a distance of two hundred and twenty-two miles, and completed in 1880. Three years later this line was continued to Buenos Aires. In 1887 work was begun from Mendoza toward the Chilean frontier and new sections were opened up every few years, but progress was very slow.
On the Chilean side the work progressed even more slowly because of financial difficulties. Several times construction was begun, and then stopped because money was not forthcoming from the government, as it was too costly an undertaking for private capital. In 1901, however, the financial arrangements were completed through the American firm of W. R. Grace & Co., and the final work was undertaken in an energetic manner. Argentina also took up her part again as soon as ultimate success was assured, and from that time until now the progress has been steady, but the difficult character of the work necessarily made it slow. Work on the tunnel was prosecuted from both ends, and it was a difficult undertaking because of the high altitude. Several lives were lost during its construction. It was found necessary to line the entire tunnel with a two-foot facing of cement because of the crumbling nature of the rock when exposed to the air. It is eighteen feet high and wide enough for a double track of the broadest gauge. The Chilean government guaranteed five per cent. on the capital invested in the Trasandino Chileno, almost seven million dollars, and the Argentine government practically constructed the Trasandino Argentino Railway. Thus, after thirty-seven years of work and planning, vicissitudes and discouragements, this railroad, which promises so much not only for the two governments but also for the whole of South America, has become an accomplished fact.
Heretofore it has been necessary to go around through the Straits of Magellan, a voyage of ten days, in order to reach the west coast of Chile from Buenos Aires, the metropolis of the southern hemisphere. This has been reduced to a little over a day. It brings Chile nearer to London by nine days. It is almost in the same latitude as Cape Town and Melbourne, and may eventually provide a shorter route to Australia from England, if steamers on one coast should run in conjunction with those on the other. With the present steamship connection, via the west coast and Panama, it will be possible to go from New York to Buenos Aires, or vice versa, in twenty days, and this will probably be reduced to at least eighteen days before a great while. At present the best time made is twenty-four days by the east coast route, and it generally requires more, as the boats stop for two or three days oftentimes at Rio de Janeiro and Santos on their way down and back. When the Panama Canal is completed, there will no doubt be a direct line of good steamers that will run from New York direct to Valparaiso. This route will be then still more desirable and the trip will be made to Valparaiso in not more than two weeks.
North of Mendoza the Buenos Aires and Pacific Railway has pushed a line to San Juan, capital of the province of the same name. This region is rather sparsely settled, but it has a good irrigation system and will no doubt attract settlers because of the profits in fruit culture. South of Mendoza a branch has been built to San Rafael and another is being constructed to San Carlos. Although most of the country traversed by these branches presents the appearance of a hopeless, flat and unproductive desert, it possesses some of the finest soil in the republic when once irrigation is introduced. Two and even three crops of cereals can be produced, so it is said, and it is especially well adapted for grapes and alfalfa. With these and many other branches, and the extension of its lines to Bahia Blanca, the Pacific road now has the greatest mileage of any of the Argentine railroads.
The Buenos Aires and Pacific Railway may be said to bisect the country into two parts. North of this line by far the most important railroad is the Central Argentine. This company controls two thousand five hundred and thirty miles of track, and is the third system in number of miles in the republic. By the absorption of a number of smaller lines it now has a network of main lines and branches which serve that section of Argentina. The last absorption was of the Buenos Aires and Rosario Railway, which added more than a thousand miles to its lines and gave it a monopoly of railway service from the metropolis to the northwestern provinces. It now operates two main lines between Buenos Aires and Rosario. It also has under construction extensions and branches which will add nearly six hundred miles of track to its mileage.
The original section of the Central Argentine Railway was from Rosario to Cordoba, a distance of two hundred and forty-six miles, for which a concession was granted to Wheelwright and his associates. From Rosario it began to construct extensions northwards, southwards and westwards. It purchased the tracks of the Western, old Northern and lastly the Buenos Aires and Rosario Railway, until it reached its present commanding place on the railway map of Argentina. Its southern branches touch the Buenos Aires and Pacific in several places, and its western feeders reach out through the provinces of Cordoba and Santa Fé in a number of places. Northward it reaches the city of Santa Fé.
This railroad is now building a magnificent new station in Buenos Aires which will cost several millions of dollars, and which will be jointly used by it and the Pacific line. It is also making great improvements in its suburban service and dock frontage by filling in the shallow muddy shore of the river. Furthermore, it has made application to the National Congress for a franchise, or concession, to construct an underground electric railway to connect its station with those of the Southern Railway at Casa Amarillo and Plaza Constitucion. It is also elevating its tracks in Rosario so as to avoid all level crossings, and is building a large new station at Cordoba.