Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Railways in Jamaica



Kingston Railway

The Railways of Jamaica, constructed from 1845, were the first railway lines opened to traffic outside Europe and North America, and the second British Colony after Canada's Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad of 1836 to receive a railway system. Construction started only twenty years after George Stephenson's Stockton and Darlington Railway commenced operations in the United Kingdom.
The public passenger railway service in Jamaica is presently not running, having closed October 1992, with the Parliament of Jamaica debate leading towards a revival under a public joint venture corporation proposed with an offshore partner. Private freight transport continues on limited tracks leading to the various docks around the Caribbean island, transporting bauxite and sugar cane for export.

File:Map of the Jamaica railway system at its pre-bauxite peak (1945) - small borders.png

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