The Peruvian Corporation continued to own and operate the FC Guaqui - La Paz for
some ten years after the rest of the railways in Bolivia were merged into the state
owned Empresa Nacional de Ferrocarriles de Bolivia (ENFE). It was finally taken over
in 1974 but not officially integrated with the rest of the system until 1986. In the
FCGLP's formative years, it operated the first electrified section of railway in South
America, when it opened it's line from El Alto to La Paz on 1st December 1905. This
section was 8.9km long and entailed a descent of 1500 ft with a maximum gradient of 1 in
16. This section closed in the 1970s when it was cut by a new motorway and all traffic
into La Paz since has used the former FCAB's 41km long line from El Alto.
By contrast the FC La paz - Beni fell a very long way short of reaching its intended
destination, the River Beni, some 350km from La Paz; and it eventually petered out at
Unduavi, just 54km from the city. This section and the ongoing route surveyed involved
gradients as steep as 1 in 16 like the FCGLP and in the expectation that this would also
be electrified. This never happened and so passenger services were operated using railcars
and a pair of Shays were purchased for freight working which by the 1950s were only
operating twice weekly. Passenger services dwindled away in the 1960s with freight
continuing on a spasmodic basis until about 1970. The line had been partially dismantled
by 1971.
The FC Arica - La Paz, has had a chequered history, being difficult to operate with
lengthy sections of rack operation within Chile, until the advent of diesel locomtives and
railcars that could operate on an adhesion only basis. Between the mid 1950s and 1978
Chilean Railways operated an express service through to La Paz with diesel railcars
fitted for rack operation; and in more recent times ENFE have operated a through railcar
service, operating three times a week. However following flood damage in Chile in 2001
and the lines reopening in August 2002, there have only been freight operations.
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