page_title: Northern Railroad of Guatemala
section_title: Concession to United Fruit Company
hierarchical_section_title: Northern Railroad of Guatemala / History / Concession to United Fruit Company
caption_attribution_description: English: Guatemala rail map of 1925
context_page_description: The Northern Railroad of Guatemala was a railway system that ran from Guatemala City to Puerto Barrios, the main port of Guatemala between 1896 and 1968, when the American United Fruit Company had the monopoly of the railway system thru its affiliate, International Railways of Central America, along with the docks at Puerto Barrios, the banana plantations in Izabal and the cargo and passenger transport with its Great White Fleet. The system was highly efficient, but once a parallel highway was built, it could not compete and eventually was handed back to the State of Guatemala in 1968. After that, the system start to slowly lose its relevance, as the trucks were more profitable than railway transportation. It ceased regular operations in 1996, and has remained partially abandoned since.
context_section_description: Finally, in 1904, knowing the pro-American attitude of Estrada Cabrera, Minor Keith partners, began to get concession on railroads of both Guatemala and El Salvador, and in that year, International Railways of Central American (IRCA) was incorporated in New Jersey; the harbor was then partly built by Theodore Roosevelt's Corps of Engineers in 1906–1908. Eventually, United Fruit Company, owner of IRCA, controlled Puerto Barrios completely, as it owned the docks, the railroads, the banana production from Izabal and, even, the merchant fleet that transported the cargo and passengers out of the port: the Great White Fleet.
  During this period, the railroad company offered tours to visit the UFCO banana plantations in Izabal and the Maya city of Quiriguá —which at the time was placed within UFCO property— and offered their visitors the option to comfortably sail Río Dulce and Lake Izabal to Livingston in one of their steam boats.
  Here are a few photographs taken from an excursion made in 1927 by the Guatemalan History and Geography Society, which shows the amenities these tours had:
  The government of colonel Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán (1951–1954) decided to build a highway and another port – Santo Tomas de Castilla – to compete with the American fruit company. He also issued an Agrarian Reform that impacted UFCO land. Eventually, Árbenz was accused of Communism and was ousted in 1954, but the highway was almost completed and was completed by his successor, colonel Carlos Castillo Armas. Just as Arbenz had hoped, IRCA's last profit was reported in 1957.
caption: Guatemala rail map from 1925.
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