When the railway is in operation, it is used for the export of Bolivian minerals and some agricultural production as well as the import of merchandise into Bolivia.

Work undertaken by Comsa has included laying 67 km of rail on 73 000 timber sleepers to enable freight trains to operate at up to 40 km/h.

The passenger service closed in 1996 due to a lack of demand and trucks rather than trains carry most of the cargo traffic along paved highways.

As a result, the revised proposal was to allow technically qualified operators to run trains over the railway, using their own equipment.

[5] A further proposal to reopen the railway was made in 2017, and passenger service offered on a short stretch of 38 km.