All aboard the Andean express

As the morning rush-hour traffic inches along outside, horns blaring, all is quiet inside the marshalling yard of the Chimbacalle Station, in Quito, Ecuador. Against the buffers in one corner sits an immaculate steam engine, almost toy-like in its black and cherry-red livery.

Closer to the curved platform, pristine carriages are lined up behind a dormant diesel locomotive. The atmosphere is sleepy, belying the fact that this is a terminus of the world's most exciting new rail project.

After a four-year, multimillion-dollar renovation, Ecuador's capital-to-coast railway line reopened this year. Hauled by a mixture of restored steam engines and diesel locomotives, luxury tourist trains (known as Tren Crucero) now run all the way from Quito, high up in the Andes, to lowland Guayaquil, on the Pacific coast. Passengers spend each night in a high-end hacienda, with numerous stops to sample the culture during the 450-kilometre, four-day journey.

An hour after leaving Quito, the Tren Crucero approaches the historic town of Machachi in sedate fashion. Majestic views of snow-capped Cotopaxi, the first of a succession of towering peaks known as the Avenida de los Volcanes ("avenue of the volcanoes"), can be best appreciated from the observation car at the end of the train, which is furnished with sofas and has a covered viewing platform.

Passing in the shadow of such smouldering giants as Cotopaxi and Chimborazo, and reaching a maximum elevation of 3,600 metres, this is a breathtaking rail journey in more ways than one.