History of rail transport in Paraguay

In 1856 started the studies to make the first railroad of the country that would go from Asunción to Paraguarí. With the concession of the company to English hands the railroad extended to Encarnación.

The train in America

The beginnings of the train in America were in 1831 when, in the small town of Albania, United States appeared the steam train.dubious On August 9 of the same year, with the still primitive machine called “Bull” imported from England, was made the first journey of this locomotive that carried three small wagons with capacity for only 6 passengers each.

It was 36 years after, on October 23, 1867 that was inaugurated the train that went from San Francisco to New York, known with the name of “Union Pacific Road”.

Later on, Cuba was the second country of this continent to have a train. In 1834 started the construction of a railroad that would communicate La Habana with Guines (Unión), it covered 88 miles and was opened 4 years later, in 1838.

The third country to have one was Chile, with a railroad that went from Caldera to Caiapó. The construction was directed by the North-American Engineer William Wheelwright.

In Argentina, the first train was inaugurated on August 30, 1857. It extended to the west of the country.

On February 22, 1862 started the work to build a railroad that would go from Buenos Aires to Ensenada, and the person in charge was once again the Engineer Wheelwright.

The same Wheelwright directed the construction of the Argentine Central Train, used to communicate Rosario with Córdoba that started on April 20, 1863.

In Paraguay the intentions to have a train manifested in 1856, but only 5 years later was possible to have one working. On June 14, 1861 was made the first journey from the station to the port of Asunción, so it could be said that the train in Paraguay was one of the first to function in South America.

A project on rails

The possibilities of starting the construction of the railroad in Paraguay were given in 1854, during the government of Carlos Antonio López, who hired English engineers in charge of the studies made to start the first railroad line that would go from Asunción to Paraguarí.

In 1856, while in the country, soldiers of the army work on the tracks and level, in England, the firms BLYTH proceed to fulfill the requests of the Paraguayan government with locomotives, wagons, rails, etc.

The construction of the track Asunción-Paraguarí was in charge of George Paddison, an English engineer hired by the government.All kinds of accessories for the stations were built over models, with local materials.

Between 1857 and 1859 the engineers Jorge Thompson, Enrique Valpi and Percy Burrel were incorporated in the project, which help to fasten the work.

The first local train started to work on June 1861; it went a short track from the central station in Asunción to Trinidad.Six months later the track was extended to the city of Luque.

The extension was inaugurated on December 25 and according to the journal “El Semanario” it was motive of great joy for the citizens. “The locomotives have been functioning since 5 am until 12 pm, and it would be necessary to add three more trains to take the people that expected to get a ride and that came not only to Luque but also to Trinidad. In Luque were organized games, dances and a masquerade, in Trinidad, there were also bullfights” (transcript from the journal). In 1862 the rail tracks extended to Areguá.

Importance

When Francisco Solano López inaugurated the train in Paraguay, he brought to the Paraguayan citizens the new technology in communications that had made such great impact in other countries of South America. This way of transportation, in terms of cost and time, was an economical revolution, and its use helped to consolidate nations and empires. Unfortunately, in Paraguay that was not the case because it suffered, as well as other industries, the ramifications of the War against the Triple Alliance (Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay), and during the times after the war, the administration past from the government to private companies.

During the war, the station of trains had to be used as a hospital.

tation Saint Francis

Of the public buildings that were finished before the war of 1970, the most noticeable are the Palace of Government and the Train Station, which are still nowadays true icons of Asunción City.

The original name of the Central Train Station was “Estación San Francisco” (Station Saint Francis), even though it was known also as “Plaza San Francisco” (Square Saint Francis) in the beginning.

In these days the building it is still an attraction because of its architectonic proportions and its beauty, and is not hard to imagine that it was even more outstanding in the time it was built. The architect Alonzo Taylor directed the construction. Taylor came from Europe in the ship “Río Blanco” on May 6, 1859 and he also directed the construction of the Palace of Government along with architect Raviza.

The journals of the time made many references to the Station Saint Francis. In 1863 the journal “El Semanario” wrote: “The construction work in the station is marching well, soon the building will be complete and this beautiful construction will be considered one of the icons of the city”.

On July 30 of the same year, the journal also described a ball that took place in the main hall of the station, offered by chiefs and officers in honor to the President on his birthday.

References and external link

* [http://www.paraguay-fotos.de/spn/eisenbahn.htm Paraguay-fotos]
* [http://www.romanistik.uni-mainz.de/hisp/py/El_Ferrocarril/body_el_ferrocarril.html Romanistik]
* EVP - Wikipedia
* [http://www.evp.edu.py/index.php?title=Portada Enciclopedia Virtual Paraguaya - Portal]