Panama Canal Railroad

My wife and I just came back from two weeks in Panama - a great trip - ecotourism, rainforests, the Canal, and the transcontinental Panama Canal Railway. It was a great train ride - we rode in the dome car. Got a whole new perspective of the Canal. Also, a very busy railway carrying containers back and forth between Colon and Panama City. The Kansas City Southern Railroad (KCS) has done a great job in upgrading the railway - they obviously saw a great business opportunity in the container trade - and it was a pleasure to ride. Would strongly recommend that anyone going to Panama make time to ride the railway - it is about a one hour ride. Colin Harding, Fairfax Station, VA

Thanks Colin , very interesting.
I did not realize it was only an hour long, is that form coast to coast ?

Yep, only an hour long. They have one round-trip a day. We took the afternoon return trip from Colon to Panama City. For shipping companies, the railroad is a real boon. Think about it. If you're sailing down the Pacific coast and you have some containers that are destined for the East Coast of the US, you can unload at Panama City, have them transloaded on the Panama Canal Railroad to Colon, and put on another ship for the East Coast. Saves the cost of going through the Panama Canal. As I said before, the railroad found a very profitable niche.