International Railroad Discussion > Interchange in the Americas?

It's pretty widely known that US, Mexico, and Canada all have the same basic rail network as lines criss-cross borders and allow carloads of products to move between the three countries through interchange. However, I am wondering how far down this network extends? Does Mexico have any interchanging rail traffic along its border with Guatemala and/or Belize in the same way US rail lines cross into Canada and Mexico? How about countries further south?

-Eric

Southern Mexico is the end of the North American Rail Network. Guatamala railroads are a narrower gauge. (I don't recall, but there actually may have been a standard gauge track extending across the border river into Guatamala to allow transferring freight to the narrow guage railway, but the would have been the extent of it.)

You might try digging up a copy of "The Old Patagonian Express" by Paul Theroux. In it, he records his journey from Boston to Argentina by rail, mostly. I take his gloomy leftist outlook with a grain of salt (or a good Scotch) but he is a good writer and really managed to make most of the trip by train. Of course, this was thirty years ago or more so it would not be the same but still interesting reading.

Sorry the former standard gauge extension into Guatemala is shutdown. As this part of the former NdeM has suffered some washouts and damage from a hurricane several years ago.

Guatemala's, El Salvador and Honduras rail lines are narrow gauge and at present inactive. Costa Rica's rails are active again, but are 42 inch gauge. Costa Rica has no border crossing railroads. Panama Railway's rebuilt line is all standard gauge and does not interchange to any other lines.

Guatemala's three foot rails are being plundered by looters and most if not all of the rails have been stolen. The rail equipment is now landlocked in Guatemala City and several other terminals. The Government is indirectly allowing this looting as a way to discourage the lawsuit by Rail Development Corporation of Pittsburgh, PA. the former concessionaire of Guatemala Rail System. RDC has a contract for 25 years to manage the railroad. However strong anti-rail fractions of Congress (trucking industry) want the rails gone as a way to guarantee monopoly of the freight in this country. Also the downtown rail yards are in the prime real estate of the Capital for high rise developments.

RDC has lawsuit in the Central American Free Trade Agreement Courts. Guatemala failed to support the rail operation with capital improvements and canceled contracts regarding the lease of the rail equipment. RDC has proposed standard gauging the Teman Uman on the border with Mexico to near the Capital City for better interchange with North America.

Very little cross border interchange occurs in South America except in Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile for the most part between meter gauge lines.


Paraguay and Argentina have limited standard gauge interchange. Paraguay's rails are only 4 Km in Encarncion using wood burning steam locos inside Paraguay. However all other transfers between Brazil and Argentina is only at the border with trans loading to the other gauges. Brazil is 5 foot 3 inch for most of it's system and meter in other areas. Uruguay has standard gauge system that has little traffic.

Chile and Argentina have extensive Broad Gauge 5 ft 6 in lines that do not interchange.

Ecuador, Peru, Columbia all have different gauges that do not have border crossings. Venezuela is rebuilt to Standard Gauge and does not interchange with any nearby countries.

Railroads were not developed to interchange with other countries except between Chile and Bolivia for moving ore to the port of Antofagasta or Arica in Chile. Other connections to Argentina and Brazil occurred later to connect to the system. Argentina's General Belgrano Cargo has not been managed well and is the worst privatized company of Argentina. This is a meter gauge system based out of Buenos Aires that is connected to Brazil, Chile and Bolivia at several points. The system is on the verge of complete collapse from lack of maintenance and damaged equipment.

Dale Brown



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/24/10 10:31 by DWBrown.

I should add that at one time interchange between Bolivia and Peru occurred on Lake Titicaca by rail barge. The standard gauge Peruvian cars and Bolivian meter gauge cars could be loaded on the dual gauge rail barge.

When the cars reached Puno, Peru or Guaqui, Bolivia on the barge they were moved off to transfer areas and cargo was trans loaded to the other guage as needed. Today the barge and interchange has ceased operation as trucks use a new paved highway around the southern end of the lake between the two countries.

Most freight is moved by trucks unless it is heavy cargo like ore, grain or Coal then it is moved by rail.

Dale Brown

rdsexton Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You might try digging up a copy of "The Old
> Patagonian Express" by Paul Theroux. In it, he
> records his journey from Boston to Argentina by
> rail, mostly. I take his gloomy leftist outlook
> with a grain of salt (or a good Scotch) but he is
> a good writer and really managed to make most of
> the trip by train. Of course, this was thirty
> years ago or more so it would not be the same but
> still interesting reading.

"Gloomy leftist outlook"!!! The guy wrote it as he saw it and I would have a hard time disagreeing with any of his writings over the years, having lived and worked in many of the areas covered by his books. His early train travel books were written at a time when railroads were in decline (many still are in the "third" world) and the ability to cross continents was becoming increasingly difficult due to political and economic constraints.

To get back on subject, I would have to say that south of Mexico the interchange is going to be primarily from railroad to truck, if the goods are not already on a truck in Mexico.

It was reading the Old Patagonian Express which fired up my interest in South American railways. I owe it all to Paul Theroux :-)

There's a project called "Feritsa" to construct a standard gauge railroad from scratch from Tecun Uman, Guatemala to Panama, connecting FIT with PCRC...

Although, just a project, it's easy compared to connecting Panama with Columbia by rail.

"Gloomy Leftist Outlook" ? Paul Theroux ? I always found him slightly elitist but very entertaining. His later works lack the enthusiasm of the "Old Patagonian Express', as if he was getting bored with travelling and people in general.

A travelogue writer with a sense of humility and humour. Eric Newby.

Second the motion! "Falmouth for Orders" is one of my favorite books (Eric Newby's trip as a crewman on one of the last commercial sailing ships, 1930s).

Interchange in South America and Central America: the 1989 AREA "Bulletin" had a fun little article, "To the End of the North American Standard Gauge", in which the author and some friends hi-railed across the Mexican border at Tecun Uman into Guatemala. The bridge, and the yard on the Guatemala side, are dual-gauge. When there was interchange, standard gauge cars were transloaded in this yard. Interestingly, the rail line to Guatemala City was built to be standard gauge, but since everything else in Guatemala was three-foot gauge, the rails were laid to that gauge. RDC would have had a fairly easy time standard-gauging the line, which was in their long-term plans.

The railway network in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador was once under common ownership as the International Railways of Central America, owned by a flamboyant gentleman named O. Roy Chalk, who also owned Trans-Caribbean Airways and the D.C. Transit trolley and bus system. It was entirely U.S. equipment. There is an interesting movie, "Dark of the Sun", which was set in the Congo during the 1950s but actually filmed on IRCA. Lots of narrow-gauge Baldwin steam engines.

The rest of the South American continent is pretty much as described. There is through service from Brazil to Santa Cruz, in eastern Bolivia, but nothing through to the Pacific. The Antofagasta and Bolivia runs from Antofagasta to the border, connecting to the Bolivian meter-gauge network, and there is another meter-gauge line from Socompa over to a connection to whatever is left of the Belgrano Railway in Argentina.

Argentina, in true British fashion, has meter-gauge, standard gauge, and broad gauge (5'3") lines. There is a standard-gauge interchange between the Ferrocarril Mesopotamico and the Uruguayan system, but there is very little traffic on either network.

There was at one time through passenger service from Buenos Aires to La Paz via the Belgrano, and probably freight interchange as well, but I'm not sure any rail connection is still active. Paul Theroux rode the overnight train from La Paz, as I recall.

Aren't there still 2-ft and 2-1/2-ft gauge systems still active in southern Argentina?

rresor Wrote:

> Argentina, in true British fashion, has
> meter-gauge, standard gauge, and broad gauge
> (5'3") lines. There is a standard-gauge
> interchange between the Ferrocarril Mesopotamico
> and the Uruguayan system, but there is very little
> traffic on either network.

Pardon me, but the Argentine (and Chilean) broad gauge is 5'6" (1676mm). It is the Brazilian broad gauge that is 5'3" (1600mm), same as Irish and Australian broad gauges.

Also, while I agree that the Uruguayan network has very little traffic, the Mesopotamico (former Ferrocarril General Urquiza) is operated by Brazilian transport powerhouse ALL (America Latina Logistica), in combination with the ALL lines in Brazil and with the Buenos Aires al Pacifico (BAP) in Argentina. Traffic on these lines is quite good, as far as I know. There is a standard-to-broad gauge transfer station at the Martin Coronado yard of the Mesopotamico (in the Buenos Aires suburbs, 12.5 km from Federico Lacroze terminus, IIRC), and I beleve a similar standard-to-meter gauge transfer at the Brazilian border (international road/rail bridge across the Uruguay river, between Paso de los Libres, Argentina and Uruguaiana, Brazil). At one time (when Henry Posner's RDC was running the Mesopotamico and BAP), a "one-carrier link" from Brazil to western Argentina was being promoted over this route, although I don't know how well it is doing today.

Roger Lewis (airbrakegeezer)

Thanks for the info. Can never remember which ones are 5'3" and which are 5'6".

When RDC was running BAP, Henry did tell me traffic was good on BAP, not so good on Mesopotamico. When I was in Argentina about a decade ago, several lines were out of service (temporarily? permanently?). Belgrano was a messs. Nuevo Central Argentino (broad gauge) was apparently doing okay.

I got down to Bahia Blanca, and the "main line" of Ferrosur Roca looked like my front lawn. Train speed was maybe 25 MPH. Problem with the network, I was told by the president of Ferrocamara, was that they had the mileage of CSX but about one tenth the traffic.

Only one line at Rio Gallagos that is 2 foot 5 1/2in (750mm)gauge to Rio Turbio coal mines. It is in Southern most Argentina near Ushusaia. The line was famous for 2-10-2's now out of service and some are stored derelict in Rio Turbio. 2 ft 6in is (762mm). They use Romanian diesels to pull coal trains to the port at Rio Gallagos. One plan was to extend the line to Chile and run steam tourist trains. All this seems to have faded with changes in Governments.

The Esquel branch is also same gauge. Only tourist trains on this line and it is 400km long. Nothing runs the entire length except a charter occasionally. Check the website for photos of the line.

Dale Brown
www.wingsandrails.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/27/10 08:05 by DWBrown.

---

> ... I am wondering how far down this network extends? Does Mexico have
> any interchanging rail traffic along its border
> with Guatemala

Eric,

Just to confirm what others have said, I'll offer a brief reply to your question. While inspecting the route through Chiapas during the privatization process, we hi-railed to the very end of standard gauge trackage, just to see where it was. I could look up the exact location, but as I recall it was about 2 km across the river from Ciudad Hidalgo into Guatemala. I recall many shocked/surprised expressions on faces as we rolled down the tracks between the shanty houses. No one there expected to see anything moving on those rails, especially not a truck! As mentioned, today the Chiapas route is severed and there isn't anything of value as a N/S rail corridor in Guatemala. Something could be built, of course, but it would almost be like starting from scratch...

Take care,

Mark

Tonala, Chiapas id the current southern end of the North American rail network. South of there, the line is out of service. However, work is slowly progressing to open the line to Tapachula and Guatamala. Please see the following threads for some more information on cross-border traffic.

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,2069488,2070801#msg-2070801

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,2058998,2059040#msg-2059040

rresor Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Second the motion! "Falmouth for Orders" is one
> of my favorite books (Eric Newby's trip as a
> crewman on one of the last commercial sailing
> ships, 1930s).
>
> Is that what is known as The Last Grain Race in the UK? I bet it is in which case I agree 100% it is one of the most entertaining pieces of travel writing ever. I've also got the book of the pictures he took on the voyage which offers a fascinating glimpse of life aboard these large steel hulled barques. Incidentally the ship he sailed in - Moshulu - is a floating restaurant in Philadelphia.

What about Feristsa?

ES58AC Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What about Feristsa?

Feristsa is project to build a standard gauge railroad from the Guatemala/State of Chiapas border (yeah... Tecun Uman-Chiapas) and the railroad would run from there to Panama connecting with the PCRC...

It would be like IRCA 2.0 project. Countries involved: Guatemala, Honduras or El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and of course, Panama.

Pipe dream? I don't know if the market is there, but it would involve uniting governments, jobs will be created and having standards of operation same as AAR because both FIT and PCRC use AAR, makes sense to do so...

What also would be interesting is what this proposed line would carry... I haven't heard anything more, maybe this would be discussed in the Latin Rails convention at Florida, who knows!!

When Feristsa is done, blast a tunnel to Colombia...

SBC_1344 Wrote:

>... I haven't heard anything more, maybe this would be discussed in
> the Latin Rails convention at Florida, who knows!!

If so, this would help confirm for me that not attending Latin Rails this year was a good decision!