page_title: Empresa de Ferrocarriles Ecuatorianos
section_title: Operation
hierarchical_section_title: Empresa de Ferrocarriles Ecuatorianos / Operation
caption_attribution_description: Tourist train of Empresa de Ferrocarriles Ecuatorianos in Alausí, moving towards Sibambe on the "Nariz del Diablo" railway. Tourists sit both inside and on the roof.
context_page_description: The Ferrocarriles del Ecuador Empresa Publica is the national railway of Ecuador. The railway system was devised to connect the Pacific coast with the Andean highlands. After many decades of service the railway was severely damaged by heavy rainfall during the El Niño in 1997 and 1998 and from general neglect as the Pan-American Highway siphoned off passengers.
  In 2008 the president Rafael Correa named the railroad a "national cultural patrimony" and indicated that it would be restored. The government of Ecuador started to rehabilitate the railway and service was restored between Guayaquil and Quito by 2013.
  Tourist trains and railbuses are running from Quito via Cotopaxi national park to Latacunga, between Alausi to Sibambe, between El Tambo and Baños del Inca, between Duran and Yaguachi and between Ibarra and Salinas.
context_section_description: The railway represents the largest infrastructure of the country with a total length of 965.5 kilometres (600 mi). Its single track uses a gauge of 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm). The 446.7 kilometres (277.6 mi) Southern Division (Division Sur) starts at the harbour of Guayaquil with a ferry to Duran and then heads east into the Andean mountains where a more than 2.5 kilometres (8,200 ft) difference in altitude has to be overcome to reach Riobamba at 2,754 metres (9,035 ft). A major gain in altitude is made at the Devil's Nose (Nariz del Diablo) where the train shunts back and forth along the rocky promontory. From Riobamba the train heads north passing its highest point at Urbina an altitude of 3,609 metres (11,841 ft) to reach Quito at an altitude of 2,850 metres (9,350 ft).
  The 373.4 kilometres (232.0 mi) Northern Division (Division Norte) was completed in 1957. It connects Quito to the northern sea port of San Lorenzo over Ibarra, Primer Paso and Cachavi.
  The Cuenca line branches off near Sibambe and represents the 145.4 kilometres (90.3 mi) Subdivision Sur. It was constructed between 1915 and 1965.
  The railway used to be of general economic significance for many decades. Initially steam engines were obtained from the Baldwin Locomotive Works. The last set of 2-8-0 steam engines were obtained in 1953. In 1957 the first Alstom diesel-electric engines were delivered, later engines were delivered in 1968, and again in 1992. The last delivery consisted of Alstom AD24s BBB with the numbers 2401-9.
  Few steam and diesel engines are in an operational mode and numbers of availability conflict. Also a number of railbuses (autoferros) are part of EFE.
caption: Tourist train to the "Nariz del Diablo", 2008
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