BOLIVIA’s Eastern Railway has reintroduced its Eastern Express long-distance passenger service on the 651km line running from Santa Cruz de la Sierra to Puerto Quijarro on the border with Brazil, serving the Chiquitanía and Pantanal regions once again after a six-year suspension.
The service resumed on May 29 with an inaugural journey attended by national and local politicians. The locomotive-hauled train has capacity for 189 passengers and comprises two Pullman class coaches, an economy class coach and a luggage van.
The train operates once a week in both directions, leaving Santa Cruz at 13.00 on Fridays and returning from Puerto Quijarro at 13.00 on Sundays. Intermediate stations served include Cotoca, Pailón, San José, Roboré and Aguas Calientes.
To relaunch the service, Eastern Railway has worked with Bolivia’s Ministry of Public Works, the Vice-Ministry of Transport and civic groups from Santa Cruz and the Chiquitanía region, where local leaders have campaigned for several years for the return of passenger services to eastern Bolivia.
The Eastern Express service was suspended in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. According to Eastern Railway it did not resume due to low demand. Railbus services were officially restored between Santa Cruz de la Sierra and Puerto Quijarro on February 27.
Eastern Railway is a private concessionaire that operates freight and passenger services on Bolivia’s 1000mm-gauge eastern network, which has a total length of 1244km including the 539km line from Santa Cruz de la Sierra to Yacuiba on the border with Argentina. Freight traffic accounts for the majority of its business, reaching a total of 1.45 million tonnes in 2024.
“The reactivation of the Eastern Express represents an important step towards further strengthening connectivity in Chiquitanía and the Bolivian Pantanal,” says Eastern Railway general manager, Alfredo Schwarm Paz.
