Machu Picchu Landslides update

News coming in from Machu Picchu is starting to agree on 1st April 2010 as the likely opening date.

For the past few days our suppliers and people on the ground have been hinting at 1st April for the re-opening of the critical stretches of railway between Cusco and Machu Picchu.

Yesterday, Peruvian authorities, including the Ministry of Commerce and Tourism, announced that April 1st is indeed the target date for the reopening of Machu Picchu and its train access.

At the moment the weather is good and progress steady towards repairing and rebuilding the damaged stretches of track between Machu Picchu (Aguas Calientes station) and Piscacucho.

Piscacucho is the end of the road from Cusco into the Sacred Valley and traditional start point for the Inca Trail hike to Machu Picchu.

Come 1st April therefore, anyone going to Machu Picchu will drive up to Piscacucho (roughly 2 hours from Cusco by road).

People hiking the Inca Trail will, as ever, pass through controls here and set off walking. Everyone else will board the train at this point and disembark at Aguas Calientes/Machu Picchu 1 hour 20 later.

It will take another couple of months before the stretch of track between Piscacucho and Ollantaytambo are fixed. Early June is the current estimate for completion of that work.

Once that stretch is finished, the full service from Cusco to Machu Picchu will be resumed.

It is therefore in early June that the deluxe Hiram Bingham service will resume since it’s train cars are trapped on the Cusco side of the landslides.