Lima tram
The Lima tram existed between 1864 and 1965 as a regular-gauge tram .
In 1864 , a regular horse-drawn tram was set up between the two terminal stations of the railway lines to Callao and Chorrillos . The Empresa de Tramways de Lima was founded in 1877 and opened a second horse-drawn tram line in downtown Lima on March 24, 1878. These two routes were taken over, expanded and electrified by a company founded in 1898. These modernizations enabled the company to increase passenger numbers from a modest 1.5 million passengers in 1894 to 13 million in 1904. In total there were now four lines in the city:
line |
route
|
| A. | Barefoot Monastery - Exposición |
| B. | Monserrate - Cercado |
| C. | Slaughterhouse - Acequia de Islas |
| D. | Malambito - Santa Rosa de las Monjas |
In that year the company signed a new concession agreement with the city, which provided for a standardization of the operating voltage to 600 V and the construction of at least five kilometers of new routes. In addition, the company was obliged to transport goods from the slaughterhouse to the market free of charge. By 1906 the conversion to 600 V had taken place, and by 1910 four new lines were opened and the existing ones were extended so that the following network was available.
line |
route |
length
|
| A. | Desamparado - Malambo | 2.5 km |
| B. | Monserrate - Cinco Esquinas | 7.4 km |
| C. | Slaughterhouse - Santa Rosa de las Monjas | 2.8 km |
| D. | Matienzo - Santa Clara | 2.5 km |
| E. | Malambito - Cocharcas | 7.0 km |
| F. | Exposición - Balta Bridge | 5.4 km |
| G | La Victoria - Viterbo | 2.5 km |
| H | Santo Domingo - Colmena | 1.6 km |
In 1910 the passenger operation was carried out with a total of 47 cars over 31.7 kilometers. There were also three wagons for maintaining the route and two for transporting meat. In the downtown area, the tracks ran through the narrow streets of the old town, so that one was forced to lay the tracks in two parallel streets.
As early as 1902, business people had come together to connect the suburbs to the capital by tram. In 1903 they were granted a concession, and on February 17, 1904, the first provisional operation to Barranco could begin . The tracks were consecrated that day by the Archbishop in the presence of President Manuel Candamo and numerous ministers. On April 1st, an extension to Chorrillos was added, so that the route now had a length of 13.2 kilometers. Almost four months later, on July 26th, a second suburban line to Callao received a provisional operating permit. The day after, the railway was opened by President Serapio Calderón during a ceremony . A short time later, the route was extended by 2.5 kilometers and now reached the suburb of La Punta with a total length of 15.0 kilometers .
There were now three companies operating trams in Lima. Since these companies and the local electricity companies had more or less the same owners, it was decided in 1906 to merge the seven companies. This is how the Empresas Eléctricas Asociadas , or EEA for short , came into being in 1907 . At times this company also ran under the name Lima Light, Power & Tramways Co. , or LLPTC for short . The railway to Magdalena de Mar , which had been in operation since July 26, 1900 and was a successor to a railway operating between 1875 and 1899, was also taken over in 1907. The company also took over a parallel line between the city center and Chorrillos that existed between 1904 and June 10, 1910. This route was operated by the entrepreneur Manuel Marca , but had to give up due to competition from the EEA.
At the beginning of the 1920s, the railway in Lima felt more and more competition from the automobile. In 1920 the company had to commit to removing the tracks from three streets in the city center in order to prevent traffic jams. At the same time, bus routes were granted concessions on parallel routes. On the other routes, however, she had to step up the pace as the government threatened to use buses there too. In 1922, the railway's concession was extended by 20 years until 1942. In 1923, the EEA signed a contract with LATINALUX from Switzerland and Italy to modernize the network. The lines received modern tracks, switches and traffic lights, so that the ride comfort increased. Despite these measures, the railway, which now operated around 166 kilometers of routes, lost more and more passengers to bus routes and shared taxis. The first line was closed in 1929. In order to keep the railway alive, the EEA was granted the sole right to transport people between the city center and the Badorten in 1930. Since this was not in the interests of the bus operators, they instigated violent riots in the course of which several EEA wagons were set on fire and destroyed.
In 1934 the power supply and the tram were housed in two separate companies. Since then, the tram has operated under the name Compañía Nacional de Tranvias , or CNT for short . Due to the increasing competition from buses and private car traffic, this society got more and more into economic difficulties, so that it was nationalized in the mid-1950s. In 1963 she received another loan of US $ 280,000 . On September 18, 1965, the company had to file for bankruptcy. On October 19, operations were stopped. Since then, there has been no regulated public transport in the city of Lima , as the construction of a subway did not get beyond the first 9.8 kilometers long route.