Empresa de los Ferrocarriles del Estado (abbreviated EFE, lit. State Railway Company) is the national railway and the oldest state-run enterprise in Chile. It manages the infrastructure and operating rail services in the country.
A stable political and economic climate allowed EFE to start its largest-ever investment programme during the administration of Ricardo Lagos. This involved the spending of US$1 billion between 2003 and 2005, in order to increase capacity on commuter networks and improved long-distance services, as well as reconnecting Santiago with Puerto Montt via Temuco.[5] Unfortunately, the project was involved in a series of corruption scandals and bad administration. The long-distance service trains, bought from the Spanish railway company RENFE, had serious flaws, and the service to Puerto Montt was closed some months later. This situation, triggered investigations from the government, who exposed the crisis of the company due to the administration mistakes.
During the last decade, the company has been revitalized, thanks to the state investments during the administrations of Michelle Bachelet and Sebastián Piñera, as well as the reestablishment and renovation of old routes, complemented with the integration of some of this routes with the Santiago, Valparaíso and Concepción public transport systems.
Proposed future rail infrastructure includes a new, more direct rail line between Santiago and Valparaíso, and expansions of Santiago's commuter rail network to Melipilla and Batuco.
Another line connecting two countries is the Salta-Antofagasta, single 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) gauge.
Peru - a single 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge connection, the Tacna-Arica Railway, between the northern Chilean city of Arica and Tacna in Southern Peru. The line closed in 2012, but as of June 2014, there were plans to reopen it.[7] The line has been put back into operation in February 2023.
