Jujuy’s battery-electric train, which runs through the Quebrada de Humahuaca, is less about transportation than about making the ride itself the attraction.
The Quebrada is a landscape already famous for its mountains, villages and pre-Hispanic cultural heritage, and tourism there has traditionally been dominated by the road. A rail service gives visitors another way to see it while linking communities that are already part of the tourist economy.
The train also doubles as a real-world test of electrified rail that does not need overhead power lines. Battery rail avoids the continuous overhead electrification associated with many conventional electric railways, making the concept potentially attractive on routes where full electrification would be difficult or expensive.
For the province, the larger opportunity is economic. A successful tourist railway can encourage visitors to stay longer, connect several destinations in one trip and spend money in communities along the line rather than concentrating activity in a single town.