Panama Canal Railway

History of earlier isthmus crossings and plans

The Spanish improved what they called the Camino Real (royal road), and later the Las Cruces trail, built and maintained for transportation of cargo and passengers across the Isthmus of Panama. These were the main routes across the isthmus for more than three centuries. By the 19th century businessmen thought it was time to develop a cheaper, safer, and faster alternative. Railroad technology had developed in the early 19th century. Given the cost and difficulty of constructing a canal with the available technology, a railway seemed the ideal solution.

President Bolívar of La Gran Colombia (Venezuela, Ecuador, Panama, Colombia) commissioned a study into the possibility of building a railway from Chagres (on the Chagres River) to the town of Panama City. This study was carried out between 1827 and 1829, just as locomotives were being invented. Previously railroads used horses for motive power. The report stated that such a railway might be possible. However, the idea was shelved.

In 1836, United States President Andrew Jackson commissioned a study of proposed routes for inter-oceanic communication in order to protect the interests of Americans traveling between the oceans and those living in the developing Oregon Country of the Pacific Northwest. The United States acquired a franchise for a trans-Isthmian railroad; however, the scheme was disrupted by the economic downturn after the business panic of 1837, and came to nothing.

In 1838 a French company was given a concession for the construction of a road, rail, or canal route across the isthmus. An initial engineering study recommended a sea-level canal from Bahía Limón to the bay of Boca del Monte, 12 miles (19 km) west of Panama City. The proposed project collapsed for lack of technology and funding needed.

In the 1840s, the United States again turned its attention to securing a safe, reliable, and speedy link between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. In 1846, the United States signed a treaty with Colombia (then the Republic of New Granada) by which the United States guaranteed Colombian sovereignty over Panama and was authorized to build a railroad or canal at the Panamanian isthmus, guaranteeing its open transit. Several developments would presage the movement of American settlers to and from the West Coast, including the 1846 acquisition of Alta California and, in 1848, the acquisition of the Oregon Territory and the discovery of gold in California. (No transcontinental railroad across the North American continent would be completed until 1869.)

1855 Panama Railroad

Construction

In January 1849, Aspinwall hired Colonel George W. Hughes to lead a survey party and pick a proposed Panama Railroad roadbed to Panama City. The eventual survey turned out to be full of errors, omissions, and optimistic forecasts, which made it of little use. In April 1849, William Henry Aspinwall was chosen head of the Panama Railroad company, which was incorporated in the State of New York and initially raised $1,000,000 in capital.

In early 1850, George Law, owner of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, bought up the options of the land from the mouth of the Chagres River to the end of Navy Bay in order to force the directors of the new Panama Railroad to give him a position on the board of the company. Since there were no harbor facilities on the Atlantic side of the isthmus, they needed to create a town with docking facilities to unload their railroad supplies there. Refusing to allow Law onto the board, the directors decided to start building harbor facilities, an Atlantic terminus, and their railroad from the vacant site of Manzanillo Island. Starting in May 1850, what would become the city of Aspinwall (now Colón) was founded on 650 acres (260 ha) on the western end of Manzanillo Island, a treacherously marshy islet covered with mangrove trees.

The board solicited bids from construction companies in the United States to build the railroad. George M. Totten and John Trautwine initially submitted one of the winning bids. After surveying the railroad's proposed course and the probable construction difficulties and uncertainties, they withdrew their bid. Totten agreed to become the chief engineer on the railroad construction project, working for a salary instead of as a general contractor.

A new town on the Atlantic end of the railroad would have to be built on swampy ground that was often awash at high tide. The mangrove, palms, and poisonous manchineel (manzanilla) trees and other jungle vegetation had to be felled, and many of the buildings in the new town had to be built on stilts to keep them above the water. As more worker housing was needed, abandoned ships brought to the mouth of the Chagres River as part of the California Gold Rush were towed near the island and used for temporary housing. A steam-powered pile driver was brought from New York. Docks were constructed on pile-driven timbers, more of the island was stripped of vegetation, and elevated living spaces, docks, warehouses, and the like were constructed.

Financing

The railway cost some US$8 million to build – eight times the initial 1850 estimate – and presented considerable engineering challenges, passing over mountains and through swamps. Over 300 bridges and culverts needed to be built along the route.

It was built and financed by private companies from the United States. Among the key individuals in building the railway were William H. Aspinwall, David Hoadley, George M. Totten, and John Lloyd Stephens. The railroad was built and originally owned by a publicly traded corporation based in New York City, the Panama Rail Road Company, which was chartered by the State of New York on April 7, 1849. The company bought exclusive rights from the government of Colombia (then known as Republic of New Granada, of which Panama was a part) to build the railroad across the isthmus.

The railway carried significant traffic even while it was under construction, with traffic carried by canoe and mules over the unfinished sections. This had not been originally intended, but people crossing the isthmus to California and returning east were eager to use such track as had been laid. When only 7 miles (11 km) of track had been completed, the railway was doing a brisk business, charging $0.50 per mile per person for the train ride and increasing to $25 per person (first class) when the line was finally completed. By the time the line was officially completed and the first revenue train ran over the full length of its grade on January 28, 1855, more than one-third of its $8 million cost had already been paid for from fares and freight tariffs.

At $25, the first-class fare, one way, was one of the highest rates in existence for a 47 miles (76 km) ride. High prices for carrying freight and passengers, despite very expensive ongoing maintenance and upgrades, made the railroad one of the most profitable in the world. Engineering and medical difficulties made the Panama Railway the most expensive railway, per unit length of track, built at the time.

Death toll

It is estimated that from 5,000 to 10,000 people may have died in the construction of the railroad, though the Panama Railway company kept no official count and the total may be higher or lower. Cholera, malaria, and yellow fever killed thousands of workers, who were from the United States, Europe, Colombia, China, the Caribbean islands, and also included some African slaves. Many of these workers had come to Panama to seek their fortune and had arrived with little or no identification. Many died with no known next of kin, nor permanent address, nor even a known surname.

Shipping lines

For most of the 19th century, the Panama Railway relied upon third-party companies—most notably the Pacific Mail Steamship Company—to provide connecting steamship services between New York and Panama on the Atlantic and Panama and San Francisco on the Pacific. However, the company also maintained its own fleet of smaller watercraft for local work, and over the course of its history also ran two of its own steamship lines.

The first of these, the Central American Line, was established on the Pacific in 1856, and linked ports in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, San Salvador and Guatemala to Panama City. This shipping line initially proved highly lucrative, providing sufficient trade to justify the deployment of seven steamships, and for a time actually outdoing the railway itself in profits. Eventually, however, Britain’s Pacific Steam Navigation Company began providing stiff competition, and with overall profits declining due to the completion of the transcontinental railroad in the United States—which provided a direct link between that country's East and West coasts—the Panama Railway liquidated the Central American Line in the late 1860s.

When construction of the Panama Canal began in 1881, the shipping service from New York to Panama had to be greatly expanded. Rather than continuing to rely on third parties for these services, the railway established a new steamship company, the Columbian Line, in 1893, to transport company equipment, supplies and personnel between New York and Colón. In 1896, the Columbian Line was renamed the Panama Railroad Steamship Company, and with the purchase by the United States government of the Panama Railroad Company in 1905, the steamship company also became wholly government-owned. At this time, ships of the steamship company included the Allianca, Advance, Finance, Panama, Cristobal, and Ancon, the latter becoming the first ship to officially complete a transit of the newly opened canal in 1914.

A downturn in world trade during the Great Depression reduced the number of ships from six to two. In the late 1930s, the two remaining ships were retired and three new ones, named Panama, Ancon and Cristobal after their predecessors, were built to replace them; around this time, the Panama Railroad Steamship Company was renamed the Panama Line. The line continued in service, excepting an interruption during World War II, until 1981, when the last of its ships was sold and the government-owned steamship service between the United States and Panama came to an end.

1904–12 rebuild: Panama Canal building and afterward

In 1904, the United States obtained consent from the newly formed Panamanian government to build and operate a canal. John Frank Stevens, chief American railroad construction engineer, envisioned the Panama Canal project as a huge earthmoving effort made possible by the railroad. This would be facilitated by the United States Secretary of War, who controlled all of the stock of the Panama Railway Company.

The canal project would require the entire railroad to be rebuilt to handle far heavier loads and equipment. As well, parts of the railroad would be extended and altered as construction proceeded, and the section that ran through the Chagres River valley would have to be moved permanently to make way for the artificial Gatun Lake.

Canal construction years

The railroad's French equipment was nearly all judged obsolete, worn out, or too light-duty. (Some would be melted down and converted into medals presented to men working on the canal.) Stevens aimed to use the biggest and most durable equipment available.

So, beginning in 1904, chief engineer John Findley Wallace (1904–1905) largely replaced the single-track line with two tracks of heavy-duty rails. New rolling stock of about 115 powerful locomotives, 2,300 dirt spoils railroad cars, and 102 railroad-mounted steam shovels were brought in from the United States and elsewhere. The steam shovels were some of the largest in the world when they were introduced.

The new permanent railroad closely paralleled the canal where it could and was moved and reconstructed where it interfered with the canal work. Many tracks were added temporarily to transport the sand and rock from the excavation, and other upgrades were made to the rail system. Machine shops and maintenance facilities were added. Stevens also launched extensive mosquito-abatement projects were undertaken to make it safer to work in Panama. Once the mosquitoes were under control, much of the railroad was ready to go to work.

The railroad ultimately hauled millions of tons of men, equipment, and supplies. It also removed essentially all of the hundreds of millions of cubic yards of material from the canal cuts. These were broken up by explosives, loaded by steam shovels, mounted on one set of railroad tracks, loaded onto rail cars, and hauled out by locomotives pulling the spoils cars running on parallel tracks.

Most of the cars carrying the dirt spoils were wooden flat cars lined with steel floors that used a crude but effective unloading device, the Lidgerwood system. The railroad cars had only one side, and steel aprons bridged the spaces between them. The rock and dirt were first blasted loose by explosives. Two sets of tracks were then built or moved up to where the loosened material lay. The steam shovels, moving on one set of tracks, picked up the loosened dirt and piled it on the flat cars traveling on a parallel set of tracks. The dirt was piled high against the one closed side of the car. The train moved forward until all cars were filled. A typical train had 20 dirt cars arranged as essentially one long car.

Permanent railroad

New technology not available in the 1850s allowed earth cuts and fills to be used on the new railroad that were many times larger than those done in the original 1851–1855 construction. The rebuilt, much improved, and often rerouted Panama Railway continued alongside the new canal and across Gatun Lake. The railroad was completed in its final configuration in 1912, two years before the canal, at a cost of $9 million—$1 million more than the original.

After World War II, few additional improvements were made to the Panama Railway. The United States returned control of the railroad to Panama in 1979, and conditions began to decline. By the 1990s, service had declined to the point that trains were limited to 10 mph (16 km/h), and the railroad was losing millions of dollars per month. Recognizing the railroad was operating far below its potential, in 1998 the government of Panama offered private companies a 50-year concession to take over and rebuild the railroad.

Except for dedicated railroad sections, such as the concrete factory, the broad 5 ft (1,524 mm) gauge was used. This gauge was also used for the locomotives along the locks ("mules"). When the gauge for the railroad was changed in 2001, the mules kept the broad gauge.

2001 reconstruction

On June 19, 1998, the government of Panama turned over control of the railroad to the private Panama Canal Railway Company (PCRC), a joint venture between Kansas City Southern and gantry crane manufacturer Mi-Jack Products. The new company decided to rebuild the railroad line to handle container traffic parallel to the canal. The railroad projected it could move containers across Panama eight times as fast as the canal. Work on the new railroad started in January 2000, and was complete in July 2001 at a cost of $76 million. Passenger service began at that time, with freight service started a few months later. Two container handling terminals were created: on the Atlantic side, near Manzanillo International Terminal (Colón), and the Pacific Intermodal Terminal near Balboa Harbour. Passenger stations are in Colón (called Atlantic Passenger Station) and Corozal railway station, 4 mi (6 km) from Panama City.

Tracks

The renovation project involved the laying of new ballast, sleepers (ties), and rail. The track gauge was changed from 5 ft (1,524 mm) to 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge, which is the same "standard gauge" used on the North American rail network. The rails were replaced with 136 lb/yd (67.46 kg/m) continuously welded rail, purchased from Sydney Steel Corporation in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada. Similarly, the crushed rock used for ballast was purchased from Martin Marietta Materials in Auld's Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada. Concrete sleepers (ties) were used to avoid termite and other insect damage. The route was realigned slightly, with a shortcut added around the Gatún locks. The line is now single track, with some strategically placed sections of double track (near Gamboa and Monte Lirio). The floor of the old Miraflores Tunnel was lowered to accommodate the extra height of double-stacked containers. A maintenance shop was built near Colón that can also receive the container-loading portal cranes, which are also owned and operated by PCRC.

Passenger service and freight capacity

As of 2018, one passenger service per direction was offered every Monday thru Friday. The Corozal (Panama City)–Colón train has a traveling time of one hour.

While the main purpose of the train is as a commuter rail for those living in Panama City and working in Colon, it has also become a tourist excursion. As it was used during the construction of the canal, it runs parallel to the canal and offers views of the canal. The rail cars are classic in nature, with first-class amenities, bar service, with second-level viewing areas and outdoor viewing.

For freight services – that is, transporting containers across the isthmus – the initial capacity allows for 10 trains to run in each direction per 24 hours. With the current rail configuration, this could be extended to a maximum of 32 trains per 24 hours. A train is composed of double-stack bulkhead-type rail cars, typically containing 75 containers, a mix of sixty 40' and fifteen 20' containers. The basic capacity is around 500,000 container moves a year (approximately 900,000 TEU), with a maximum capacity of 2 million TEU per year.

Freight trains are loaded and unloaded in the railway terminals by portal cranes, serving 3,000 ft (910 m) long tracks that can be expanded into six tracks. Containers are transported to and from nearby dock container stacks by truck on a dedicated road.

As of 2013, the railroad was handling about 1,500 containers per day. The Panama Canal carries some 33,500 containers each day.

On June 23, 2020, the bulk carrier (freighter) "Bluebill" struck the railway bridge crossing the Chagres River, near Gamboa, severely damaging the bridge and severing the rail route approximately midway between the two terminals. The rail connection was reopened in late September 2020.

Rolling stock

Original railroad

Many of the early locomotives were built by the Portland Company. All were five-foot gauge.

2001 rebuild

In the 2001 rebuild, most rolling stock was replaced, too, as the line was switched to standard gauge. The railroad has a fleet of several historic passenger cars in service, including PCRC #102, which is a vintage dome car first built by the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1955. The passenger cars are Clocker coaches built by the Budd Company and leased from Amtrak.

As of August 2009, the railway's motive power consists of ten former Amtrak F40PHs, five EMD SD60s and two EMD SD40-2s from the Kansas City Southern Railway, and one GP10. The locomotive numbering scheme begins with 1855, honoring the year in which the original Panama Railroad was completed.

The rebuilt railway's revenue freight rolling stock consists of 5-well, articulated, double-stack container railcars with bulkheads. The 265-foot-long car sets were built by Gunderson Inc. and each car set can hold ten 40 foot containers. The bottom level in each well can hold two 20 foot containers instead of one 40 foot unit. The intermodal terminals at each end can accommodate trains of 11 of these cars, which carry a total of up to 110 forty-foot equivalent units (FEUs).