ABSTRACT
The geographical context The Ferrocarril Transandino (Transandine Railway) was not the highest railway to be constructed across the Andes, even though it lies between the highest mountain in the entire Andes/Rockies chain, i.e. Mount Aconcagua, which soars to 6,960 metres above sea level, and Mount Tupungato, which at 6,550 metres is not too far behind. The railway crosses the international divide at almost half the altitude of Tupungato. On both sides of the border it climbs through the valleys of rivers fed largely by melting snow. On the Chilean side those concerned are the Juncal and the one known as Aconcagua itself. Chile hosts the river, Argentina the mountain. In Argentina, the railway’s path threads through the valleys of the Las Cuevas and Mendoza rivers, a tributary of which rose to engulf stretches of the railway in the 1930s. Nature has never been a friend of the Transandino. In the worst years, the railway was out of action for half of the time (see table 18.1).
