Ticlio

A signboard near the station of Ticlio. The green sign says, in Spanish: "TICLIO - TOURISM PLACE / 4818 m 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 Andes mountains, reaching a height of 4,818 metres (15,807 ft). 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 the nearby Galera Summit Tunnel at a lower elevation of 4,783 m (15,692 ft) and enters a different valley than the highway on the eastern side of the pass.

Overview

Ticlio Station lies at km 171 of the 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge FCCA about 2 km (1.2 miles) from the highway summit at the western end of Galera Summit Tunnel. From 1893 to 1921, it was the junction for the now-closed branch to Morococha. FCCA is an active freight and passenger line (FCCA offers several tourist trips per month from Lima to Huancayo). On the railway approach to Ticlio from the direction of Lima, eight tunnels were necessary in a stretch of less than 3.2 km (2 miles).

See also

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

Gallery

• 
  View from the summit of Yuraqqucha near the Antikuna pass

References

• http://mikes.railhistory.railfan.net/r022.html
• Marshall, John (1989). The Guinness Railway Book. Enfield: Guinness Books. ISBN 0-8511-2359-7. OCLC 24175552.