Panama Canal Railway Company
The PCRC operational model aims to provide an efficient high-volume transshipment system between Panama’s ports at the Atlantic and Pacific. The trains use double-stack cars divided in seven groups, each group have 55 stack cars.
Trains operate continuously between the intermodal terminals at the Atlantic and Pacific with a capacity of 10 trains in each direction (North and South) every 24 hours. Each trip takes about 1 hour and 30 minutes. The loading and unloading of a train at the terminals takes about 2 hours. The schedules vary depending on port operations and demand from shippers who use Panama as a liaison to other parts of the world.
PCRC also has a passenger service between the cities of Panama and Colon for senior executives and businessmen who travel to work between these two cities, and for tourists in general. This service has a fixed schedule Monday to Friday departing from Panama City to Colon at 7:15 am and returning to Panama City from Colon 5:15 pm.
Location
General Description
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Length of railway | 76.59 km |
| Terminals | |
| Panama Terminal (Pacific) | 8° 58′ 37.27″ N, 79° 34′ 3.83″ W |
| Colon Terminal (Atlantic) | 9° 10′ 0″ N, 80° 10′ 0″ W |
| Locomotives | |
| F40 | 10 |
| GP10 | 1 |
| SD40 | 2 |
| SD60 | 5 |
| Rail cars | |
| Freight cars (double stack with reefer connections) | 79 |
| Flat cars | 6 |
| Bulk wagons | 10 |
| Passenger cars | 6 |
| Reefer connections on all cars | |
| Cranes & Lifting Equipment | |
| Mi-Jack 850P rubber-tyred gantry cranes | 8 |
| Fantuzzi/Mi-Jack Model 450 top loader | 3 |
| Taylor top loader model XLC974 | 4 |
| Linde top loader | 2 |
| Operation | |
| Approximate travel time between terminals | 1.5 hours |
| Current trains/day each direction | 10 |
| Potential trains/day each direction | 25 |
| Average containers per trip | 110 |
| Current container handling capacity | 800,000 containers/year |
| Max container handling capacity | 2,000,000 containers/year |
| Transship containers in-bond | |
| Passenger capacity per trip | 332 |
Facilities
Intermodal Terminals
The railroad has two intermodal terminals. The Pacific Intermodal Terminal is located contiguous to the Port of Balboa and the Atlantic Intermodal Terminal is located next to the Port of Manzanillo International Terminal and the Colon Free Zone. Containers are allowed to be transshipped in-bond between ports on the Pacific and Atlantic and all of the rail cars have connections for refrigerated containers.
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Passenger Stations
Passenger stations at both sides allows people to travel on train through the Panamanian rainforest and next to the canal. The Corozal Passenger Station is located at the Pacific side, while the Atlantic Passenger Station is located at Monte Esperanza (Mount Hope) in the city of Colon, near the Port of Cristobal.
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