page_title: Rail transport in Central America
hierarchical_section_title: Rail transport in Central America
caption_attribution_description: Passenger train of FNH (Ferrocarril Nacional de Honduras) in La Ceiba. It runs about every 30 minutes on an isolated segment between downtown and a western suburb, Col. Sitramacsa.
context_page_description: Rail transport in Central America consists of several isolated railroad lines with freight or passenger service. The most famous one is the Panama Canal Railway, the oldest transcontinental railroad in the world, connecting Panama City with Colón since 1855. Other railroads in Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama were built by private and public investors mainly to facilitate the transport of local agricultural produce to export markets and harbors. Their market share and profitability went into decline in the second half of the twentieth century and most lines have been decommissioned by the end of the 1990s. As of 2018, railroads operate locally in Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama only; all rail transport has been suspended in Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua. The railways still operating do not cross national borders.
context_section_description: Rail transport in Central America consists of several isolated railroad lines with freight or passenger service. The most famous one is the Panama Canal Railway, the oldest transcontinental railroad in the world, connecting Panama City with Colón since 1855. Other railroads in Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama were built by private and public investors mainly to facilitate the transport of local agricultural produce (bananas, coconuts, coffee) to export markets and harbors. Their market share and profitability went into decline in the second half of the twentieth century and most lines have been decommissioned by the end of the 1990s. As of 2018, railroads operate locally in Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama only; all rail transport has been suspended in Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua. The railways still operating do not cross national borders.
caption: City rail in La Ceiba, Honduras is one of the few remaining passenger train services in Central America.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "TRUST 1210K POWERC@M OPTICAL ZOOM", "Image Make": "TRUST", "Image Model": "1210K POWERC@M OPTICAL ZOOM", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "96", "Image YResolution": "96", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Ver 1.0", "Image DateTime": "2003:01:25 18:24:31", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "458", "Image PrintIM": "[0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, ... ]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "1", "Thumbnail YResolution": "1", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1301", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "21280", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1243225/268435456", "EXIF FNumber": "11/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2003:01:25 18:24:31", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2003:01:25 18:24:31", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "31/4", "EXIF ApertureValue": "123/25", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "37/10", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2496", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1872", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1164", "EXIF ExposureIndex": "1", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed"}