International Railroad Discussion > Rockslide on the Chile Transandine

A very rare huge 4-day summer storm hit central/south Chile a week ago.  Flash flooding/mudslides in the Andean foothills,  hail, lightning, and snow at higher altitudes.  The snow stopped the flash flooding.   The remnant of the meter-gauge Transandine line that exists to serve the huge Andina copper mine north of Los Andes had a rockslide/washout on February 1.   I went up there yesterday and repairs are well underway and the line should return to service this weekend.  The remainder of the 20-mile line was untouched.  Weather back to the normal 95 degree sun. Photos show the damage to the line and yesterday's repairs underway.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 02/11/21 14:12 by masterphots.

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A dangerous location for rock slides.

Pedro Rezende
Vespasiano MG,
https://youtube.com/c/minasgeraisrailways1

Here's the line just beyond the tunnel;  no damage there though, as yesterday's photo shows

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Alan,
That looks like a lot of HARD rock.

Uncle Joe

Pretty impressive repair job.  Did you pick up a new drone?  Or just a parallel roadway across  the gulch.  Thanks for the post, Alan.

Greg Stadter
Phoenix, AZ

200-300 mm zoom from the tourist overlook on the highway.   The last shot about 120 mm from a ledge just above the tracks.  Gotta be very careful there as the wind is always howling through there.  Location about an hour drive from home.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/06/21 04:25 by masterphots.

Wow!

That last shot is a geotechnical engineer's nightmare.  No collapse there this time, but a few more years of freeze/thaw cycles could make that spot above the closest tunnel into a real problem.

Great photos. Many thanks for those. chris uk.

Uh, where's the drainage for the ravine above the track?

Out 

Previously there's been little water coming down there;   maybe they've added something with the repairs. It seldom rains at that location and snow is rare and seldom sticks.  The snow line is a few miles north and 800 feet higher.   The line is now back in service.

Thanks for the photos. Hard to believe it's been well over a year since I was there.