Traveling by train in Panama | DW Documentary

very phenomenon the drum of joy was written in 1918 it is a simple advertising jingle for a dance bar today the song is a national symbol of Panama popular among street musicians along the boardwalk of the capital Panama City the German children's book author Janos also wrote an enduringly popular tribute to the country with his book The Trip to Panama. Its title in German translates as Ah How Beautiful Panama is. Let's go on a trip to discover for ourselves how beautiful Panama really is. Our main focus is The Panamanian railway is considerably older than the better-known Panama Canal, along which it has run for more than a century.

Panama is the southernmost Central American nation. At the narrowest point in the country, you can now connect the coastal cities of Panama City and colonize the Pacific with the Atlantic. and Caribbean the ticket slot at the Panama Canal railway station has little charm and there are not many customers. It is the rainy season and that means low season. A total of 10 diesel electric locomotives hauled the passenger

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s that bear the name of the stations along the route their numbers come from the early years of the railway in Panama our

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s are ready it has a locomotive at both ends this push-pull system means that staff do not have to maneuver at final stops Jude heads to La Mancha is a tour guide, he will show us a very special corner of his country attended by students who try to supplement their income.

A small but welcome breakfast at 7:15 sharp. The only passenger train of the day leaves Panama City towards: kilometer 77 lasts about an hour and only runs from Monday to Friday without being disturbed by the early morning. Passengers from many countries have come to take the tour. The excursion is one of the numerous tourist attractions in Panama. There is Casco Viejo, the old town of Panama City, for example, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. World Heritage Site The architectural splendor of Panama's colonial past still shines here The buildings were commissioned by newcomers from Spain and later France and North America The days when trams passed through the neighborhood are long gone in the heart of the city in the main square the resplendent white is the impressive metropolitan cathedral of varrock the old town is the number one tourist attraction of

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city in recent years the state of private citizens has been investing in the renovation of its many buildings Ruined gentrification is driving up rents in the town and changing its character - a problem faced by many old cities around the world - but for tourists the colorful buildings are a perfect backdrop and again the streets and squares offer views attractive features of Panama City's modern skyline there is plenty of bold architecture beyond the boardwalk Balboa Latin Avenue Highway The tallest skyscrapers in the United States can be found here international trade houses banks and hotels Panama City at the Pacific end of the canal It is the seat of government A paradise for speculators A center for money laundering and a destination for immigrants It is a rapidly growing cosmopolitan city The capital is home to one and a half million Panamanians, which is more than a third of the population total of the country, that number increases every day with the influx of travelers the public transportation system is largely served by buses, these often wildly painted vehicles are known as Diavolo eyes Red Devils a The subway was inaugurated in the City of Panama in April 2014.

The city is very proud of being the only metro in Central America. Line One is 16 kilometers long and crosses the city from south to north. A second line is being built and a third is being planned. The state Metro operator says 250,000 passengers use line 1 every day. There are 19 trains of three cars each on the line that were built in Spain. They operate at 3-minute intervals and serve 14 stations. There are not many tourists walking in the middle of the escape. Smokers in modern Panama City prefer to admire its skyline from a farm. Tourism in other parts of the country, on the other hand, is evolving into a key income-generating industry.

In fact, that is the idea of ​​not promoting Panama as a tourist destination. You know that Panama has many attractions and that is why we are happy that we are receiving many tourists from all over the world, so we are becoming a very fashionable country, since in terms of tourism, the Panama Canal has been a destination for travelers for a century, not many people. Exploring the country further afield, for sure, I mean that's our main attraction. People think of the canal when they think of Parma, but when they leave, when they return home, they will know that it is more than just a canal.

There are many other beautiful things to offer, plus a trip on the Panama Canal Railway is one of those attractions. It guarantees views that would not be obtained in a car or on foot. The Canal Zone is closed, except for some access points to the locks. Own trains are allowed on this exquisite trip, a train ticket from Panama City to is not cheap: it costs twenty-five US dollars, the bus equivalent is two dollars 50, so they are probably just tourists enjoying the views in the historic carriages for many. People, the trains are too expensive, they are only for tourists, which I think is a shame.

Sometimes people from Panama City ask me where I work. I tell them on the train that they think I mean the Metro. Many don't even know about the Panama Canal Railway and never have. I've been to Colonia, where we go, they often ask me what type of train this is, one of the train cars is reserved for employees of the Colonia free zone, they use it to go to work, the schedule is established so that we arrive to work on time, we leave. from Panama City at a quarter past seven and we arrive at 8:00 and 20 and we are in the office on time so we work eight hours which is the norm in Panama you have to be one of the managers of the company which is what it gives you the privilege of taking the train it's not cheap after all it's too expensive for ordinary Panamanians they might try the train one day just for fun we take this train every day but only because the company pays for it otherwise we wouldn't do it to be able to afford it Miraflores Pedro Miguel and gatina a ship has to pass three locks to get from the Pacific to the Atlantic or vice versa by the shortest possible route, that is, 81.6 kilometers the tugboats that assist the huge ships play a crucial role it is called Rimmel Cal Dora in Spanish for the reason I usually love to fish, their engines have more than 6000 horsepower, our boats are currently maneuvering a Chinese container ship in the Miraflores lock, there to talk I was helping this boat in the bow and ministering the reason I'm here is to help you control, if necessary, the stern and help you not move forward.

Can you slow it down or even stop it well? The other one on the Bower tries to control the bow and people in an indirect direction mainly because it is a channel and not. In open water, it's better for the boat for us to move them, whether it's a couple of angles on his heading, a couple of degrees on heading, and so he knows that eventually he'll go into the locks more easily instead of trying to steer. and then the ship will be weighed. or not do a wider turn and not necessarily what we need once we make the locket, you will do it alone and once he goes alone, then we will go to the florists' lake, there we tie him again and make sure he enters the bedroom, start and then we repeat the process again it would be about two hours two and a half hours until we reach the other side raising and lowering the water level in a batch chamber takes about 10 minutes the ship moves around 400,000 liters of water Container ship will continue forward to the gap to block where other tugs will assist it after approximately 10 hours it will be on the edges of the Atlantic.

The shift ended for today the 6th at this time today and that's just a normal day, usually sometimes there are even more, very rarely has the Japanese mules left the electric locomotives that run along the lock walls they work incredibly hard they drag the huge ships through the locks more than 30 per day the locomotives are equipped with two engines of 260 horsepower each and a Swiss-made rock rail system The police wheels grip a central rack that gives them support. Another rail supplies electricity to the mules. They are named after the pack animals that traditionally transported goods on the Panama Canal route.

They are called mules because they are workhorses. They must be very strong, that's why it's all a matter of the work the animal does. Up to 14,000 ships a year pass through the Panama Canal, which was inaugurated in 1914. The gate still has hope. So far, nothing serious has happened. The canal remains stable. Be very careful, that makes me feel incredibly proud of this feat of engineering, the greatest thing my country has to offer. Many different cultures work here and everyone is passionate about providing the best service 24 hours a day for boats around the world. The construction of the impressive Panama Canal was documented by New York artist William B van Ingen in realistic wall paintings that were installed at the headquarters of the Panama Canal in 1915.

The building is located on a hill 26 meters above sea level, which is equivalent to to the highest elevation of the canal an avenue illustrates the length and width of the locks one of the exhibits at the Panama Canal museum displays objects from the daily lives of Panamanians the exhibit highlights the growing importance of the canals in public life and private since the beginning of the 20th century many developments in Panama are associated with the isthmus, but there is of course more to the country than to the canal the museum seeks to answer questions about the identity of Panamanians Panama before the canal and we were Panamanians before the canal A great canal is part of our identity but it is not the only part and the construction of that identity is the description of this museum.

The canal museum inaugurated in the old town of Panama City in 1997 recreated scenes from the life of the workers. of the canal the famous photograph of President Theodore Roosevelt's visit to the canal a rusty car from what was then the largest construction pit in the world photographs, newspaper articles and tools, mostly for the newly created Department of Railroads, the collection It has its own history, this museum started with nothing, so I put an ad in the newspapers saying: be part of history if you have such and such and such these types of things please contact me and the response from people was incredible.

People began to call and call and bring things and we found that bench that is the sand of the station and that wonderful piece that is from Sally Jane's forum and that you can see in the relief all the stops of this train station, a rich album of digital photographs tells the story of the Panamanian railway it traversed the country from ocean to ocean long before any ship in the canal from 1855 onwards saved travelers from having to navigate the longest route around Cape Horn at the tip of South America his brain Ron was that opportunity to carry out days more not only caribou and people would cultivate thoughts and to enrich our identity the Panama Railroad was founded in New York more than 10,000 workers died of malaria or cholera during its The construction of the railroad was initially a success story, but its importance faded with the completion of the transcontinental route across the United States in 1869.

It regained importance during the construction of the canals, when the French began excavations in 1881, purchased the railroad and However, they ran out of money and in 1904 the United States acquired control of the Canal Zone, overseeing the project until its successful completion. Now the old railway route had to be changed because it followed the river valley that would be flooded. The line was relocated at a cost of nine million dollars during the construction of the canal the trains carried around two hundred million cubic meters of earth and rock no one cared about their fate when the area was flooded on August 15, 1914 the Canal of Panama was opened to traffic while the sea route flourished from the beginning the railway was in the red nationalizing it in 1977 also made no difference the railway line, once celebrated as the first interoceanic connection on the isthmus, declined for decades it was rescued by a private company that has operated the service since 2000 on new tracks through the Canal Zone, our guide Joe Berto is a member of the Kuna, an indigenous tribe that lives on the San Blas Islands off the coast of Panama, the train It used to be cheaper, he especially remembers me and my relatives who we move to sometimes. the island by boat he takes the train he comes to the city Panama City because he was working on the Panama Canal at that timetime he was the first Kuna to ever work on the Panama Canal Jabberjaw has lived in Panama City for a long time he likes it there, but there is nothing better than life on the island, this is more relaxed in the sea on the island because they live a normal and very natural life, so we don't, people did not depend on the evil people of today, this Monday is nothing like that, don't worry about what time it is now there is a roller coaster ride through the rainforest to the Kuna Yala region on the northern coast of Panama.

We accompany you. Do better on a trip there. 49 islands in the San Blas archipelago are inhabited in 1925. The Kuna gained autonomy from the Panamanian government in a bloody fight for the survival of their culture. Each island community has its own rules. Some reject tourism. Others have cautiously opened their world. idyllic to the outsiders judi Berto is from the island of Carty Zoot stoop and they were allowed to accompany him there first we are introduced to the Congress House, the Assembly Hall, he is like a Minister of Culture for all the communities he will just visit tomorrow, He will travel to Pará and Baku, where he will talk about our traditions.

There we have our three bosses, this is it. the most important house of the Kuna culture that is why all visitors must come here and drink the Chiefs a small donation is expected Carty is home to a thousand people other communities have only a hundred members the islands may be remote but solar energy and telephones Mobile phones are not a rarity. Many Kuna work on the mainland. They bring technology with them. When they return home, a small festival is coming to an end. The women and girls seem to have dressed up for the occasion, but in reality these colorful clothes are clothes for everyone. days the blouses are adorned with appliqued fabrics known as mullahs Designed to protect the wearer from the dangers of life, the small village museum displays many spiritual objects from the Kuna culture along with a large collection of molars that are popular souvenirs among visitors. of Panama, but the museum curator emphasizes its true purpose, which is not decoration.

Tomales is to protect the life of the carrot Kuna or katakana when we put on the wall and also the mollis is working each color is the black that we use the color black is to hide in life to hide in this spirit color red color red here this particular help you have to like the spirit of the chariot disparate the yellow is about the gold denotes it's okay to shine it's like the sun is protecting a human being you want about this page the green is about the continent it's okay the mountain is okay no everyone does it but the majority of women are fine, Oona women and they dedicate themselves to doing them.

Mahler okay, someone sometimes sometimes on some island the Kuna man can work well, they can do that, but the Mallis are especially for the women's house. Imola had several layers of fabric placed on top of each one. other patterns cut and the edges hand-sewn in the Kuna language Marcela tells us a little about her life without the name and her mother and grandmother taught her everything she says the fabrics cannot be bought in the city that she does not use there natural dyes. She often produces traditional patterns, but also very modern ones. She sells them for around $20.

Why mine American? You know, when Lincoln Lewis, the cowboy, okay, baby, someone. their cuisine 80% of the food traditionally eaten here is healthy I'm not exaggerating it's a diet of fish and other seafood they are smoked fish cassava or genius we cook them in coconut milk that is the joy of the Kuna every time I visit the island after having been in the city I wish I could stay but I have to go back to work it's a magical place it's called in Pune it's see Eduardo in Spanish it's quote Christine but her real name is see Eduardo but if conscience like Norma you miss me son she says yes a.m.

It means yes in the Kuna language but I come every Saturday The United States handed over the canal to Panama in 1999 ownership of the railroad meanwhile passed to the American companies Kansas City Southern and me Jack Products which rents and services terminal equipment such as cranes The service It is operated by the Panama Canal Railway Company. Fast container shipping from coast to coast is a lucrative business. In addition, it is the third largest port in all of Latin America. It is located at the entrance to the canal in the Pacific. The terminal never sleeps. Many modern ships.

They are too large for a canal that is now more than a century old, so ships unload their cargo into smaller cargo ships or double-decker freight trains. We have seven trains in total, five in Panama City, two in Kelowna, we move them from one location. to the other so that we always have five here and two there we do not have a fixed schedule only difficult times everything depends on the speed with which things are done in the port our company works with them we do not have any influence on the schedules we have to wait until They bring us the containers and then we can determine a departure time.

Freight trains are our main business transporting international goods. They are not only destined for Panama, they often come from Asia and North and South. In the United States, the type of excitement that other countries have with four trains does not exist in Panama, as passenger rail service is very limited, many Panamanians do not understand the importance of the railroad, including its historical significance, no one uses it, people Business does, of course, and international visitors, but. The Panamanians don't care at all about their railroad, driver Enrique goes up to his workplace. He still doesn't know when he will receive the departure signal for Colin.

He prepares his diesel locomotive. It is an SD 60 built by General Motors in the 80s. It has 3,800 horsepower. happy with it we have we have to work with this is a klingon that you can handle yes work well right now it is the pain that we hope to change at the weekend change the wall to get another favorite program the locomotives that have to pull up to four thousand five hundred tons several times a day they are maintained in the company's own repair shop basically what we do here is repair all the local models in case similar work occurs on the body that you just filmed and that locomotive we repair it we will rebuild the frame of the engine we will rebuild and overhaul the engine as we do we can look at our locomotive there we simply install the engine and change the wheels basically we make ourselves completely locomotive we rebuild everything to get It is new, we do an inspection every 90 days and also another locomotive has to come here to the workshop to go there.

Pizza. Any problems we encounter in Los Angeles tomorrow to make it work at 200%. An interesting sight on the railway line is the Gamboa Bridge over the Tigris River. Noah, the place sees a closer convergence between the canal road and the railway tracks. From here, the canal crosses Gatun Lake, the artificially flooded region that extends for about 420 square kilometers; water for the lake comes from dams. The adjacent river is located nearby. national park with its impenetrable rainforests the Gamboa rainforest complex organizes guided tours of the area, for example on the so-called cable car that passes above the treetops at a height of 85 meters the telephone tree is very important in Panama has approximately 550 types throughout the republic and the land is very happy because all the trees grow comfortably in the area here they feel very happy if they feel happy we feel happy also very happy because they breathe better the oxygen is excellent in this area that sounds like monkeys sometimes it is this of all the howler monkeys they can make sounds in five kilometers it is nice I like it sometimes we can hear the sound sometimes I am visible body made of years we have very cute a good provocation the small rodent with the most popular in this area and also what face do capuchin monkeys have we have a boa constrictor snake in this area at some point in the artificial pond you see a

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crocodile new crocodile crocodile and k-mers very pretty yellow eyes grow two points 2.5 meters are not toxic but they can cause allergies people's pants we are not alone in the observation tower but the climb is worth it the Panama Canal now there is no hand over a million people and now we are waiting for the new expansion that will make the Panama Canal with the new batch that recycles 60% of the water because now there are 15 2 million gallons for more fishing boats and no water is wasted, they go to the oceans at this moment the two large blocks with the water tanks are still in construction.

Yasmin has no problem explaining the canal system. For example, the level of the ocean is equal to your shoulders with the same level of the Pacific and the Caribbean and you can go here to the artificial area which is the Miraflores lock but Miguel now we stay here artificially we have to take care of 40 more kilometers is a lot and the lake Korean-sized Gatun is 26 meters above sea level and connects the Pacific and the Caribbean at the locks ships are raised to this level or lowered again the railway line passes over a dam away from the canal a boat trip to across the artificial lake is not without its dangers when the canal was built only trees were felled near the shipping canal the remains of the former rainforest have been steadily decomposing for over a hundred years now entire trains were abandoned and submerged when the canal flooded this underwater museum will be around for a long time to come and is well guarded esque louise's katoon lock at the canal's atlantic entrance ships have been sailing into Puerto Rico's port of Cristobal for over 150 years now it is one of the oldest from Panama the tourist train trip ends at an unspectacular station in the port of colony the fleet of taxi drivers is ready to pick up passengers visitors can now take a day visit to historic cities such as Portobello on the Caribbean coast the train It remains here for nine hours its locomotive is only used for passenger services Ursula Corinthos Ortigas this is an f40 it is quite small the Train is my life at the moment it takes me from one place to another like a car and it is also my place of work so It's my life since I was a child I wanted to work on the Linnea railway we will take a short nap and then he will work in the port before taking the train back to Panama City: it is the second largest free trade zone in the world, without However, its wealth has seen a steady decline since the late 1960s.

The shift to new technologies for processing goods at the container terminal has led to a sharp rise in unemployment. Dejection is visible on the streets. Tour guides warn of a high rate. of crime and yet Colin has not completely lost his Caribbean charm. It is early afternoon and it is time for the Panama Canal Railway to take its passengers back to the capital. What did the Ministry of Tourism tell us at the beginning? Sure the Canal is our main attraction, but we have many other beautiful things to offer, that's exactly what we offer. I learned on our trip to I said that