Journey on Rails Panama Canal Train

Journey on Rails

Minerva Bethancourth / The Panama Post


Train tour, a tourist offer In 2001, passengers´ transportation began

Starting from the main office of the Panama Canal Railway Company, located in the Corozal area, the journey begins at 7:15 a.m. to the Atlantic coast in the province of Colón. The trip takes 50 minutes.
On the left side of the train, the tour allows the observation of Panama´s thick vegetation, birds and some container ships transiting the inter-oceanic Canal.

On the other side, colored houses begin to blur, which initially housed the workers of the Panama Canal, and contrast with the predominantly green color of the area and the Golf Course of the Summit Golf & Resort Hotel.


Inside the train we hear different accents, which are interwoven on a sunny morning, giving the impression of an unexpected summer in the middle of the winter season.

The laughter of some French tourists interrupts the reading of an Asian merchant. They celebrate the occurrence of their tour guide, who as a joke tells them that traveling by train is the most luxurious way to see crocodiles and snakes.
In addition to tourists who are nature lovers, businessmen and women are part of the train passengers who talk about business or review the day's news, using the remaining minutes before reaching the final destination.

Michel Uzbanik, French tourist, said that he has been doing tours through several Central American countries such as Nicaragua and Costa Rica, where he practiced canopy, hiking and visited some volcanoes.

A new option

The train ride is a new tourist offer enabled by the Panama Canal Railway Company in June 2001 when it began to transport passengers.
However, the main company's activity is the transportation of cargo from the ports of San Cristóbal and Balboa.

The cost of the train ride is US $22 for adults, US $10 for children and US $15 for retirees. The trips take place only on weekdays.

There are also monthly contract packages for executives for US $680.

Gabriel González, tourist guide, said that most tourists are Europeans, mainly French, and American

Tourism companies have put together a package that includes shopping in the Colón Free Zone, Gatún Lake visits, which is vital for the functioning of the Panama Canal and also to Portobelo, one of the most important towns in the Colonial Era. All this to complement the train ride and be able to return to it at 5:15 p.m.

Traveling by train is in high demand for the month of September when the cruise season starts. And it is precisely when passengers disembark at the 2000 Colón Cruise Port, in the Gatún Yacht Club or at Port 6 in Cristóbal. If you have acquired the services of a travel agent, you are offered City Tours, which include shopping, a visit to the Miraflores locks of the Canal and the Amador Causeway.

The train offers all the facilities, it has 25 cars, and it can even be booked in advance for trips, or enabled for a romantic dinner or for international delegations.

One of the hostesses of the train, Mayling Castillo, said that during the inauguration of the new government, they were visited by various personalities. One of them was the Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou, who along with his delegation, enjoyed a train ride.

Also, the train has been boarded by sports stars such as the Panamanian Rod Carew, whose name is immortalized in the Hall of Fame; there is even a locomotive that bears his name. Perhaps this way a singular fact has been materialized, because the former major league player from the United States was born on a train, his mother was going to the hospital to give birth, but the great Carew did not wait to get to the hospital to open his eyes and did it on board of a train.