People get ready, there's a train a-coming
photo story by Eric Jackson
The tracks are already laid across most of the isthmus. The Panama
Canal Railway started in Colon, laying two specially-welded continuous
rails over concrete ties. Now construction workers are busy on
the final stretch, ending at a greatly expanded Panama Ports container
lot that's about to swallow Balboa's old Little League fields
and a passenger terminal across from the Albrook airport. Over
on the Atlantic side, the spur that connects the main line with
the Colon Free Zone, Manzanillo International Terminal and Evergreen's
Coco Solo Norte port is also under construction.
The government's part of the project, in which Gaillard Highway's
position will be shifted, traffic around Balboa will be re-routed
and an overpass will separate train and car traffic at Colon's
Four Corners, lags behind.
By late March or early April, Panama will see trains in motion
again. Such passenger service as there will be surely poses a
threat to the Aeroperlas commuter flights, but the Panama-Colon
buses won't be losing many fares. The big economic impact will
be felt later in the year, when the country's four major ports
will be connected by rail, giving shippers many more options.
