The State Railway Company (EFE) announced that the repair work on the entire stretch of 44 kilometers that include Limache-Puerto. Route that was affected by the forest fires that hit the Valparaíso Region -and generated 10,208 hectares damaged-.
In this sense, the state company indicated that starting at 12:00 p.m. this Friday, February 8, the operating frequency will be 15 minutes via double trains all day.
In addition, Maria Alicia Sanchez, General Manager of EFE Valparaíso, said that the company is very proud of the commitment of the workers to recover the operation of the train in the fifth region. “We know how important our service is to the community and we wanted to meet people’s needs, always in a safe and reliable manner,” Sánchez added.
The return of service was achieved after a complete structural analysis of the bridges Las Cucharas, Paso Hondo 1 and 2 and Lyonthrough two companies specializing in the matter, with experience in expert reports on other viaducts, such as the Biobío bridge in Concepción and traffic replacement works in the south-central area, after the storms.
Extensive analyzes were carried out with topographic drones, visual inspections by engineers and thermal analysis. Where it was confirmed that the bridges did not suffer structural damage.
In addition, repairs were carried out on 4 kilometers of affected roads, more than 1,500 sleepers were replaced along the entire stretch of Las Cucharas and Paso Hondoand communications and signaling systems were restored, allowing service to be gradually resumed.
For his part, the Manager of the Infrastructure Division of EFE, Miguel Urzúa, highlighted that the company’s commitment is to always deliver “safe and reliable operation and to this end, we have deployed from the minute of the emergency on the ground to return operational continuity as soon as possible.”
For this reason, “we have been very rigorous in the analyzes and studies, counting on high-level specialists, who guarantee us to return to work at this moment,” concluded Urzúa.
📣ATTENTION📣 TrainInforma 11:38 hrs. After the work carried out, from now on we resume the full service from Limache to Puerto. The entire network is operational, with a frequency of 15 minutes.
🕐 The schedules of the last train services are the usual ones. pic.twitter.com/tszcQguY9d
— Limache-Puerto Train (@EFEValparaiso) February 9, 2024