LIMA, March 16 (Reuters Life!) - Peru might impose a fine of up to $10 million against affiliates of Orient Express Hotels that operate the lucrative Machu Picchu tourist train.

Staff at antitrust regulator Indecopi recommended that the companies be sanctioned for “very grave” infractions related to “abusive” practices against would-be competitors, according to a document obtained by Reuters.

The regulator’s board must evaluate the potential fine and its size. Indecopi’s press office confirmed the investigation’s existence, but did not say when the board would rule.

A spokeswoman for Orient Express, which has stakes in 50 luxury tourism businesses around the world, told Reuters that she had not heard about the Indecopi staff’s findings.

Orient Express partly owns and manages PeruRail in Peru, it says on its website. PeruRail operates the Cusco-Machu Picchu train services used by nearly every tourist to Peru.

A sister company of PeruRail, Ferrocarril Transandino SA, has the concession for the railbed on which the train runs.

The Indecopi staff’s findings mark that latest in a long-running feud between Orient Express affiliates and two newcomers, Inca Rail and Andean Railways.

Both upstarts tried for years to get trains onto the tracks to Machu Picchu and complained about unnecessary delays.

Inca Rail started running some trains just before floods knocked out large sections of the track in January, just when Andean Railways was preparing to run its test trains.

Rebuilding efforts are underway.

In February, Orient Express reported a fourth-quarter loss of $16.8 million on revenue of $113.6 million.

More than 1 million people each year visit Machu Picchu, one of the best-known remnants of the Incan empire. Most buy train tickets that cost about $100 round trip from the city of Cusco, but a luxury seat can cost more than $500.

Apart from the train, the only other way to reach the ancient ruins, more than 2,000 meters above sea level, from the city of Cusco is by walking for four days through the Andes mountains.

Peru’s government privatized rail lines in 1999 when units of Orient Express and its partners won a 30-year concession. In 2008, the government rejected a request to extend the concession by another five years.

(Additional reporting by Patricia Velez)

(Reporting by Terry Wade. Editing by Robert MacMillan)