Valparaíso to Limache

The railway between Chile's main port and its capital started here. Work began at Barón, on the Valparaíso waterfront, in 1852; the first trains ran out to El Salto in September 1855, and by 1863 the line reached Santiago. The through trains have long gone, but the first 43 kilometres, from the port to the market town of Limache, are now a suburban railway that carried a record 2.35 million journeys in March 2026.

EFE's Tren Limache–Puerto is an electric suburban line through the whole of Greater Valparaíso: along the edge of the bay past the fishing cove at Portales, through a tunnel under Viña del Mar, up the Marga Marga valley to Quilpué and Villa Alemana, and out through open hills to Limache. Trains run every 12 minutes on weekdays and Saturdays and every 15 on Sundays, take just over an hour end to end, and cost CLP 1,390 at the busiest times — paid from a rechargeable card, with no booking.

Puerto station stands at the foot of Valparaíso's hills beside Plaza Sotomayor and the Muelle Prat. There has been a station here since 1876; the present building, with its tower, opened on 20 January 1937, and since 2011 it has shared the site with a shopping centre.

The trains

The line runs a fleet of 35 electric units, and five more are joining it during 2026. Most are Alstom X'Trapolis 100s, 27 two-car units built at La Rochelle in 2005–06 for the reopening, joined in 2015 by eight X'Trapolis Modulars from Alstom's Barcelona works, recognisable by their rounded blue noses. The newest are five three-car units from CRRC Sifang in China, 77 metres long and carrying 660 passengers; EFE calls them the Tren 3C, and the first entered service on 22 April 2026.

Along the bay

Out of Puerto the line hugs the shore. It passes Bellavista and Francia, then Barón, where the railway began and where a brick clock tower of the first station still stands, and runs beside Avenida España past the fishing cove of Caleta Portales and Recreo, with the bay of Valparaíso alongside. At Caleta Abarca it goes underground for more than five kilometres beneath Viña del Mar, a tunnel built for the 2005 reopening, with four stations below the city streets.

Up the Marga Marga

Beyond Chorrillos and El Salto the line climbs away from the coast. It crosses the Marga Marga between Viña del Mar and Quilpué on the Las Cucharas bridge, a steel structure built between 1908 and 1913 by Schneider et Cie of Le Creusot to replace the first bridge of 1856. Valencia, the newest station, opened in January 2026; after it come Quilpué, Villa Alemana and Peñablanca. The last stretch, thirteen minutes without a stop, runs through open hills and round the Queronque curves, where Chile's worst railway accident killed 58 people in February 1986, before the train reaches Limache, under the bulk of Cerro La Campana.

EFE currently warns that journeys are taking longer than usual while it adjusts its operations, so allow a little extra time.

Trains run every day, all day, and there are no reservations: you touch your card at the gate and board the next train. The whole run takes 1 hour 2 or 3 minutes. The times below are from EFE's own timetable for the line, published in April 2026 and read in September 2026.

First and last trains

On weekday mornings and evenings extra trains run on the busy inner part of the line, so that between them a train leaves every 6 minutes: from Sargento Aldea towards Puerto between 06:48 and 09:30, and from Puerto between 07:36 and 10:00 and again between 16:06 and 19:54. Some early trains start at El Belloto, between 06:13 and 07:41. If you are travelling beyond Sargento Aldea, check the destination before you board.

How long from Puerto

Stations open at 05:45 on weekdays, at 06:45 (Limache) and 07:00 (Puerto) on Saturdays and at 07:00 on Sundays, and close at 23:30.

Timetables and service notices are published by the operator: EFE · Tren Limache–Puerto — Servicio y trazado (opens in a new tab).

There are no paper tickets. Every ride is paid from a Tarjeta de Transporte, a rechargeable card sold at station ticket offices and machines; you touch it at the gates going in and out. The fare depends on how many of the line's three zones you cross and on the time: weekdays 06:30–09:29 and 16:00–19:59 are peak, everything else, including all weekend, is off-peak. Puerto to Viña del Mar costs CLP 510 off-peak, and the whole line CLP 1,290.

The same card pays for the connecting buses from Limache to Quillota, La Calera and La Cruz at no extra cost within 120 minutes, and cuts the fare on Valparaíso's trolleybuses and ascensores. Seniors, people with disabilities and students registered for Chilean benefits pay reduced fares.

No rail pass covers this journey. Chile sits outside the Interrail and Eurail schemes, and at CLP 1,390 at most for the whole line there would be little for a pass to save.

The nearest thing to one is EFE's own day card, the Tarjeta diaria/turista: CLP 6,300, or CLP 3,800 if you already hold a Tarjeta de Transporte, for unlimited rides on the whole line on the day you buy it. For someone who already has a card, CLP 3,800 is less than three off-peak rides the length of the line.

The line strings together the towns of Greater Valparaíso, from the port where it starts to the farming valley where it ends. With a train every few minutes and one card for the whole ride, any of them makes an easy stop on the way.

Valparaíso is the natural base: the line starts at Puerto, and the historic hills above it hold most of the city's small hotels in restored houses. Both hotels below are on Cerro Concepción, in the UNESCO-listed quarter.