Scenic route
Tren a las Nubes
Salta → San Antonio de los Cobres · Argentina
“Train to the Clouds”: zigzags and spirals up the Andes to the La Polvorilla viaduct at 4,220 m.
- Distance
- 217 km
- Fastest time
- ≈ 7 h
- Average speed
- 31 km/h
- Top speed
- 35 km/h
Engineer Richard Fontaine Maury built the line without rack or cable, trusting adhesion and patient geometry to lift trains roughly 3,000 m above the Lerma valley. Completed in 1948 as part of a trans-Andean route towards Chile, its most dramatic stretch has run as a tourist service since the early 1970s, with medics patrolling the aisles offering coca tea and oxygen. Journey’s end is San Antonio de los Cobres, a wind-scoured mining town at 3,775 m on the puna.
Along the way
- Quebrada del Toro gorge
- El Alisal and Chorrillos zigzags
- Puna high desert
- San Antonio de los Cobres at 3,775 m
- La Polvorilla viaduct at 4,220 m
How this line was checked
- Line drawn from OpenStreetMap relation 6445519: the same nodes OpenStreetMap holds for this railway, thinned to within 44 m of them
- Checked against OpenStreetMap: the whole line lies on real track, a median 10 m from it
- The operator publishes this line's timetable: Tren a las Nubes, a place to look it up, not a check of our drawing
- Wikipedia has an article for this line
- See for yourself: open this line on the map with OpenStreetMap's own railway drawn underneath it
Questions and answers
How long is the Tren a las Nubes?
The Tren a las Nubes runs 217 km from Salta to San Antonio de los Cobres.
How long does the Tren a las Nubes take?
The fastest scheduled journey is ≈ 7 h for the 217 km. That is an average of 31 km/h end to end. The line's top service speed is 35 km/h.
Who runs the Tren a las Nubes?
Tren a las Nubes, with tourist consist.
How old is the Tren a las Nubes?
The line has been in service since 1948. That is the year the atlas dates it from: for a modern brand running over an older railway, it is the railway's date, not the brand's.
How high does the Tren a las Nubes climb?
4,220 m above sea level at its highest point.
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