Train services to the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, Peru's main tourist attraction, were suspended Monday as protesting residents placed logs and rocks on the tracks, police and PeruRail said.

A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983, the ancient fortified complex receives some 4,500 visitors on average each day, many of them foreigners, according to the tourism ministry.

Authorities have not given a figure for stranded tourists or an evacuation plan.

Residents are demanding that a new company be chosen to run the buses that ferry visitors from the Aguas Calientes train station at the foot of Machu Picchu, to the site itself.

Visitors arrive at Aguas Calientes from the city of Cusco -- the Inca empire's ancient capital -- some 110 kilometers (68 miles) away.

The previous bus firm's con

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