Ex Estación Collilelfu

History

Fifty kilometers away from Valdivia it lays the Collilelfu Station, in the commune of Los Lagos, and declared historical monument back in 2013.

Its history began in 1905, when the firm Camino, Lacoste y Cía Ltda. received authorization from the State of Chile to build a trans andean railroad that would depart from Collilelfu Station and arrive in the argentine town of San Martín de Los Andes, crossing the Riñihue and Pirihueico lakes by ferry. It was a private bi-national project, whose objective was to build and consolidate a bi-oceanic commercial route for exports and imports, having the Port of Corral on the Pacific and Bahía Blanca on the Atlantic as extreme points. The steam locomotives La Collilelfu, La Graciela and La San Martín, as well as the Cochui and Collilelfu bridges were part of the initial investments to materialize this ambitious project. Its construction was of such importance that in march 1907, President Pedro Montt himself, made a long and exhausting trip from Santiago to attend its inauguration. This simple fact shows the importance for the region and the country of the materialization of this colossal project.
Over the years, the country’s railway system was abandoned to the detriment of other routes. However, and after an infrastructure renovation project carried out by the MOP, the Collilelfu Railway Station reopened its doors to the community, under the label of Collilelfu Station Cultural Center on August 4, 2020, becoming again the starting point to undertake a journey whose destination is the communal promotion of culture and the arts. This charming centenary building will become a dynamizing axis of tourism, but this time with a patrimonial seal, highlighting not only the natural and scenic beauty of the different places of the commune of Los Lagos, but also its rich history and heritage.