Rail transport in Guatemala
Encyclopedia
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
still has a network of narrow gauge railroads, no passenger or freight trains currently run, except for occasional chartered tourist trains
Heritage railway
thumb|right|the Historical [[Khyber train safari|Khyber Railway]] goes through the [[Khyber Pass]], [[Pakistan]]A heritage railway , preserved railway , tourist railway , or tourist railroad is a railway that is run as a tourist attraction, in some cases by volunteers, and...
.
History
Puerto San José
Puerto San José is a city on Guatemala's Pacific Ocean coast, in the department of Escuintla. It contains about 20,000 people, making it the largest place along the Pacific coast of Guatemala. It was the Pacific port for Guatemala, but this was superseded in the 20th century by Puerto Quetzal, a...
and Escuintla
Escuintla
Escuintla is a city in south central Guatemala. It is the capital of the Escuintla Department and the administrative seat of Escuintla Municipality....
, being extended to Guatemala City
Guatemala City
Guatemala City , is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Guatemala and Central America...
in 1884. The line to Puerto Barrios
Puerto Barrios
Puerto Barrios is a city in Guatemala, located within the Gulf of Honduras at. The bay in which the harbour is located is called Bahia de Amatique. Puerto Barrios is the departmental seat of Izabal department and the administrative seat of Puerto Barrios municipality.Puerto Barrios was named after...
, which still exists, was completed in 1908. The network was soon acquired by United Fruit, and in 1912 renamed the International Railways of Central America which was also known as IRCA. The railroad prospered until 1957. In 1954, United Fruit had to divest following an antitrust
Antitrust
The United States antitrust law is a body of laws that prohibits anti-competitive behavior and unfair business practices. Antitrust laws are intended to encourage competition in the marketplace. These competition laws make illegal certain practices deemed to hurt businesses or consumers or both,...
suit and in 1959, a parallel highway
Highway
A highway is any public road. In American English, the term is common and almost always designates major roads. In British English, the term designates any road open to the public. Any interconnected set of highways can be variously referred to as a "highway system", a "highway network", or a...
caused a serious competitive pressure. In 1968, the company defaulted, was taken over by the government and renamed Ferrocarriles de Guatemala which was also known as FEGUA. The condition of tracks continued to deteriorate and all traffic was shut down in 1996. Only nostalgic tourist trains (by Trains Unlimited) ran on parts of the network in 1997 and 1998.
Revival
In October 1997, a 50-year concession was given to Railroad Development Corporation (RDC) which started to rehabilitate the network. They were delayed by the need to evict squatters who built their cottages on the right-of-way during the previous years and to repair damage caused by thieves and nature. A serious blow was Hurricane MitchHurricane Mitch
Hurricane Mitch was the most powerful hurricane and the most destructive of the 1998 Atlantic hurricane season, with maximum sustained winds of 180 mph . The storm was the thirteenth tropical storm, ninth hurricane, and third major hurricane of the season. Along with Hurricane Georges, Mitch...
in 1998, which destroyed parts of the line. The first train under RDC management went from Guatemala City to El Chile cement plant on April 15, 1999, and the rest of the line to Puerto Barrios was put into operation in December of that year. Other lines previously existing in Guatemala (such as to Ciudad Tecún Umán on the border with Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, to Anguiatú in El Salvador
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
and to Puerto San José
Puerto San José
Puerto San José is a city on Guatemala's Pacific Ocean coast, in the department of Escuintla. It contains about 20,000 people, making it the largest place along the Pacific coast of Guatemala. It was the Pacific port for Guatemala, but this was superseded in the 20th century by Puerto Quetzal, a...
) have not been repaired since 1996. Including those, the railroad network would have counted 497 miles (799.8 km).
From 1999 until September 2007, Ferrovías Guatemala (FVG), as a subsidiary of RDC, operated 15 engines and 200 railcars on freight trains between Guatemala City and Puerto Barrios. It transported containers
Intermodal container
An intermodal container is a standardized reusable steel box used for the safe, efficient and secure storage and movement of materials and products within a global containerized intermodal freight transport system...
, steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
, cement
Cement
In the most general sense of the word, a cement is a binder, a substance that sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together. The word "cement" traces to the Romans, who used the term opus caementicium to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed...
, paper and banana
Banana
Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red....
s between the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
coast and the capital over a network of 200 miles (321.9 km) , but quit in September 2007. It connected Guatemala City
Guatemala City
Guatemala City , is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Guatemala and Central America...
to Puerto Barrios
Puerto Barrios
Puerto Barrios is a city in Guatemala, located within the Gulf of Honduras at. The bay in which the harbour is located is called Bahia de Amatique. Puerto Barrios is the departmental seat of Izabal department and the administrative seat of Puerto Barrios municipality.Puerto Barrios was named after...
with short branches in Guatemala City container terminal
Container terminal
A container terminal is a facility where cargo containers are transshipped between different transport vehicles, for onward transportation. The transshipment may be between container ships and land vehicles, for example trains or trucks, in which case the terminal is described as a maritime...
and Puerto Santo Tomás
Santo Tomás de Castilla
Santo Tomás de Castilla, also known as Matías de Gálvez is a port city in the Izabal Department, Guatemala. It is located at around . It lies at Amatique Bay off the Gulf of Honduras and is administratively a part of Puerto Barrios.-Belgian colony:...
.
Suspension of operations in 2007
In August 2006, the government of Guatemala declared a 2003 contract for the usufructUsufruct
Usufruct is the legal right to use and derive profit or benefit from property that either belongs to another person or which is under common ownership, as long as the property is not damaged or destroyed...
of rolling stock and other equipment as contrary to public interest (:es:Declaración de lesividad), invalidating it. FVG believed that this was a response to its earlier request for arbitration regarding the usage of 2 million USD from National Railroad Trust, designated for the development of railroads in Guatemala but used to support an overstaffed governmental oversight agency.
The result of the governmental action was a decline of shipments and operational difficulties, such as inability to obtain credit or take additional revenues from the leasing of station buildings or right of way. In March 2007, RDC declared its intent to seek protection of investment through arbitration against the government of Guatemala according to Chapter 10 of CAFTA. The case was registered with ICSID
International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes
The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes , an institution of the World Bank Group based in Washington, D.C., was established in 1966 pursuant to the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States...
on August 20, 2007 with number ARB/07/23. Due to the continuing uncertainty leading to losses, FVG decided to suspend all operations as of October 1, 2007 while continuing with legal actions against the Guatemalan government. As of 2011, most of the bridges have been dismantled and sold for scrap by thieves, meaning that there will almost certainly be no revival of the railroads there again, as it would cost millions of dollars to rebuild.
Ferrocarril de Los Altos
Quetzaltenango
Quetzaltenango, also commonly known by its indigenous name, Xelajú , or more commonly, Xela , is the second largest city of Guatemala. It is both the capital of Quetzaltenango Department and the municipal seat of Quetzaltenango municipality....
and Retalhuleu
Retalhuleu
The city of Retalhuleu is in south-western Guatemala. It is the departmental seat of Retalhuleu department as well as the municipal seat of Retalhuleu municipality....
between 1930 and 1933. It was destroyed by a hurricane in 1933 and never rebuilt. The remains are on display in a dedicated museum in Quetzaltenango.
Ferrocarril Verapaz
Another isolated railroad, Ferrocarril Verapaz (also known as Ferropazco), used to connect PanzósPanzós
Panzós is a municipality in the Guatemalan department of Alta Verapaz.On 29 May 1978, the village of Panzós was the site of a massacre in which between 30 and 60 local inhabitants were killed by the army....
and Tucurú
Tucurú
Tucurú is a municipality in the Guatemalan department of Alta Verapaz....
in Alta Verapaz
Alta Verapaz
Alta Verapaz is a department in the north central part of Guatemala. The capital and chief city of the department is Cobán. Verapaz is bordered to the north by El Petén, to the east by Izabal, to the south by Zacapa, El Progreso, and Baja Verapaz, and to the west by El Quiché.Also in Alta Verapaz...
Department. Its construction was authorized in 1884 and completed in 1895. Its main purpose was to transport coffee from farms (fincas) controlled mainly by Germans to the port of Panzós on Polochic River
Polochic River
The Polochic River is a 194 km long river in eastern Guatemala. It flows eastwards through a deep valley and flows into Lake Izabal at . The river is navigable for length of 30 km to Panzós. It was used many years ago to transport coffee and timber, but most commercial transport in the river valley...
, which merged to Lago de Izabal and the Caribbean Sea
Caribbean Sea
The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean located in the tropics of the Western hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico and Central America to the west and southwest, to the north by the Greater Antilles, and to the east by the Lesser Antilles....
. The company was nationalized in 1943. In 1956, the government created a national company Ferrocarril Verapaz y Servicios Anexos. Operations along Ferrocarril Verapaz y Servicios Anexos stopped in 1963.
Tourist trains
Heritage railway
thumb|right|the Historical [[Khyber train safari|Khyber Railway]] goes through the [[Khyber Pass]], [[Pakistan]]A heritage railway , preserved railway , tourist railway , or tourist railroad is a railway that is run as a tourist attraction, in some cases by volunteers, and...
with steam engines, mainly for European and U.S. tourists, were organized usually once a year by UK based Ffestiniog Travel or other operators. Traffic control used a modified Track warrant
Track warrant
Track warrants are systematized permissions used on some railroad lines to authorize a train's use of the main line. Dispatchers issue these permissions to train crews instead of using signals. The crews receive track warrants by radio, phone, or electronic transmission from a...
Control method. The former main station in Guatemala city serves as railroad museum
Guatemala City Railway Museum
The Guatemala City Railway Museum, officially Museo del Ferrocarril FEGUA, is located in the former main railway station in Guatemala City, Guatemala....
.
Railway museum
The Museo del Ferrocarril FEGUAGuatemala City Railway Museum
The Guatemala City Railway Museum, officially Museo del Ferrocarril FEGUA, is located in the former main railway station in Guatemala City, Guatemala....
is located in the old railway station at Guatemala City
Guatemala City
Guatemala City , is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Guatemala and Central America...
and displays steam engines, a diesel engine, passenger and freight cars, and other memorabilia of the Ferrocarriles de Guatemala.
Railway links with adjacent countries
MexicoRail transport in Mexico
Mexico has a freight railway system that is privately owned and extends across most of the country, connecting major industrial centers with ports and with rail connections at the United States border...
– at Ciudad Tecún Umán, inactive, break of gauge /. Belize
Rail transport in Belize
There is currently no active rail transport in Belize, although there were lines in the past.- Overview :Historically, one of the major railroads in Belize was the Stann Creek Railway used by United Fruit, which connected Middlesex Estate with the port of Dangriga. The railway was narrow gauge,...
– no connection Honduras
Rail transport in Honduras
Railroads in Honduras were built in late 19th and early 20th centuries by two competing U.S. corporations - United Fruit and Standard Fruit . All were in the Caribbean coastal area and never reached the capital. In 1993, the combined network had 785 km...
- none in use - break-of-gauge
Break-of-gauge
With railways, a break-of-gauge occurs where a line of one gauge meets a line of a different gauge. Trains and rolling stock cannot run through without some form of conversion between gauges, and freight and passengers must otherwise be transloaded...
/ (?) El Salvador
Rail transport in El Salvador
At present , there are only a limited number of trains in El Salvador. The national railroad corporation is FENADESAL , a division of CEPA...
– at Angulatú/San Jerónimo
San Jerónimo
San Jerónimo is a municipality in the Honduran department of Comayagua....
, inactive
- There were plans to build a railway connection from the Panama CanalPanama CanalThe Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
to MexicoMexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
- the so-called FERISTSAFERISTSAFERISTSA was the name of a proposed USD $3 billion privately owned commercial railroad going from the Panama Canal Railway Company through the entire length of Central America, linking with Mexico's rail system at the Guatemala border, and thus to the United States of America.- Description :The...
Railway - which would pass through Guatemala.
In Books
Adventure traveler Richard HalliburtonRichard Halliburton
Richard Halliburton was an American traveler, adventurer, and author. Best known today for having swum the length of the Panama Canal and paying the lowest toll in its history—thirty-six cents—Halliburton was headline news for most of his brief career...
described Guatemala's former main railroad line in New Worlds to Conquer (1929). Travel writer Paul Theroux
Paul Theroux
Paul Edward Theroux is an American travel writer and novelist, whose best known work of travel writing is perhaps The Great Railway Bazaar . He has also published numerous works of fiction, some of which were made into feature films. He was awarded the 1981 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his...
described his journey by train through Guatemala in his book The Old Patagonian Express
The Old Patagonian Express
The Old Patagonian Express is a written account of a journey taken by novelist Paul Theroux. Starting out from his home town in Massachusetts, via Boston and Chicago, Theroux travels by train across the North American plains to Laredo, Texas. He then crosses the border and takes a train south...
, as he traveled from Boston to Patagonia
Patagonia
Patagonia is a region located in Argentina and Chile, integrating the southernmost section of the Andes mountains to the southwest towards the Pacific ocean and from the east of the cordillera to the valleys it follows south through Colorado River towards Carmen de Patagones in the Atlantic Ocean...
.
See also
- FERISTSAFERISTSAFERISTSA was the name of a proposed USD $3 billion privately owned commercial railroad going from the Panama Canal Railway Company through the entire length of Central America, linking with Mexico's rail system at the Guatemala border, and thus to the United States of America.- Description :The...
- GuatemalaGuatemalaGuatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
- Transportation in GuatemalaTransportation in GuatemalaTransportation in Guatemala.-Ground transportation:Chicken buses, recycled and often colorfully painted former US school buses, are popular within cities and for short-distance trips...
- Rail transport by countryRail transport by countryThis page provides an index of articles on Rail transport by country.Other indexes available include:*List of railway companies by country*List of countries by rail transport network size*Rail usage statistics by country...
External links
- Ferrovías Guatemala - current operator of Guatemalan railroads (more links imbedded inside)
- Ferrocarril de Los Altos – history, 17 photographs, 2 maps
- Report from a tourist train trip with map, gradient profile and photographs
- Overview of rail in Guatemala with contact addresses, photographs and links
- Germans in Verapaz, article in Prensa Libre with a picture of Ferrocarril Verapaz