Victoria to Temuco

On the last night of 1892 a 27-year-old Belgian engineer, Gustave Verniory, was still driving rails south across the Araucanía, under orders to reach Temuco before the year ran out. The last rail went down at the station at midnight, and Temuco, founded as a frontier fort in 1881, opened its railway on New Year's Day 1893.

The same 65 kilometres are now EFE's Tren Araucanía: a two-car diesel railcar built in China by CRRC Sifang, running from Victoria to Temuco through nine stations in an hour and a quarter, six times a day on weekdays and three or four times at weekends. It is a local train, used by the people who live along it, and a ride costs CLP 1,800 — cash at the window in Temuco, or to the train staff on board. From Temuco a second service carries on south across the Cautín to Pitrufquén.

Victoria is the northern end of the line. Founded as a fort in 1881 and settled from 1883 by Swiss, French and other European colonists, it got its railway on 26 October 1890, on the extension south from Collipulli. The trains stop at a long yellow station building whose hall holds a mural of 1981, Cien años de Victoria, painted for the town's centenary, covered over in 2005 and being restored since January 2025.

The train

Three two-car diesel railcars, SFD-301, 302 and 303, work the whole service. They were built by CRRC Sifang in China for this line and the Pitrufquén extension, and took over in September 2021 from rebuilt TLD railcars bought from Spain's Renfe, which had run here since 2005. They have step-free access from platforms raised to their floor, air-conditioning, information screens and a toilet on board. Four more of the same model reached Chile in 2026 for EFE's southern services and are due to start work early in 2027.

Through the Araucanía

South of Victoria the line runs through farmland. Púa was once a junction for two branch lines, to Traiguén and to Lonquimay, and both have gone. Perquenco, the next stop, has a curious footnote: in 1860 a French lawyer, Orélie-Antoine de Tounens, proclaimed himself King of Araucanía and Patagonia and named it his capital. Quíllem, Lautaro Centro and Pillanlelbún are simple stops, a raised platform and a shelter each.

Lautaro has two stops, its main station and Lautaro Centro. After Pillanlelbún the train calls at Cajón, reopened in December 2023, and runs in under the concrete train shed at Temuco, the regional capital.

EFE currently warns that journeys are taking longer than usual while it adjusts its operations, so the times below are worth checking on the day.

Trains run every day, six a day from Victoria on weekdays, four on Saturdays and three on Sundays and public holidays. There are no reservations: you buy a ticket and board. The times below are from EFE's own journey planner, read in September 2026 for dates in October and November.

Victoria to Temuco

Temuco to Victoria

Every stop on the 06:35 from Victoria

On to Pitrufquén

The Temuco–Pitrufquén trains run on weekdays and Saturdays only, calling at Padre Las Casas, Quepe and Freire and taking 41 minutes. On weekdays they leave Temuco at 08:41, 14:00 and 18:05 and Pitrufquén at 07:05, 09:25, 14:45 and 18:50; on Saturdays only the 08:41 and 18:05 from Temuco and the 09:25 and 18:50 from Pitrufquén run. The 06:35 from Victoria connects in Temuco with the 08:41, a wait of 50 minutes.

Departures are published by the operator: EFE · Tren Araucanía — Servicio y trazado (opens in a new tab).

There is nothing to book. Tickets are sold for cash at the ticket office in Temuco station or on board from the train staff, and the fare depends only on how far you go: CLP 1,800 for the whole run from Victoria to Temuco, less for a shorter hop, such as CLP 1,300 between Lautaro and Temuco.

Seniors over 65 with their identity card and students with a valid Chilean student card (TNE) pay reduced fares. The Pitrufquén trains are priced separately, at CLP 1,450 from Temuco, and a through ticket from Victoria to Pitrufquén costs CLP 2,650.

No rail pass covers this journey. Chile sits outside the Interrail and Eurail schemes, and at CLP 1,800 for the whole line, paid in cash on the day, there would be nothing for a pass to save.

The nearest thing to one is the through fare: a single ticket from Victoria to Pitrufquén, changing trains in Temuco, costs CLP 2,650, less than the two separate fares added together.

The towns on this line were founded within a few years of each other, first as forts and then as colonists' settlements, when the Chilean state pushed south into Mapuche territory in the 1880s, and the railway reached them all within a dozen years. With a train every two or three hours on weekdays, any of them makes an easy stop on the way.

Temuco is the natural base: the regional capital, the end of the line from Victoria and the start of the trains to Pitrufquén. The first train towards Victoria does not leave until 09:15 on weekdays, so a night in Temuco makes for an unhurried start. Both hotels below are in the city.