Train route to Machu Picchu reopens after week long protest

Thursday, February 1, 2024

Peruvian authorities have reopened the train route to Machu Picchu.

It happened after protesters struck an agreement to end more than a weeklong protests.

It had blocked access to the famed Incan site and stranded tourists.

PeruRail said in a statement a partial service had restarted on Wednesday. A regular service would return on Thursday from the city of Cusco to Aguas Calientes.

It is a town near the archaeological site.

People in raincoats and rain ponchos hold umbrellas and a banner as they walk on rail tracks.

Machu Picchu tourists stranded as protesters block trains to site.

The protests began late last week over a new centralized ticketing system, leaving hundreds of tourists unable to reach the ancient ruins high up in the Andes.

Protesters said they feared the new electronic ticket sales platform would hurt local businesses by shifting the administration of ticket sales to one private company authorized by the ministry of culture.

The blockade had left streets, hotels and restaurants around Peru’s most famous tourist attraction almost deserted.

The two sides signed an agreement on Wednesday that will see a transition period to the new platform.

“We have to move forward to reactivate our economy,” Peru’s minister of culture, Leslie Urteaga, told a local radio station.

Agencies responsible for the preservation of the UNESCO World Heritage Site have warned about overcrowding and tickets being oversold.

It is leading authorities to find new ways to control visitor numbers as travel rebounds in the wake of the Covid pandemic.

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