|
The Railways of Panama |
|||||
| Country and History
Panama was until 1821 part of the Spanish colonies. Then it became part of the Colombian empire under Simón Bolivar. In 1903 Panama separated itself from Colombia. Thereafter the Hay-Bunau-Varilla treaty with the USA was signed which permitted to construct the Panama Canal and put the adjoining areas under US American control. 1977 the Torrijos-Carter treaty was signed which was to transfer the Canal zone to Panama by the end of 1999 and which then after an intermediate period in 1989 with a dictator and his dismissal by the USA took place. In a popular vote 2006 the modernisation project of the canal was accepted. The country language is Spanish, the capital Panama City. Panama is a presidential republic and has a surface of 75'500 square kilometres. The country has 3'200'000 inhabitants, the population density is 42,6 per square kilometre. 50% live in cities. The inhabitants call themselves Panamanians, 60 pct.. are mestizos, 15 % black and mulattos, 13% Creoles (whites), 8,3 pct. indigenous and 4 pct. Asiatic. 80 pct. are catholics, 15 pct. protestants, in addition there are jews and moslems. Currency is the Balboa (PAB) and the USD in relation 1:1. Panama forms the connexion from Central America to South America. In the West lies Costa Rica, in the East Colombia. The main source of income is the Panama Canal. Originally the country had up to 450 kilometres of rail lines, but today only the Panama Canal Railway of 76 km is operating. Further information can be found under http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama in English. The Railways Principally, there are today two operating railway systems: 1) The towing railway (ships towing railway) 2) The railway from Balboa to Colón In addition, there was a large network of narrow gauge railways, amongst them in Chiriquí province in the west of Panama El Ferrocarril de Chiriquí. The existing information on these railways is scarce and not very accurate. There are only few photographs of these railways . Two of them can be found on the pages of a cultural organisation in Chiriquí. Thanks to the research of Samuel Rachdi from the Fahrplancenter in Steinen/Switzerland much interesting material has come up. All these railways are closed and dismantled. The extensive information is therefore published on a separate page. The Tramways, Light Rail and the Metro Information on the Tramways of Panama can be found on Allen Morrison's excellent and richly illustrated web page (in English) under http://www.tramz.com/co/pa/pa.html. Electric tramways existed only in Panama City (two consequent systems) and with a suburban line to Sabanas. Stock consisted of two axle tramcars with trolley poles for power collection. In Colón there were plans for a battery operated tramway which however never were realised. In 2000 plans came up for a Light Rail line in Panama City, which however never were realised. Of recent, credits for the construction of a metro in Panama City were arranged. The first line goes from The December 24 in the East of the city to May 5 Square in the centre of the city, has a length of 14,5 Kilometres, 21 stations, and will cost USD550 Millions. Line 2 will have 21 Kilometres and cost USD1 Billion. The exiting 80 bus lines will be adapted to the Metro. The first line shall open in 3 years time. Six consortia will now present proposals, and the metro of Medellin will give support in technical questions (state of 01.01.10). The locks The Panama Canal has a length of 82 Kilometres and connects the Atlantic at Colón with the Pacific at Balboa near Panama City. A ship requires about 9 hours for the entire passage. On the Atlantic side there is one lock, the triple Gatún lock which leads to lake Gatún, an artificial lake formed by a dam, and on the Pacific side there are two locks, the single Pedro Miguel lock leading to lake Miraflores and the double Miraflores lock. The locks can take ships up to 106 feet wide and 965 feet long. All locks have one lock in each direction. The towing railway (ships towing railway) - a high speed Video In order to tow the ships through the locks on both shores a towing railway was built. In order to overcome the large height differences. This was realised in the form of a rack railway of type Riggenbach with a gauge of 1524 Millimetres and a maximum incline of 50 pct. The first 67 locomotives, called Mulas (Mules) were delivered in 1912 by General Electric in the USA. With a distance between wheels of only 3657 Millimetres, there are two motors on the overhanging ends which via spur gear transmissions drive rack and adhesion sections. The current is delivered by two subterranean Conduit power rails. Motor power is 150 HP, and the type of current three phase at 220 Volt and 25 Hertz. It is of interest to note that also during the journey or by stopped ship's machine, with built in cable windlasses, the cables drawing the ships, the ship can be directed by retracting or releasing the cable. To move the ships, up to eight locomotives are required. The empty return journey takes place on a parallel track which is only equipped with rack at the lock gates. The technical data of the locomotives: Type (Switzerland) HGe 2/2, total length 9617 Millimetres, total distance between wheels 3657 Millimetres, diameter of running wheel 841,4 Millimetres, maximum return speed 8 Kilometres/hour, towing power 111,07 Kilonewtons at (maximum) 3,2 Kilometres per hour, hourly tractive power output at the wheel rim 11,4 tons, gross weight 45 tons. All locomotives (except one for the museum) have been scrapped. A Kilonewton corresponds to the power required to accelerate a body of mass of 1 Kilogram in 1 Second to 1 Metre/Second. One further towing locomotive was delivered by R.G. LeTourneau, Inc., but is out of service. The second generation of towing locomotives started working between 1960 and 1965. The 57 new locomotives were equipped with improvements. Besides a central operating position they are equipped with two step gears with a detachable adhesion drive and have a power of 170 HP each. They can be adapted and operate thus with 1800/1200 turns or 600 turns per minute. This gives a total of 1/2/3 respectively 3/6/9 miles per hour. The smaller speeds are only used when towing a ship, the larger ones for the empty return journey. With the new locomotives current provision was changed to three phase current of 440 Volt/60 Hertz. Manufacturer under the supervision of Mitsubishi (Japan, rack gear) was Toyo Denki Kaisha, also of Japan. The technical data: total length 10382 Millimetres, total distance between axles 4572 Millimetres, diameter of the running wheel 841,4 Millimetres, maximum return speed 14.4 Kilometres/Hour, towing power of 311 Kilonewtons at maximum 4,8 Kilometres/Hour, hourly tractive power output at the wheel rim 27 tons, gross weight 55 tons. With additional deliveries to cope with a larger number of ship's passages a total of 68 locomotives were built. The ships became all the time bigger and of more weight. So it was decided in 1999, when the canal was handed over by the US Americans to Panama, in the context of an extensive modernisation program to purchase new locomotives with a higher power and higher speed. Manufacturers were under the overall management of Mitsubishi Corp. Ltd. again Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (Japan, rack drive), Toyo Electric Mfg. Co. Ltd. (Japan, electrical equipment and cable windlasses) and Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. (Japan, bodywork). Anteceding the order was an international call for offers of which also SLM, Swiss Locomotive and Machine factory of Winterthur, branch leader of rack railways, participated, this before the take over of this business by Stadler Rail of Bussnang, and together with Adtranz for the electric equipment. This offer was handed in by the Japanese firm of Hitachi, also active in the rack railway business and which amongst others supplied the locomotives for the Brasilian rack incline between Paranapiacaba and Santos, inclusive of the racks. The SLM offer was, however, not successful as it was preferred to use the same suppliers as in 1960 with whom past experience was very good. Soon afterwards Hitachi ceased the rack railways business. Of the 34 locomotives ordered first 16 will be assembled in Panama. It is hoped therewith to create an increased Know-how for the maintenance of the locomotives. The locomotives have a 50 pct. higher motor performance and considerably higher return speeds of 16 Kilometres/Hour which increases the transport performance of the canal. The technical data: Three phase current of 480 Volt, climbing speed of 8 Kilometres per hour at 50 pct. incline, maximum return speed 16 Kilometres/hour, length 10600 Millimetres, width 3192 Millimetres, height 3880 Millimetres, towing power 311,8 Kilonewtons at 4,8 Kilometres per hour, or 178,2 Kilonewtons at maximum speed of 8 Kilometres/Hour. The locomotives have two motors of 290 HP each and a total weight of 55 tons. Current collection continues as before with an underground third rail (Conduit system). Each locomotive has two windlasses of 156 Kilonewtons performance. In the course of modernisation the rails of 90 lb were replaced with rails of 105 lb and the rails continuously thermally welded. But now all the rails shall be replaced, as the locomotives become heavier. - At the end of the tracks there are turntables, a total of 5 delivered by the US American firm of Macton, as the locomotives can only operate in one direction. Responsible for this railway is the Panama Canal Co. For the new to be constructed parallel and wider locks, there will be no locomotive operation, and 13 towing ships with each 2 V-228 12 cylinder diesel engines from General Electric were ordered. The ships will be built in Hong Kong, the designs were prepared in Vancouver. The railway line from Balboa on the Pacific to Colón on the Atlantic - a Video A long time before the construction of the canal work started on the construction of a railway line from Balboa to Colón. In 1855 the line opened and later even was extended a short bit into the Pacific so that larger ships could reach the wharves. The line has a length of 76 Kilometres, the steepest incline is 1 pct., the track gauge was 1524 Millimetres, and the line was first single track and later doubled. It features a spectacular viaduct and a tunnel. Spectacular is also the crossing of lake Gatún on a dam. After a successful opening the inauguration of the Central Pacific-Union Pacific Railroad in Promontory in the local US state of Utah in 1969 evoked a strong decline, and the line became a loss business. With the start of the construction of a canal without locks by the French the railway was bought up by them and further on served as material transport, construction and workers transport railway. For this purpose steam engines and material transport wagons were purchased. When the US American took over the construction of the canal the rolling stock storage yard was put under water and the rolling stock served as basis for the construction of the Gatún lock. One locomotive and 15 wagons were salvaged , one locomotive and two wagons restored. They stand in front of the visitors centre at the Miraflores lock. The canal actually follows by and large the railway line. With the opening of the canal and specially after the construction of a new road from Atlantic to Pacific the railway lost its income. The infrastructure was slowly but certainly destroyed. Pictures of the rolling stock then used can be found under http://www.czimages.com . In 1977, under the Carter-Torijos treaty which detached Panama from Colombia, the railway was transferred to the Government of Panama. In 1986 the US American military transport management established a safety study with recommendations for the reconstruction of the railway. Up to 1997 the Government of Panama was unable to provide means for the reconstruction. With the privatisation of most of the state owned firms, including the railway, a new chance for the reconstruction arose. The Panama Canal Railway Company received the exclusive rights for the railway operation and the necessary reforms. In 1998 a new firm, the Panama Railway Company, a joint firm of the Kansas City Southern, in the USA a class 1 railway, and Mi-Jack Products, north Americas leading intermodal terminal operator, received a concession over 50 years for the reconstruction and the operation of the line. Today the firm of Lanigan Holdings PLC from Romeoville, Illinois, USA, is a new partner. The cost of reconstruction amounted to USD80 Millions. Main business is the container transport, double deck, and for this purpose the height of the tunnel had to be increased. In Colón a free zone has been installed. and in addition a luxurious passenger traffic was installed which is mainly used by travellers between Colón and Panama City. The line is however also used by passengers of the cruise ships as this is the most popular excursion for them. In February 2000 the line reopened for freight transport, in July 2001 for passengers. New track gauge is 1435 Millimetres. Concrete ties are used, and the rails of 136 lb are continuously welded. The line is today singly line with passing loops at strategic crossing points. Rolling stock consists of ten General Motors EMD F40PH Nos. 1856 to 1865 which were purchased from Amtrak. They have a performance of 3250 HP. One locomotive at each end avoids the shunting at the terminal stations: Both locomotives can be operated from each locomotive. In 2008 2 EMD SD40-2 locomotives Nos. 1866 and 1867 and 5 EMD SD60 locomotives Nos. 1868 to 1872 were acquired from the Kansas City Southern Railroad. For service trains a locomotive EMD GP-10 No. 1855 is available. Five luxourisly equipped passenger cars with space for 50 passengers and an also completely overhauled Southern Pacific Railroad dome car of 1938 with space for 60 passengers are used. Single fare is USD22 for adults, USD11 for children from 2 to 12 years of age and USD15 for retired passengers. The train leaves usually at 7.15 hours in the morning from Panama City to Colón and at 17 15 hours from Colón to Panama City. Running time is one hour. For goods traffic there are 22 articulated 5-well double deckers, built by the firm of Gunderson. Six flat cars and ten hopper cars serve for track maintenance. At both terminals there are cranes and container gantries. At both ends of the line there are intermodal terminals and one passenger station each. The line is entirely duty free so that the containers can be moved without customs problems. The electronic line supervision uses most modern US American techniques. Level crossings are supervised by light signals. Communication uses UHVA High Frequency equipment, and the the computers are supervised by a computer system in each position. Sources: Hefti, Walter: Zahnradbahnen der Welt 1971, und Nachtrag 1971-6 (Rack railways of the World, 1971 and Supplement ,1971-76), Verlag (Editor) Birkhäuser, Basel/Switzerland, out of print Wikipedia, Country and History, English Wikipedia, Panama Canal, English, with maps, also of modernisation Wikipedia, Railway Transport in Panama, English Wikipedia, Transport in Panama, English Web sites of the Panama Canal Co. and of the Panama Canal Railway Co. (both in English)
|
|||||