Steve,

I am very up to date on Perurail and just returned from Lima in August. My wife is Peruvian and both of us just escorted a railroad tour to Peru, Bolivia and Chile.

Is the Macchu Picchu Train using the new free access rules of the Government owned track? We have had a hard time working with Perurail over the years. They have changed personnel and cutback services in some cases. So if a new railroad operator is going to be using same trackage as Perurail, who will be controlling dispatching and track access?

Perurail has shifted it's operating pattern to using the Ollantaytambo to Agua Calientes route this past year. This will cut off the morning departures from Cusco. The reason for this is the company wants to maximize attendence at Macchu Picchu. To accomplish this almost all trains will become shuttles between Ollantaytambo and Agua Calientes. Only a handful of trains will originate from Cusco. Also to access Agua Calientes most passengers will have to buy a extra bus ticket over the winding mountain roads to Ollantaytambo from Cusco.

I believe that the satuation point can be easily reached on the single track route between Cusco and Agua Calientes. For those who don't know this Aguas Calientes is now the stop below Macchu Picchu and jumping off place for taking the buses to the ruins. Tracks actually continue to the Hydro Electric plant near the ruins.

Can you or someone on this board explain how this will work within Perurail's monopoliply of the tourist trade?

Dale Brown