A Railway Alternative to the Panama Canal Is Much Cheaper 💰 Impossible Repairs | Smithsonian Channel

While the Panama Canal has been a boon for cargo ships, it can be expensive-as high as $450,000 a toll. For smaller loads, there is an alternative: a cross-country train journey on the Panama Canal Railway.
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[@MrAmhara]

I guess Smithsonian has never heard of the Port Of Los Angeles- Long Beach. Massive amounts of containers are off loaded into railway and trucks from California to all points.

[@mtsbr78]

O Smithsonian devia ter um canal em português, disponinilizando um doc completo por dia ou com uma área de membros para mais docs completos. Seria ótimo. Os doc são excelentes. Gosto muito.

[@gabedarrett1301]

I had no idea there was a railway too!

[@michaelcorbidge7914]

Actually if we look at the chicken and egg then we say that the railway was constucted first. Rail was essential for the constuction of the c a n a l .

[@ruthanneseven]

My friend's invention upgraded the rail system, and they rebuilt it using his material. I'm pretty sure he and his brothers company and oversaw the build.

[@guillermogouldburn763]

The railway was built to take 49ers safely from the east coast to the west coast. All the territory in between was no man's land. Ships would sail from New York down to Panama. Passengers would take the train from the Atlantic side to the Pacific side, then get on another ship that took them north to California. Fact: The Panama Canal Railway was the first transcontinental railway in the Americas and Panama City was the first European settlement on the mainland American continents having been founded on August 15th 1519.

[@rdsieben]

Yes there is. They have passenger service twice a day in each direction on weekdays. Excellent tourist attraction. They PCR was first introduced in the 1850s before the Panama Canal Came to existence. When the Canal was handed over to Panama in 2000 the railway fell in disrepair until the line was sold to Kansas City Southern and Mijack. They spent millions of dollars on infrastructure pulling the old line (5' gauge) and replacing it with standard gauge. 136 lbs rails and ballast came from Canada and concrete ties from Colombia. All the locomotives are ex-Amtrak and painted in Kansas City Southern colors. The passenger cars are also ex-Amtrak. If you are ever in Panama don't forget to ride it.

[@robertlin7333]

The marginal cost per container is not cheaper. They have to unload, ship by rail, then board onto another ship. All that extra labor costs more.

[@GabGotti3]

Not $450,000 worth

[@raptorshootingsystems3379]

The ships that offload are too big to fit through the Panama Canal. The largest container ships on the trans pacific routes have grown to carry twice the number of containers of ships that can transit the canal due to the lock sizes.

[@aidenteszke9000]

The railroad wouldn't exist if that were true

[@formerlyknownashammerofthegods]

The new set of locks are using 40 percent more water than the original system did hence increased costs.

[@HistorySkills]

Brilliant video. I had no idea.

[@arkyfer197]

Panamá 🇵🇦 Canal 🚢 and Panamá Railway 🚂 , ocean to ocean

[@marcleslac2413]

The f40ph is and will always be a legend

[@JMCQProductions]

Yes

[@EyesOfByes]

So... One of the most important cargo railways in human history is not two laned? Well, I guess it's a nightmare expanding it 😏

[@leonblittle226]

They can only load one train at a time at either end anyway - plus a larger section is due to be doubled soon and there is only 1 passenger train a day.

[@nonenoneonenonenone]

If we had high-speed freight rail from coast-to-coast, we wouldn't need to use the canal.

[@leonblittle226]

We do, a modern container train can be over a mile long, weigh 20,000tons and have over 15,000hp worth of locomotives.

[@redstonerelic]

The canal isnt usually used for cross continent shipping, rather it is for continent to continent shipping. It is used for say, china to new york or Amsterdam to LA shipping. It is cheaper to move the 10s of thousands of containers via the canal than at most a couple hundred containers by rail when on these routes. You also minimize the trade offs for containers. Why sail to new York, deal with a minimum of 2 railroads, and at least 20 trains just to LA when you could do it in all one go?

[@rdsieben]

@@redstonerelic the US Navy are frequent fliers

[@andrewweaver2517]

Speaking of, I wonder how to become a longshoreman for one of these corrupt companies.

[@michaelcorbidge7914]

You need to learn speaky Chinese first .

[@frzrahman8190]

Incredible..canal🙄

[@srercrcr]

Then there's the roadbed.

[@101bennyc]

That guy didn’t need subtitles

[@tclem14]

How about a road link from north to South America?

[@fitrianhidayat]

they can use ships

[@rdsieben]

Darien Gap is almost physically impossible to build a road. Drug cartels and FARC have made this impossible.

[@rattmann36863]

Right now you cannot get it unloaded once it gets to the US. Strange times we live in.

[@vomstein1747]

Bruuudi

[@alexanderhall4281]

Sorry about your losing your job.

[@brendan5065]

Ha. Good 1

[@americanrider]

Refer cargo is perishable has to move quickly and brings bigger money than regular containers that they now can move in greater numbers on ships moving through the canal. It's actually a win-win for the Panamanian economy

[@dnithaatpg4]

The canal made 2.7 billions dollars in revenue last year, yet Panama remains poor.

[@nick4819]

@@dnithaatpg4 It takes more than 1 successful business to give an entire country wealth....

[@dannyyash5551]

@@dnithaatpg4 Politicians steal all the money, normal people never see the benefits of the canal. Corruption is destroying Panama. The political partys are a major cancer alongside with a group of rich people.

[@davidma4046]

There is no way rail transport would be cheaper than seaborne in total costs in like for like comp. Smithsonian videos usually have only little or no informational value comparing to other educational channels like PBS but this is misinformation.

[@leonblittle226]

It's about capacity not cost, the railway was brought back to life in the early 2000's and is run by KCS

[@jonathanquielm3309]

It all depends on what type of cargo is being moved, where it is being moved to and the business model of each shipper. Cargo that is not time sensitive or containers that are not going to the same destination are the target for the railwlay. The railway allows a "hub and spoke" in Panama where containers are unloaded in either side of the canal and then loaded onto smaller ships on the other side (going to different ports).

[@chepemel1606]

You better do this in costa rica, green energy, political stability, and qualify human resources.

[@angelamores9448]

Panamá tiene lo mismo xd Solo quitale estabilidad política; ustedes se venden al mundo como un país perfecto pero en realidad nada que no tenga Panamá 🤷‍♂️

[@chepemel1606]

@@angelamores9448 para nada solo mejores que nuestros vecinos, cosa que se esta perdiendo, por lo mismo que en toda Latinoamérica, politicos, muy bueno copiar lo de no tener ejercito, ahora nosotros queremos copiar algo de panamá, los problemas con en limite de Nicaragua fue porque querían implementar el canal seco, pero la inestabilidad se lo trajo abajo, estamos lejos de perfección, pero vea nuestra sociedad no tiene canal, parecidas cierto, eso significa que están mal con los politicos también, ya se imagino panama sin canal, lo mismo se ve en Venezuela y su petróleo, no se refleja en la sociedad y eso es lo que no tienen, igual me gusta visitar Nicaragua y panama los politicos son otra cosa

[@guillermogouldburn763]

@@chepemel1606 Discusion tonta porque nadie va a construir otro canal. El costo de construir un canal hoy dia no lo hace factible.

[@chepemel1606]

@@guillermogouldburn763 se le llama canal seco y Nicaragua lo intento, pero puede ser paralelo al canal en panama también ojala costa rica

[@arkyfer197]

Panamá tiene los más calificados en transporte multimodal ( Ferroviario, barcos, puertos, aeropuertos, oleoductos, trailers, etc.) Son los más calificados en logística, Además es un país estable y también tiene energía Verde y es uno de los 3 países del Mundo con carbono negativo. Donde tiene uno de los porcentajes más altos de tierras en reserva forestal y en mar territorial con leyes de protección.

[@jakobyates9351]

Woah first