Rail transport in Paraguay

Asunción-Encarnación
Estación Central of Asunción
Route length:	375 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Legend 0.0 Estación Central de Asunción 4th Tablada 6th Trinidad 7th Jardin Botánico 15th Luque 23 Yuguyry 30th Areguá 36 Patiño 44 Ypacaraí 55 Pirayu 65 Cerro Leon 72 Paraguarí 83 Escobar 91 Sapucay former central workshop 101 Caballero 110 Ybytymi 126 Tebicuary 130 Coronel Martínez 141 Félix Pérez. Cardozo formerly Hyaty 150 Villarrica 170; 0 170; 0 San Salvador formerly Borja 170; 0 15th Ñumí 31 Charara 37 Fassardi 46 Tacuaras 58 Itacurubí 60 Abaí 183 Iturbe 198 Maciel 206 Santa Luisa 218 Moises Bertoni formerly Sosa 232 Yergos 240 Isla Sacá 253 Santa Rosa Río Pirapó 261 Yuty Río Tebicuary 266 Salitre Cué 279 San Pedro 291 General Artigas 305 Isla Alta 321 Cnel. Bogado Route through Yacyretá -Stausee of Paraná overstowed 331 Carmen del Paraná The route through the Yacyretá reservoir is flooded Caraguatá 370 Encarnación 375 Playa de Empalme Freight station for traffic (including passenger traffic) to Argentina Puente Internacional San Roque González de Santa Cruz over the Rio Paraná; Paraguay - Argentina state border

Today, rail traffic in Paraguay is essentially limited to a small section of the original network with 440 km of regular and 750 km of narrow-gauge lines .

history

Parked steam locomotive in Encarnación

The rail network in Paraguay consisted primarily of a regular-gauge line from the capital Asunción to the Encarnación border station in Argentina, 370 km away . It went into operation in 1861 and was the first railway line in South America with passenger services . In San Salvador a line branched off to Abaí .

Between Encarnación and Posadas in Argentina there was a railway ferry connection on the Río Paraná as a connection to the same gauge network of Ferrocarril General Urquiza in the Mesopotamia region to Buenos Aires . This connection was replaced by a bridge in 1990. Nonetheless, the traffic continued to decline. The technical condition of the railway on the Paraguayan side did not meet any standards. In the 1980s, it was the only major railway in the world that exclusively operated steam locomotives. Passenger traffic on the Asunción – Encarnación connection ended in 1999 and was no longer able to cope with competing bus services. The last freight traffic was stopped in 2010. With steam locomotives hauled tourist trains, the last of a suburban railway station in Asunción until Areguá wrong are adjusted by the liquidation of the last operator since 2011th In the meantime, the tracks have been dismantled on a large scale. The reservoir created by the Yacyretá dam temporarily interrupted the connecting route in Argentina south of Posadas until a new route over 29 km was completed in 2012. After that, freight traffic between Argentina and Encarnación and, since 2015, travel between Posadas and Encarnación was resumed.

In the north of Paraguay , there were some now disused routes that as pure island farms and only for the transport of goods were used

present

traffic

Passenger train from Posadas at Encarnación station

The state railway company Ferrocarriles del Paraguay (Fepasa) still exists. However, rail traffic has largely ceased.

Traffic between Encarnación and Posadas (Argentina) operated by Trenes Argentinos-Casimiro Zbikoski was resumed on December 31, 2014 - briefly interrupted in the meantime . Railcars purchased second-hand in the Netherlands and delivered to the Dutch Railways by DÜWAG between 1981 and 1983 , so-called Wadloper , which were sold to Argentina in 2011 , commute here. Around 8,000 passengers use the connection every day. The advantage for the user is that border clearance for both countries takes place in Posadas. The buses, which also run, are stopped by the border controls on both sides of the Puente internacional San Roque González de Santa Cruz and a backlog regularly forms at both control points right up to the bridge. In addition, pedestrians and bicycles are not allowed to cross the bridge. The station used is located in the southeast of Encarnación in the Buena Vista district , and when it was fully operational it formed a hairpin. The further route has already been largely dismantled in the urban area, its course can no longer be seen in the terrain.

Museales

The SAPUCAI, Paraguay's oldest locomotive

The main train station in Asunción can no longer be approached due to the overbuilding of the route. Today it serves as a railway museum. It is the oldest train station in South America and its historic reception building with two-track platform hall has also been preserved. There is also Paraguay's first locomotive, the SAPUCAI. A monument locomotive is parked in front of the former Asunción Botánico train station . A railway museum has also been built in Sapucai , the former headquarters of the main railway workshop. Other railway museums are located in Escobar , San Salvador and Encarnación.

Planning

An electrically operated light rail was to be built on the old route between Asunción and Luque . However, the overbuilding of the route that had taken place in the meantime stood in the way. Instead, it is now planned to convert the abandoned route between Asunción and Encarnación into an eco-cycle path for tourists and thus create the longest cycle path in South America. January 28, 2017 was the official start of the project with cleaning work on the rail line near Areguá .

literature

• Günter Koch: Steam to the bitter end [= The railways of Paraguay, part 1]. In: Eisenbahngeschichte 92 (February / March 2019), pp. 78–83.
• Günter Koch: the end of the line in nowhere. The Railways of Paraguay, Part 2 . In: Eisenbahngeschichte 93 (April / May 2019), pp. 76–83.
• Jens Perbandt: Honeymoon with obstacles. A 1987 railroad adventure in South America . In: Eisenbahngeschichte 90 (October / November 2018), p. 78f.
• Jens Perbandt: What was left of the railroad in Paraguay [?]. In: Eisenbahn Geschichte 90 (October / November 2018), pp. 76–80.

Web links

Commons : Rail transport in Paraguay  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Ferrocarriles del Paraguay (Spanish)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ La mayor bicisenda de Suramérica transcurre por las vías del tren paraguayo In: efetur.com , February 2, 2017, accessed October 4, 2018.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Perbandt, p. 78.
3. ↑ Timetable Center: Paraguay. Retrieved October 23, 2015 . 
4. ↑ Argentina - Paraguay rail link restored. In: Railway Gazette. June 11, 2012, accessed October 23, 2015 . 
5. ↑ Posadas - Encarnación passenger service restored. In: Railway Gazette. January 30, 2015, accessed October 23, 2015 . 
6. ^ ^{A b} Renaud Olgiati: Steam Trains in Paraguay. June 22, 2007, accessed October 23, 2015 . 
7. ↑ Perbandt, p. 76.
8. ↑ Perbandt, p. 79.
9. ↑ Inició la limpieza de bicisenda ecológica en vías del tren . In: lanacion.com , January 28, 2017, accessed October 5, 2018.