Early Mayagüez passenger system Although Puerto Rico did not have a national railroad system until the last decade of the 19th, between the 1870s and 1890s, the city of
Mayagüez did have a small passenger rail system for transporting its residents, mainly along the current
Mendez Vigo Street. It was originally proposed by Jose A. Gonzalez y Echevarría in 1870 under the company
El Ferrocarril Urbano de la Villa de Mayagüez (the Urban Railway of the Villa of Mayagüez), with the line being built between 1872 and 1875. The simple
street railway system consisted of small wagons on rails pulled by horses, and connected the center part of the town with the
Playa sector (now Port sector). It faced numerous difficulties, including inclined routes and poor street conditions, which were troublesome for the animals. The system stopped in 1887 after the company was unable to obtain certain permits, but was revived in 1893 after a proposal by the company
Sociedad Anónima Tranvia de Mayagüez (the Mayagüez Tramways Anonymous Society) and renewed operations in 1895. Starting operations in 1880 as the first steam tramway in Puerto Rico, the interurban system was the beginning of the
development of the immediate hinterland outside the walled city, which comprises the northern and central parts, including the district of
Miramar,
Condado, and
Hato Rey, of the capital
municipality of
San Juan and its
metropolitan area. The stops or
paradas along the avenue were numbered, from 1 in Old San Juan to 40 in Río Piedras. The numbers became so identified with the locations that some street maps still show them today. In 1911, a new line going through
Condado in
Santurce was constructed by the
Porto Rico Railway, Light & Power Co. Locally referred to as the
Trolley de San Juan, or
San Juan Trolley in English, it crossed the streets of San Juan from 1901 to . During its heyday, it was the most modern electric tramway system in Puerto Rico, rivaling
New York and
Toronto, the cars had such features as steel arch roof bodies, improved ventilation, up to 65 seated passengers capacity and air operated front and centre doors, with more than of tracks and 36 passengers coaches, it transported nearly 10 million passengers a year. A stroll cost ten cents.
National railroad system refinery in
Arroyo, Puerto Rico. The main Puerto Rico rail system was created during the late 19th century and was significantly expanded during the early 20th century due to a growing
sugar cane industry in the island. Its origins can be traced back to 1874, when a Spanish engineer proposed building a
steam railroad line along the coast of Puerto Rico. The study for this project served as a base for the definitive construction, which began in 1888. It would take almost 20 years to complete the whole route from San Juan to Ponce. The main system began operations in 1891, when the northern line was built between San Juan (in the Martín Peña sector) and the town of
Manatí, followed by extensions to the towns of
Carolina (to the east) and
Arecibo/
Camuy (to the west) the following year. When the United States
invaded Puerto Rico in 1898, the system already had approximately of railroad tracks. . Passenger travel began to flourish in 1902 when the
American Railroad Company from New York acquired the system. In 1904, a southern line was constructed between
Hormigueros and
Yauco. The northern line was expanded towards the west of San Juan to include the towns of
Arecibo and
Aguadilla. One of the most significant projects of this line was linking the main rail line through
Quebradillas and
Isabela, requiring the construction of tunnels and tall bridges, including the
Guajataca Tunnel completed in 1904. In 1907, the northern line of San Juan was connected to the southern line of
Ponce, finally connecting the northern and southern portions of the island. Before its demise, the Puerto Rico railroad system had some of track and served almost all coastal towns, carrying freight into the Island and transporting agricultural products to the ports for shipping overseas. The construction of the national railroad system produced tunnels and bridges which were noted for their architecture and local importance. The
Puente Blanco, completed in 1922, and the
Caño San Antonio rail bridge completed in 1932, while the Guajataca Tunnel was designated as a Historical Monument by the
Puerto Rico Legislature in 2000. Train No. 3 was traveling from San Juan to Ponce carrying passengers to their different hometowns for the island general elections to be held that same day. It stopped at the Jimenez Station in Aguadilla for a routine
engineer and fireman exchange with Train No. 4 which was heading towards San Juan. The engineer assigned to Train No. 3's ride from Jimenez Station to Ponce was Jose Antonio Roman, an experienced freight train engineer, but who had never worked in passenger travel.
Downfall Image:San Juan Terminal.jpg|The former
San Juan railroad terminal Image:Mercedita Train 2.JPG|Abandoned
Central Mercedita Plymouth DE 50-ton locomotive in the Mercedita Serralles Refinery near
Ponce Image:Puente_del_Tren_Santurce_PR.JPG|Old train bridge in the
San Juan district of Santurce, near San Juan Central Park Image:Exposed Rail San Juan Port.jpg|Exposed rails at the
Old San Juan Port, facing the old "Calle del Tren" (Train Street; today an
exclusive bus street) When Puerto Rico
changed its mostly agricultural economy to a manufacturing one, and the U.S. and Puerto Rican governments started investing heavily in interstate
highways and
freeways, the railroad business in the island soon collapsed. The system was almost lost when the American Railroad Company filed for bankruptcy in 1947. The rest of the system was either torn down to make room for new development, recycled (rails were melted and recycled and certain rail bridges were converted into road bridges), or simply abandoned. Remnants of the main system and lines can still be seen in some parts of Puerto Rico. File:Abandoned Mercedita with tracks.JPG|Remnants of the Mercedita Refinery and
Central Mercedita rails near
Ponce File:Old train tracks at Central Igualdad in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.jpg|Old train tracks at Central Igualdad in
Mayagüez, Puerto Rico File:Guajataca tunnel 2.JPG|Entrance to the
Guajataca Tunnel in
Quebradillas, Puerto Rico Train of the South The
Train of the South was an
historic,
narrow gauge plantation line dedicated exclusively for tourism in
Arroyo. Several passenger wagons pulled by a
Plymouth WDT 40-ton diesel
locomotive transported visitors on an hour-long guided tour along old sugar cane fields. This line has been temporarily closed in 2005, == Other systems ==