Galera is the third highest

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

in the

Western Hemisphere The Western Hemisphere is the half of the planet Earth that lies west of the prime meridian (which crosses Greenwich, London, United Kingdom) and east of the antimeridian. The other half is called the Eastern Hemisphere. Politically, the te ...

with an elevation of 4,781 m (15,681 ft).

Overview

It is situated in the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

at km 172.7 on the

Ferrocarril Central Andino Ferrocarril Central Andino (FCCA) is the consortium which operates the Ferrovías Central railway in Peru linking the Pacific port of Callao and the capital Lima with Huancayo and Cerro de Pasco. As one of the Trans-Andean Railways it is the sec ...

(FCCA) line from

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of the central coastal part of ...

Huancayo Huancayo (; in qu, label=Wanka Quechua, Wankayuq , '(place) with a (sacred) rock') is the capital of Junín Region, in the central highlands of Peru. Location Huancayo is located in Huancayo Province, of which it is also the capital. Si ...

, immediately east of the 1.2 km (6860 ft) Galera summit tunnel (4,783 m (15,694 ft) above sea level). The standard gauge line through the station was opened in 1893. In the years 1992-2003 it was out of use as was the whole line through this point because of the terrorist threat by the group

Sendero Luminoso The Shining Path ( es, Sendero Luminoso), officially the Communist Party of Peru (, abbr. PCP), is a communist guerrilla group in Peru following Marxism–Leninism–Maoism and Gonzalo Thought. Academics often refer to the group as the Commu ...

. There are now regular monthly train services on the line, including through Galera. Its place in the league table of the world's highest stations was surpassed by the opening in 2006 of the Qinghai–Tibet Railway's

Tanggula railway station The Tanggula (Dangla) railway station () is a railway station located in Amdo County, Tibet Autonomous Region, China, near the border with the Tanggula Town, Qinghai Province. The railway station has three tracks, one of them served by a platf ...

in the

Tanggula Mountains The Tanggula ( Chinese: , p ''Tánggǔlāshān'', or , p ''Tánggǔlāshānmài''), Tangla, Tanglha, or Dangla Mountains (Tibetan: , w ''Gdang La'', z ''Dang La'') are a mountain range in the central part of the ...

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...

, which at 5,068 m is the world's highest railway station.

Xinhua News Agency Xinhua News Agency (English pronunciation: )J. C. Wells: Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd ed., for both British and American English, or New China News Agency, is the official state news agency of the People's Republic of China. Xinhua ...

(24 August 2005)
New height of world's railway born in Tibet
Retrieved 25 August 2005.

References

Railway stations in Peru {{SouthAm-railstation-stub

Overview

See also

References