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Chilean State Railways is to introduce refurbished Spanish traction and rolling stock on long-distance services
CHILEAN State Railways (EFE), which runs passenger trains across a 1600km network to the south of the capital, Santiago, is implementing a seties of three-year plans aimed at improving both commuter-rail and intercity passenger services.
Despite receiving no state subsidies, even for those services that exist purely to transport commuters during rush hours, EFE only just fails to break even. However, little money exists to purchase state-of-theart traction and rolling stock, forcing the company to seek out opportunities in the second-hand refurbishment market.
The main problem faced by Chilean railways when searching for equipment overseas is that its national track gauge of 1676mm is far from common. Fortunately, in Spain, the 1668mm gauge, around which the former colonial power originally standardised, is just 8mm narrower, while Spanish National Railways (Renfe) itself currently has a surplus of both rolling stock and traction, which it wishes to shed.
In 1996, EFE acquired five refurbished three-car class 4408 emus from Renfe for Metrotren suburban services on the 81km line linking Santiago and Rancagua. Two years later, a follow-on order for a further five refurbished 440Rs was also placed with the Spaniards, to which an extra five units were tacked on in 2001 to enable EFE to upgrade its Merval commuter service around the port city of Valparaiso.
EFE has also acquired five refurbished class 444 intercity emus for regional service and is currently in negotiations to...