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Reports about the Chepe train and the Copper Canyon

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Press news about the Chepe Expresss train, Barrancas del Cobre and Chihuahua, made by journalists and coordinated by Amapa Tours. We organized inspection trips for journalists from well-known media who later published their documentaries in different magazines, newspapers or television programs. It is worth reading the articles in which they describe the magic of Barrancas del Cobre, the Chepe Express train and the attention received by our company.

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DPA - Spiegel Online media and the newspaper "Die Süddeutsche Zeitung" write about our main travel destination "Copper Canyon" and about our services.

Photo: Florian Sanktjohanser: The Train Chihuahua al Pacífico - Chepe - connects Los Mochis with Creel and traverses an impressive landscape along the way. The operator is Ferromex.

DPA reports on the experience of a journey on the Chepe train through the Sierra Tarahumara

Written by Florian Sankjohanser, who was attended by Amapa Tours during his trip in Chihuahua. Source DPA December 27, 2016 “The only regular passenger train in Mexico runs the most beautiful route in the country, through a huge system of deep Canyons. Los Mochis (dpa / tmn) - The sleeping neighbor at the left window knows that the best of the trip is yet to come: Barrancas del Cobre, a labyrinth of canyons, four times larger than the Grand Canyon in the USA - and in the region of the Tarahumara, the best runner in the world. The film “Born to Run” made them known.

It is 8:00 a.m., on time El Chepe arrive into the train station of El Fuerte, a powerful diesel locomotive with yellow-green wagons. Chepe is the short form for Ferrocarril Chihuahua al Pacífico. The railway has been chauffeuring passengers from the metropolis of Chihuahua in northern Mexico down to the Pacific since 1961, and is still the fastest connection besides the plane.

The wagons will be renewed in two years and the Chepe will become a luxury train. You will be traveling in a comfortable train with wide and comfortable seats.

The train starts its journey in Los Mochis, at a leisurely pace, from the window you can see the corn and vegetable fields. Los Mochis is also known to be the most fertile region in the state. Wide streets, big shopping centers; the city is modern without old buildings. Just an hour and a half away is the city of El Fuerte, most tourists board the train in this beautiful colonial city.

As the train leaves El Fuerte, you will observe from your window the low jungle composed of thornbushes and some cactus. The train enters the Sierra Madre, after an hour the train crosses the “Agua Caliente” bridge, the longest of the 37 bridges on the route at 498.8 meters. It is followed by the tunnel “El Descanso” the longest tunnel (1.8 kilometers) and the Chinipas bridge the highest (103.6 meters). However, the landscape is much more impressive than all the technical information. To the right a green river flows between two canyons, above it, reddish-brown, corrugated rock walls shoot up from the forested slopes.

A 100 meter long freight train passes by and heads to the coast. This railway route was built to transport corn, grains and copper to the ports and export them. But a short time later, the wonderful views through which the train crosses attracted a lot of attention.

For the Engineers the most difficult part of this construction was station of Temoris. Here you will cross three differen levels with bridges and tunnels. The train rises in this section 800 meters and changes the climate zone.Instead of cactus, pines and oaks now grow on the slopes.

This is where the heart of the Copper Canyon is located and protected as a national park since 2010. A stop on the route is Bahuichivo from here you drive to Cerocahui, near to there is a fantastic view of the Urique Canyon, 1800 meters deep. Or you can get off at Posada Barrancas. There you will find three hotels that offer a great view of the canyon. From the balcony you can see tourists on the zip lines flying over the Copper Canyon Adventure Park.

With the film “Born to Run”, which talks about the traditions of the Tarahumara indigenous people; the Copper Canyon and the Chepe train gained greater popularity as it became a “Bestseller”. With the book “Burn to Run” the Raramuri  people became more famous because it tells about their life and resistance in running long distances between the canyons. Most of them live still in the Canyons.

If you want to see Tarahumara people more closely, you should leave the train route behind and visit the Valley of Mushrooms or the Mission of San Ignacio in Creel, where you will hear stories about the Easter celebrations. Or pack your backpack and venture into the deep ravines, on foot like the Tarahumara.

The German magazine “Spiegel” published a report about the Chepe train:

Spiegel Online published on December 20, 2016 a report about the Chepe train, written by Florian Sanktjohanser. In the article you will find detailed information about the only passenger train in Mexico. Amapa Tours organized and supported the journalist's trip in Chihuahua and Sinaloa, including a visit to Ferromex facilities , the operator of the Chepe train. Have fun while reading the article:

Photo: Florian Sanktjohanser / TMN: This is interesting for tourists because the train serves the nine most popular attractions with stops. And because he comes twice a day, you could theoretically visit two of the destinations.

Foto: Marcos Ferro /Aurora/laif: The runners' canyon is becoming an adventure park: the government expanded the Copper Canyon to attract more tourists to the region.

The newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung reports about the indigenous Raramuris, Sinaloa and Chihuahua:

Making the regions of Chihuahua, the Copper Canyon and Sinaloa better known is very important to Amapa tours. As Europe representatives of these beautiful regions, we have organized and supported the following trip, published in the Süddeutsche Zeitung on November 24th, 2016. Have fun while reading the report: