Ticlio

File:Ticlio railway pass.jpg

A signboard near the station of Ticlio. The green sign says, in Spanish: "TICLIO - TOURISTIC PLACE / 4818 amsl / World's highest railroad crossing"

Ticlio (or Anticona) is a mountain pass and the highest point of the central road of Peru (km 120), in the Andean mountains, reaching a height of 4,818 m. It used to be a railway crossing loop on the Ferrocarril Central Andino (FCCA) in Peru whose main claim to fame was being the highest railway junction in the world. The railway now crosses the pass through a nearby tunnel at a lower elevation (4783 m) which enters a different valley than the highway on the eastern side of the pass.

Overview

It lies at km 171 just on the Pacific side of the Andes watershed. The 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in) standard gauge line through the Ticlio station (located about 2 km from the highway summit at the western end of the railway tunnel) was opened in 1893 and from 1921 it was the junction for the now-closed branch to Morococha. The railway is an active freight line but there are now no regular passenger services on the FCCA. On the railway approach to Ticlio from the direction of Lima eight tunnels were necessary in a stretch of less than two miles (3.2 km).

See also

• Antikuna
• Qinghai–Tibet Railway
• Waqraqucha
• List of highest railway stations in the world

Gallery

• View from the Summit Yuraccochas I - Ticlio, Huarochiri, Lima, Peru.jpg

  View from the summit of Yuraqqucha near the Antikuna pass

References

• http://mikes.railhistory.railfan.net/r022.html