This paper documents the transmission line emergency restoration experiences and practices of the Colombian National Interconnection System. In addition to natural disasters, emergencies caused by vandalism and sabotage have become frequent occurrences. Various techniques developed to rapidly and efficiently restore service after an emergency are presented along with an overview of the emergency restoration philosophy in Colombia, South America.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>