Tramways of Panama
Encyclopedia
Tramways or tram
s started service in Panama City
in 1893 and lasted, with interruptions, until 1941. Passenger rail tranport in Panama dates back to the 1850s when the first transisthmian railroad line across Panama
was beginning to be built to supply an alternate route
to California
in search of gold and wealth. The Panama Railroad was operational from Colón to Panama City by 1855. An attempt to build a battery operated tram in Colón in 1910 was not successful.
in Bogotá let a contract with a Colombian company to build what would have been the first street railway in Panama City. That first company failed to complete the tramway line. The contract was bought up by foreign investors who formed the United Electric Tramways Company in London on 22 October 1892. On 1 October 1893 service was inaugurated on a Panama City line that was built with English financing and Siemens
electrical technology along Avenida Central. It was not the very first, but was among the first few electric tramway systems built in Latin America
.
The United Electric Tramway line started service just as the first major attempt to build a canal
across the isthmus by the Ferdinand de Lesseps
led La Société internationale du Canal interocéanique was winding down. By 1894 a second effort to build a canal under a newly formed Compagnie Nouvelle du Canal de Panama was started. The construction efforts helped boost ridership along the new tramway line. The second canal construction attempt did not succeed and the economy of the isthmus slowed. Service along that first Panama City tramway line ended during the Thousand Days' War, which lasted from 1899 to 1902.
On 3 November 1903 the Republic of Panama declared its independence from Colombia
, having previously been the Isthmus Department of Colombia
. In 1904 the United States took over operations of the Compagnie Nouvelle du Canal de Panama and expanded the effort, eventually completing the Panama Canal
. While canal construction was underway, on 29 October 1906 the new Panamanian government let a contract for a new tramway in Panama City. The initial attempt to build the new line failed and the contract was put up for bid once more. The contract was taken up by a person
working for the United Fruit Company
who formed a new Panama Tramways Company on 9 November 1911. The Panama Tramways Company was incorporated in New Jersey
and began building a new tramway line in 1912. The new narrow gauge
(42 inches or 1,066.8 mm) line opened for service on 1 August 1913, one year before the opening of the Panama Canal. In 1914 the Panama Tramways Company was reorganized as the Panama Electric Company and the latter company was acquired by the Electric Bond and Share Company
(Ebasco) on 27 September 1917. At the time, Ebasco was a holding company subsidiary of General Electric
.
In 1916 an author noted that Panama City:
Nevertheless, the new tramway was subject to a strike amidst a general strike of other workers such as garbage collectors in October 1916. Both the original United Electric Tramways Company and the later Panama Tramways Company used equipment with entrance doors on the left since the isthmus was a drive on the left traffic area in the 19th century. Panama changed to drive on the right for road vehicles in 1943. A level junction
intersection of the two track tram line with the two track Panama Rail Road line was constructed along Avenida Central in 1920 to avoid the need for the trams to follow a longer route around the mainline railroad that had previously gone along Avenida Norte and Calle 23 Este. At the outer end of the line in Sabanas near Calle 62 there was a bullring
with a wooden grandstand.
Tramway service on the Panama City line lasted until midnight on Saturday 31 May 1941. The contract between the company and the government had been nullified and transport service was subsequently provided by buses
.
had a horsecar
tramway initially.
There was then an attempt to build a battery operated electric street railway in Colón starting in 1910. However, it was reported by July 1914 in foreign press reports that work on the Colón project was suspended. The Colón battery tramway was never completed.
in Panama City. Unlike a tramway or light rail line the metro is expected to have grade separated tracks along at least portions of the line.
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
s started service in Panama City
Panama City
Panama is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Panama. It has a population of 880,691, with a total metro population of 1,272,672, and it is located at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, in the province of the same name. The city is the political and administrative center of the...
in 1893 and lasted, with interruptions, until 1941. Passenger rail tranport in Panama dates back to the 1850s when the first transisthmian railroad line across Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
was beginning to be built to supply an alternate route
Alternate route
An official alternate route is a special route in the United States that provides an alternate alignment for a highway. They are loop roads and found in many road systems in the United States including the U.S. Route system and various state route systems...
to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
in search of gold and wealth. The Panama Railroad was operational from Colón to Panama City by 1855. An attempt to build a battery operated tram in Colón in 1910 was not successful.
Panama City
On 16 May 1889 the Ministry of Public WorksPublic works
Public works are a broad category of projects, financed and constructed by the government, for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community...
in Bogotá let a contract with a Colombian company to build what would have been the first street railway in Panama City. That first company failed to complete the tramway line. The contract was bought up by foreign investors who formed the United Electric Tramways Company in London on 22 October 1892. On 1 October 1893 service was inaugurated on a Panama City line that was built with English financing and Siemens
Siemens
Siemens may refer toSiemens, a German family name carried by generations of telecommunications industrialists, including:* Werner von Siemens , inventor, founder of Siemens AG...
electrical technology along Avenida Central. It was not the very first, but was among the first few electric tramway systems built in Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
.
The United Electric Tramway line started service just as the first major attempt to build a canal
History of the Panama Canal
The history of the Panama Canal goes back almost to the earliest explorers of the Americas. The narrow land bridge between North and South America offers a unique opportunity to create a water passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans...
across the isthmus by the Ferdinand de Lesseps
Ferdinand de Lesseps
Ferdinand Marie, Vicomte de Lesseps, GCSI was the French developer of the Suez Canal, which joined the Mediterranean and Red Seas in 1869, and substantially reduced sailing distances and times between the West and the East.He attempted to repeat this success with an effort to build a sea-level...
led La Société internationale du Canal interocéanique was winding down. By 1894 a second effort to build a canal under a newly formed Compagnie Nouvelle du Canal de Panama was started. The construction efforts helped boost ridership along the new tramway line. The second canal construction attempt did not succeed and the economy of the isthmus slowed. Service along that first Panama City tramway line ended during the Thousand Days' War, which lasted from 1899 to 1902.
On 3 November 1903 the Republic of Panama declared its independence from Colombia
Separation of Panama from Colombia
The Separation of Panama from Colombia was formalized on 3 November 1903 with the establishment of the Republic of Panama from the Republic of Colombia's Department of Panama.-Prelude:...
, having previously been the Isthmus Department of Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
. In 1904 the United States took over operations of the Compagnie Nouvelle du Canal de Panama and expanded the effort, eventually completing the Panama Canal
Panama Canal
The 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...
. While canal construction was underway, on 29 October 1906 the new Panamanian government let a contract for a new tramway in Panama City. The initial attempt to build the new line failed and the contract was put up for bid once more. The contract was taken up by a person
working for the United Fruit Company
United Fruit Company
It had a deep and long-lasting impact on the economic and political development of several Latin American countries. Critics often accused it of exploitative neocolonialism and described it as the archetypal example of the influence of a multinational corporation on the internal politics of the...
who formed a new Panama Tramways Company on 9 November 1911. The Panama Tramways Company was incorporated in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
and began building a new tramway line in 1912. The new narrow gauge
Narrow gauge
A narrow gauge railway is a railway that has a track gauge narrower than the of standard gauge railways. Most existing narrow gauge railways have gauges of between and .- Overview :...
(42 inches or 1,066.8 mm) line opened for service on 1 August 1913, one year before the opening of the Panama Canal. In 1914 the Panama Tramways Company was reorganized as the Panama Electric Company and the latter company was acquired by the Electric Bond and Share Company
Electric Bond and Share Company
The Electric Bond and Share Company was originally a holding company that sold securities of electric utilities. It was created by General Electric in 1905. The company was restructured after the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935. Later known as EBASCO Services, it provided engineering...
(Ebasco) on 27 September 1917. At the time, Ebasco was a holding company subsidiary of General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
.
In 1916 an author noted that Panama City:
Nevertheless, the new tramway was subject to a strike amidst a general strike of other workers such as garbage collectors in October 1916. Both the original United Electric Tramways Company and the later Panama Tramways Company used equipment with entrance doors on the left since the isthmus was a drive on the left traffic area in the 19th century. Panama changed to drive on the right for road vehicles in 1943. A level junction
Level junction
In U.S. railroad practice, a level junction is a railway junction that has a track configuration in which merging or crossing railroad lines provide track connections with each other that require trains to cross over in front of opposing traffic at grade In U.S. railroad practice, a level junction...
intersection of the two track tram line with the two track Panama Rail Road line was constructed along Avenida Central in 1920 to avoid the need for the trams to follow a longer route around the mainline railroad that had previously gone along Avenida Norte and Calle 23 Este. At the outer end of the line in Sabanas near Calle 62 there was a bullring
Bullring
A bullring is an arena where bullfighting is performed. Bullrings are often associated with Spain, but they can also be found in neighboring countries and the New World...
with a wooden grandstand.
Tramway service on the Panama City line lasted until midnight on Saturday 31 May 1941. The contract between the company and the government had been nullified and transport service was subsequently provided by buses
Bustitution
The word bustitution is a neologism sometimes used to describe the practice of replacing a passenger train service with a bus service either on a temporary or permanent basis. The word is a portmanteau of the words "bus" and "substitution"...
.
Colón
The city of ColónColón, Panama
Colón is a sea port on the Caribbean Sea coast of Panama. The city lies near the Atlantic entrance to the Panama Canal. It is capital of Panama's Colón Province and has traditionally been known as Panama's second city....
had a horsecar
Horsecar
A horsecar or horse-drawn tram is an animal-powered streetcar or tram.These early forms of public transport developed out of industrial haulage routes that had long been in existence, and from the omnibus routes that first ran on public streets in the 1820s, using the newly improved iron or steel...
tramway initially.
There was then an attempt to build a battery operated electric street railway in Colón starting in 1910. However, it was reported by July 1914 in foreign press reports that work on the Colón project was suspended. The Colón battery tramway was never completed.
21st century
In 2000 a study was carried out by transit officials in Panama City and a French consulting firm on the feasibility of building a new two line light rail type transit system in the city. But, in 2010 the government of Panama announced it planned to proceed with the construction of a new Panama MetroPanama Metro
The Panamá metro is a transport project in Panama City, in Panama, planned to open in January 2014.-Project:The government of Panama invited tenders for a contract to build the metro system. The Línea Uno consortium, which includes the Spanish FCC group, won the contract. The government of Brazil...
in Panama City. Unlike a tramway or light rail line the metro is expected to have grade separated tracks along at least portions of the line.
See also
- Rail transport in PanamaRail transport in PanamaSince 1974, the only functioning railroad in Panama is Panama Canal Railway Company, successor of Panama Railway - the oldest transcontinental railroad in the world. It provides passenger and freight service between Panama City and Colón...
- Panama Canal Railway
- Tramways of BogotáTramways of BogotaInaugurated on December 24, 1884, the first tramway in Bogotá was pulled by mules and covered the route from Plaza de Bolívar and San Diego, and in 1892 the line linking Plaza de Bolívar and Estación de la Sabana started operating. The original tramway ran over wooden rails but since it easily...
- List of town tramway systems in Central America