LIMA (Reuters) - Peru's transportation regulator has put the Machu Picchu railroad concession of Bermuda-based Orient-Express Hotels under review, as would-be competitors pressure the luxury tourism company to open its tracks to competition.

The competitors allege the terms of the concessions were violated when Orient-Express was spun off from its parent company, Sea Containers Ltd., before it filed for bankruptcy in 2006.

Romulo Guidino, the head of Orient-Express' Peruvian unit, Ferrocarril Transandino, said the government initially allowed the transfer of the concession from Sea Containers, also based in Bermuda, to Orient-Express, but then decided to investigate the transfer after receiving complaints from competitors.

"We are upholding all the terms of the contract," he told Reuters.

But two aspiring newcomers, Inca Rail and Andean Railways, disagree.

They say the company has repeatedly blocked their attempts to put trains on the scenic line that runs from Cuzco to Machu Picchu, which draws over one million visitors a year, and that the government has started to put pressure on Orient-Express to open its monopoly to competition.

This month, Peru's transportation ministry rejected Orient-Express' request for a five-year extension on its concession, now due to expire in 2034 after Peru privatised its rail infrastructure in 1999.

The company, whose share price has slid over 80 percent in the past 12 months on the global economic crisis, has high-end hotels all over the world, including the Cipriani in Venice and the Copacabana Palace in Rio de Janeiro. It also operates rail lines in Europe.

It drew attention last month when one of its former directors in Peru, Filip Boyen, was fined by the United Kingdom for insider trading in the shares of a mining company with his friend, Richard Ralph, Britain's former ambassador to Peru.

Peru's transport regulator, Ositran, said it, along with the transportation ministry, have "taken necessary steps to facilitate the entry of new players." Ositran said it is also evaluating whether Orient-Express has fulfilled its obligations to let other operators onto the route, where it runs the track and sells tickets for its carriages.

The transportation ministry declined to comment, but the government's privatisation plan originally aimed to encourage competition.

Companies that want a piece of the action estimate Orient-Express generates revenue of between $50 million and $90 million a year from the rail line.

Most visitors buy train tickets that cost around $100 round trip, while a luxury seat can cost more than $500.

Apart from the train, the only other way to reach the Incan ruins is walking for four days through the Andes mountains.

Juan Alberto Forsyth, director of upstart Inca Rail, has called on the government to end what he said was a monopoly.

Nicholas Asheshov, a director of Andean Railways, said the government has grown frustrated with Orient-Express.

"They shouldn't be surprised that the government is threatening to chuck them out," he said.