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Panama Canal Versus Panama Railroad Interests
From Wikipedia: The railroad became one of the
most profitable in the world, charging up to $25 per passenger to travel
over 47 miles (76 km) of hard laid track. Upon completion, the railway was
proclaimed an engineering marvel of the era. Until the opening of the Panama
Canal, it carried the heaviest volume of freight per unit length of any
railroad in the world. The existence of the railway was one of the keys to
the selection of Panama as the site of the canal. In 1881 the French
Compagnie Universelle du Canal Interocéanique purchased controlling interest
in the Panama Railway Company. In 1904, the US government under Theodore
Roosevelt purchased the railway from the French canal company. At the time,
railway assets included some 75 miles (121 km) of track, 35 locomotives, 30
passenger cars, and 900 freight cars. Much of this equipment was worn out or
obsolete and had to be scrapped.
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1914 - 2014
100th Anniversary Panama Canal This website is dedicated to all men and women who have and will work at or for the Panama Canal and made the heroic dream of over 400 years come true. Honoring the past by building the future. |