International Railways of Central America
The International Railways of Central America ( IRCA ) was founded in 1912. President was Minor C. Keith, who was also President of the United Fruit Company at the time. This shows the close connection between the two companies.
The IRCA gradually took over the railways that had been built in Guatemala and expanded the system. The company eventually operated a route network of 784 km. These were essentially the lines from the Atlantic port of Puerto Barrios to Guatemala City and on to the Pacific port of Puerto San José and the line from Santa María to Tecún Umán on the Mexican border.
The railway mainly opened up the United Fruit Co.'s banana plantations in the Río Motagua valley and in the Tiquisate area . In 1928 the last major railway construction in Guatemala was completed with the opening of the connection from Zacapa in Guatemala to Santa Ana in El Salvador .
With the opening of the new road between Santo Tomás de Castilla on the Atlantic Ocean and Guatemala, the IRCA's star began to decline in 1959. In 1962 the new port of Acajutla was opened in El Salvador. As a result, the connection to El Salvador lost its importance. In 1964 the United Fruit Co. finally gave up its plantations in the Tiquisate area. The further loss of traffic finally led to the fact that the state of Guatemala took over the administration in 1968 and founded the FEGUA ( Ferrocarriles de Guatemala ).
