Empresa de los Ferrocarriles del Estado (EFE) is the national railway of Chile.
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The track gauge is Indian gauge 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) in the south and metre gauge 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) in the north.
The company was created on January 4, 1884 by means of the purchase of the companies that exploited the longitudinal routes and the Santiago - Valparaíso route. Since then the company acquired the railways of the sodium nitrate mining companies in the north of Chile. From 1913 on the network of the EFE extends from Iquique to Puerto Montt. (more translation from es:Empresa de los Ferrocarriles del Estado#Historia to come)
A stable political and economic climate allowed EFE to complete its largest-ever investment programme in December 2005. This involved spending of US$1bn in 2003-05 to increase capacity on commuter networks and improved long-distance services.[1]
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