More than 35 people were injured in a Machu Picchu railway crash earlier this week. Two tourists were reported to have sustained serious injuries, and a Brazilian traveler underwent surgery to remove one of her kidneys, which had been damaged by the impact. The train passengers who remain hospitalized include six Koreans, a Canadian, an American and a Mexican.
The accident occurred at Km.89 when a Peru Rail train was unable to brake in time and crashed into the Inka Rail cars stopped ahead. The train had been blocked by stones on the track that were placed by protestors who had been unable to board the earlier local train. Both engine drivers were said to be under investigation
“The easiest thing was to blame the companies Inka Rail and Peru Rail,” says journalist and conservationist Roberto Ochoa in his column in La Republica daily. But the truth goes deeper than that, Ochoa says.
The local train is for Peruvian tourists (a nominal 20 soles for the return ticket), but availability is subject to the service’s priority passengers — people who live locally along the route. However, when there are no tickets available, “many of the Cusqueñan travel agencies transfer their passengers to towns along the railroad line, taking up seats allotted for the locals.”
Machu Picchu is Peruvian tourism’s hen with the golden eggs, says Ochoa, but with the hustling and overcrowding of the area “we’re threatening to turn it into plain chicken soup.”
The more things change, the more they stay the same; what a pity.