The "
railroad in the
sky", as it is often called, was built between 1870 and 1893, and is located in
Peru. A
war between Peru and
Chile halted its progress and, when work was resumed, its great American
engineer, Henry Meiggs, had died, so a
British company finished the task.
The railroad is so high that the trains carry
oxygen equipment for the safety of the
passengers. At one point it reaches 4.8 km (3 miles) high. The line runs 410.7 km (260 miles) from Callao, the
seaport near Peru's capital
Lima, to Huancayo, and the trip through the towering
Andes is one of the supreme
tourist attractions on earth.
The railroad is
vital to Peru's
economy, too, as it links the coast with the high country's rich
copper,
lead,
zinc,
silver and
gold mines.
More than half the
population of Peru live in very high country which is dominated by the Andes Mountains. Fifty per cent of the population are
Indians and most of the rest are of mixed
Spanish and Indian descent.