page_title: History of rail transport in Bolivia
section_title: First phase (1870–1899)
hierarchical_section_title: History of rail transport in Bolivia / First phase (1870–1899)
caption_attribution_description: Español: Esta postal corresponde a un dibujo impreso realizado por el británico T. Taylor en 1876 y que representa una vista parcial del Muelle e industrias del salitre en el borde costero de la ciudad de Antofagasta. El Muelle Salitrero Compañía Melbourne Clark, más conocido como Muelle Histórico, es un antiguo muelle de embarcaciones menores, localizado en el Barrio Histórico de la ciudad. Fue declarado el 12 de julio de 1978 como Monumento histórico nacional, según el Decreto Supremo Nº 0980 del Consejo de Monumentos Nacionales de Chile. Junto con el Embarcadero Miraflores, hoy propiedad del Club de Yates de Antofagasta, es el único muelle que se mantiene en Antofagasta como un registro histórico de la época del salitre. En 1872 la Compañía Melbourne Clark, de intereses chilenos y británicos, comenzó la construcción del Muelle Salitrero Compañía Melbourne Clark, con el fin de levantar el primer muelle de carga para el transporte del salitre de la ciudad. Se inauguró en 1880. El cargamento del mineral se realizaba por medio de embarcaciones menores, ya que el muelle no estaba destinado para la llegada de buques de mayor envergadura. La creciente necesidad de transporte, llevó a utilizarlo también como muelle de pasajeros. En 1885 pasó a llamarse Muelle Oficial de la Compañía de Salitres y Ferrocarriles de Antofagasta tras ser traspasado a la Minera de Huanchaca de Bolivia. En 1888 pasó a manos de The Antofagasta and Bolivia Railway Co. Ltda.
context_page_description: The history of rail transport in Bolivia began in the 1870s after almost three decades of failed efforts to build railroads that integrate the country, and is associated in its origin to the development of mining. The exploitation of saltpeter in Antofagasta began the laying of the first railway lines in Bolivia. It is the mining of silver, however, that promotes the construction of a railroad from the Pacific coast to the high plateau during the nineteenth century. Later, at the beginning of the twentieth century, tin mining gave a new impetus to the advance of the railways, forming what is now known as the Andean or Western network. The eastern network, on the other hand, develops between the years 1940 and 1960 and is financed in exchange for oil through agreements with Argentina and Brazil. Bolivia being a landlocked country, the railways played a fundamental role and the history of its railroads is the history of the country's efforts to reach first ports of the Pacific and then of the Atlantic.
  Five phases can be distinguished in the history of the railways of Bolivia:
context_section_description: The railroads arrived in Bolivia driven by economic interests associated with the export, first of saltpeter and later of silver. The Anglo-Chilean Company of Salitres and Ferrocarril de Antofagasta built the first railroad lines in 1873 from the Salar del Carmen to Antofagasta. In 1879 the Pacific War broke out, after which Chile occupied the region of Antofagasta, which finally incorporated to its territory after the signing of a pact of truce in 1884 and the treaty of 1904.
  In 1885, the Huanchaca Company of Bolivia and the Salitres and Ferrocarril de Antofagasta signed a contract to extend the line of the port to the establishments of the mining company. According to this agreement, the Company of Salitres supplied equipment and machinery and the Huanchaca Company would deliver 2.6 million pesos. Once at the border, a new society would be formed, totally independent, with preferential rates for the Huanchaca Company. In 1886 the railroad arrived in Calama, very close to the new frontier, which aroused great opposition in Bolivia, considering it more of military than commercial interest. Despite this, the government of Gregorio Pacheco (1884–1888) approved the extension of the railway line from Ascotán to Oruro by law of 19 of July 1887. However, when the railroad arrived at the border in 1887, the companies they did not reach an agreement. To resolve the situation, the Huanchaca Company purchased the railway rights through a loan in England. On this basis, The Antofagasta (Chili) Bolivia Railway Co. Ltd. was organized in London on November 28, 1888. In 1889 the Antofagasta–Uyuni section (612 km) was concluded at a cost of 2.2 million pounds sterling. Huanchaca built the Pulacayo–Uyuni branch (36 km) and the Pulacayo–Huanchaca line (12 km) with a tunnel of almost 3 km. In 1892, the line was extended from Uyuni to the city of Oruro (925 km).
  The Antofagasta–Oruro railway transferred the Bolivian foreign trade that traditionally passed through Salta, Argentina to Antofagasta, Chile. In the domestic trade, the railroad moved the flour produced in Cochabamba for imported flour in the markets of La Paz and Oruro. Likewise, the railroad contributed to displacing the sugar produced traditionally in Santa Cruz and sold in the markets of Potosí, for imported sugar.
  In the case of mining, railroads made it possible to reduce the cost of inputs (especially fuel) and increase export volumes by making it feasible to transport ore with lower silver content. For the Huanchaca Mining Company, the arrival of the railroad to its facilities contributed to an increase of 87% in average production between the period 1882–1888 and 1889–1895. In the words of the historian Antonio Mitre, "The railroad, at the same time as prolonged the duration of the silver boom in the nineteenth century, began the tin age in the twentieth century.
caption: View of the railway pier and saltpeter in Antofagasta, 1876.
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