Companies
History
The State Railway Company was created on January 4th, 1884, being the oldest state company in Chile, and since its inception it has represented an essential contribution in the settlement and incorporation of a major part of the national territory to productive activity, the completion of the railway network from Iquique to Puerto Montt in 1913 being an important milestone.Until the fifties, the railway was almost a monopolistic activity in the transportation sector; however, since the seventies there was a progressive crisis as a result of the lack of sufficient investment to keep adequate levels of maintenance and equipment reposition, both on cargo and passenger transportation. In addition to this, the strong growth of the road as competition, along with important investments and privatizations that have taken place in that sector, have led to a progressive decrease in the use of the railway.
In order to reverse this progressive crisis experienced by the railway, it is necessary to allocate considerable funds for its recovery and the adequacy of management methods that allow competing in the road transportation market. For this purpose, Law 19,170 was enacted on October 3, 1992, later restated under DFL No. 1 of the Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications dated August 3, 1993, which constitutes EFE’s Act.
In 1995, five new subsidiaries were created for different areas of activity, in order to optimize the commercial exploitation of the railway assets, by gradually incorporating resources and private management. In recent years, the railway system has received a strong boost from the State, which has resulted in the modernization of the rolling material and infrastructure between Santiago and Temuco, making it possible to achieve new service goals for our users. At the same time, the growing congestion on highways has helped turning the railway into an optimum alternative in regards to local transport in big cities.
The largest investment in the history of EFE took place during the execution of the Triennial Plan 2003-2005, exploring new ways of development of the transportation system, largely based on partnerships with private parties that foster new business and contribute to management efficiency, in order to move the company in the direction that Chile needs and turn it into a lively figure in the country’s growth.
In 2008, passenger subsidiaries were launched, giving an important boost to the development of passenger transportation, and centering the attention on the modernization focus towards which we wish to take the railway system.
The Triennial Plan 2008-2010, currently under execution, has the fundamental purpose of strengthening those areas of railway infrastructure that show both financial and social profitability. We have introduced a project evaluation system which requires a second opinion to reduce the risk of prediction error, under constant monitoring and the commitment of both the company and the authority to maintain a standard of operation and efficiency in spending. The Plan considers the necessary investments to ensure the operational activities of the company, most notably the development of the rail road to boost cargo transport.