Cheapest€17.39
- Tren Ecuador TE269506:521h 9m08:01Riobamba stationEl Empalme station
Door to door 1h 53mCO2 4.9 kgChanges 0Refundable
Riobamba to El Empalme train
Trains from Riobamba to El Empalme start at €19.59 and take 1h 53m at their fastest.
Check dates and fares
Fares and seats move by the day. Price Riobamba to El Empalme on the date you actually want, rather than on the date this page was built.
The Trains from Riobamba to El Empalme starts at €19.59 and takes 1h 53m door to door, run by 2 operators over 148 km, with around 6 departures a day. Fares bottom out about 45 days before departure.
- 1h 53mDoor to door
- 1h 9mMoving
- €19.59 to €42.69From
- 06:34 to 07:30First and last departure
- 6Per day
- 4.9 kgCO2
First and last are taken from the services we sell on September 29, 2026. The return direction keeps its own timetable and is not these times reversed.
€19.59 to €42.69 for one passenger across the 14 departure dates priced here. The low end is one day, not every day. Worked out from this corridor rather than held for anybody. The operator sets the price on the day.
Fares by date
What this journey usually costs, by departure date. It shows which days run dearer.
Typical fares
- about €42.14Mon14
- about €32.79Tue15
- about €42.69Wed16
- about €34.44Thu17
- about €31.69Fri18
- about €32.24Sat19
- about €31.14Sun20
- about €27.84Mon21
- about €19.59Tue22
- about €25.09Wed23
- about €30.04Thu24
- about €29.49Fri25
- about €25.09Sat26
- about €26.19Sun27
Based on what this route has cost recently. The operator sets the price on the day, and the live fare is confirmed when you book.
The cheapest and the fastest on September 29, 2026
Fastest€23.99
- Ferrocarriles del Ecuador FE909206:341h 9m07:43Riobamba stationEl Empalme station
Door to door 1h 53mCO2 4.9 kgChanges 0Refundable
Rail operators
| Operator | From |
|---|---|
| Ferrocarriles del Ecuador | €17.94 |
| Tren Ecuador | €17.39 |
The train gets you into El Empalme. It does not get you a bed, and neither do we.
A room in El Empalme for the night the train gets in
Filter by neighborhood and by nightly price, and the map tells you what is a walk and what is a cab.
Search El Empalme on Booking.com
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When to book Riobamba to El Empalme
The same search run across the whole booking window, so the shape of the curve is visible rather than described.
- €22.8990 days
- €20.6960 days
- €15.1945 days
- €16.8430 days
- €22.8921 days
- €26.1914 days
- €31.147 days
- €42.693 days
- €42.141 days
- Cheapest lead time
- Fares bottom out around 45 days ahead, at €15.19.
- How much it moves
- The gap between the cheapest and most expensive lead time is 181 percent. The most expensive point is €42.69, 3 days out.
- What that means
- Today sits inside the cheap window, which closes about 45 days before departure. Waiting from here has usually cost money on this corridor rather than saved it.
Which departure day costs least
Median cheapest fare for each weekday, taken across the next three weeks of real prices.
- €26.19Sun
- €27.84Mon
- €19.59Tue
- €25.09Wed
- €30.04Thu
- €29.49Fri
- €25.09Sat
Where you leave from and where you arrive
We do not hold named terminals for either end of this corridor yet.
What the journey actually looks like
- Direct or connecting
- 33% of the services we sell on this corridor run through without a change. The remaining 67% involve one connection.
- How far it really runs
- The route covers 148 km against 129 km in a straight line, a detour of 15 percent. Track and road geometry account for the difference.
- Where the change is
- Connections are made at Babahoyo, Latacunga, Milagro, Ambato. The gap between arriving and leaving is 69 minutes, of which about 5 is walking.
- If the connection is missed
- The tightest connection we sell here has a 14 percent chance of not being made on the timetable alone. Both legs are sold on one booking, so a missed connection is ours to fix and you are rebooked at no charge.
- First and last departure
- The first service of the day leaves Riobamba at 06:34 and the last at 07:30, across 6 departures The return direction keeps its own timetable, so the times back are not these times reversed.
Questions about Riobamba to El Empalme
The questions people actually ask about this trip, answered from the same prices and times the page above is built on rather than written once and left to go stale.
How long does the Train from Riobamba to El Empalme take?
The Train from Riobamba to El Empalme takes 1h 53m door to door, of which 1h 9m is spent moving. The route runs 148 km. The difference between the two times is reaching the terminal and leaving it at the far end, which every time on this page includes.
How much does the Train from Riobamba to El Empalme cost?
The Train from Riobamba to El Empalme starts at €19.59 for one passenger, as of September 13, 2026. A typical fare is €28.11. Both are the total including taxes, supplier fees and our service fee, so the price here is the price at checkout.
Who runs the Train from Riobamba to El Empalme?
2 operators run the Train from Riobamba to El Empalme: Ferrocarriles del Ecuador, Tren Ecuador. Between them they file around 6 departures a day. The operator table on this page compares them on fare, journey time, cruising speed, fare conditions and what is provided on board.
Which terminal does the Train from Riobamba to El Empalme use?
The Train from Riobamba to El Empalme leaves from Riobamba station and arrives at El Empalme station. Allow about 44m for reaching the departure terminal and leaving the arrival one. That time is already inside every door to door figure quoted on this page.
When should I book the Train from Riobamba to El Empalme?
Fares for the Train from Riobamba to El Empalme bottom out around 45 days ahead, at €15.19. The gap between the cheapest and most expensive lead time across the window is 181 percent, measured on September 13, 2026. Booking inside the final week has consistently cost more.
How much CO2 does the Train from Riobamba to El Empalme produce?
The Train from Riobamba to El Empalme produces about 4.9 kg of CO2 per passenger over 148 km, which works out at roughly 33 grams per passenger kilometer. That figure is for the whole journey and for one traveler, not for the vehicle.
What is provided on board the Train from Riobamba to El Empalme?
Operators on the Train from Riobamba to El Empalme publish Power outlets, Wi-Fi. That is what 2 carriers on this corridor state about their own fleets, across a journey of 1h 53m door to door. Where a carrier publishes nothing, this page lists nothing for it.
Where these numbers come from
Places, coordinates, operators, which operator serves which pair, and every distance on this page are real and come from open data. Where a corridor has a filed timetable the departure times are real too, and ferry fares are the prices the operators publish themselves.
Derived from service area No carrier record names this exact pair. The operators listed publish a service area covering both places at a distance their mode plausibly carries people, which is evidence that the corridor is served and not evidence of a specific service. Pages state which, because presenting the two as the same thing would be dishonest.
Where no operator publishes a fare for a corridor, the price here is our own estimate, worked out from the real distance and the real operator through a fare curve that follows lead time, day of the week and season. It tells you roughly what the journey costs. It is not a seat anyone has agreed to sell, and the payment step will not take it.
Defined in full at Door to door, Fares, The booking window, Carbon
- On this page
- Every figure above was computed for Riobamba to El Empalme on September 13, 2026: 148 km of route against 129 km in a straight line, 6 services a day, 2 operators a cheapest fare of €19.59, and 1h 53m door to door on the fastest mode. The return direction is computed separately and its numbers are not these numbers.
Related journeys
El Empalme to Riobamba trainCompare every mode from Riobamba to El EmpalmeAmbato to El Empalme trainBabahoyo to El Empalme trainAmbato to El Empalme trainBabahoyo to El Empalme trainDurán to El Empalme trainGuayaquil to El Empalme trainIbarra to El Empalme trainLatacunga to El Empalme trainMilagro to El Empalme trainQuito to El Empalme trainRosa Zarate to El Empalme trainSanto Domingo de los Colorados to El Empalme train
The train is the simple part. What you do once you are in El Empalme is somebody else's catalog.
Day trips out of El Empalme and across Ecuador
Day trips that leave El Empalme in the morning and cover a good part of Ecuador by evening.
See El Empalme on CivitatisOr browse GetYourGuide
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