In the latest news from Machu Picchu, Ferrocarril Transandino SA, who maintain the physical railways in southern Peru (more or less the same as Network Rail in the UK) yesterday inspected the entire 122km length of the track between Cusco and Machu Picchu and have now set in motion a plan to rebuild the damaged sections of track- which in many cases first requires rebuilding the land around the track, which in some places has simply been swept away by what are unprecedented volumes of water in the Vilcanota river: rates of flow rose to 1100m³/second compared to the previous highest rate ever recorded of 850m³/second.
The damage to the land and railway is more severe than many first realised, and so in order to allow tourists and residents access to Machu Picchu as quickly as possible, FTSA have put in place a 3-stage plan as follows:
1. The section of track between the Hydroelectric station and Aguas Calientes. This work is expected to take 3 weeks and on completion, will allow transport by a combination of road and rail between Cusco and Machu Picchu. At this point (or very shortly after) 'normal' services for residents and visitors can be resumed.
2. Track between Piscacucho and the Hydroelectric station. This work will take seven weeks, but passengers will still have to travel some of the way by road.
3. The final damaged section of track between Ollantaytambo and Piscacucho will be repaired in 8 weeks, at which point fully-normal service will be resumed.
Obviously all of the above does depend on weather conditions, but our information is that this plan is simply based on the engineers' report and hasn't been "spun" in any way so, weather permitting, those timescales should be accurate. We'll continue to keep you updated as we hear more.
In other news, another 1000 tourists were evacuated by air from Aguas Calientes yesterday, with more due out today. Further supplies were also flown in at the same time so, although the situation is obviously still not good, many immediate worries do seem to have eased. Again, we will keep you updated as and when we get more information.