Panama Railroad, the first transcontinental railway
Ferrocarril de Panamá, el primer ferrocarril transcontinental
- Date
- 1850-1855 · confidence high
- Place
- Colón, Panama
- Credited to
- Panama Railroad Company (William Aspinwall, Henry Chauncey, John L. Stephens)
- Field
- Movement
What it is
A line of about 77 km between Colón and Panama City, fully opened in 1855, linking the Atlantic and Pacific by land for California Gold Rush traffic. It was the first railway to cross a continent from coast to coast.
The mortality of workers, with figures varying widely by source, is debated. Its opening preceded the US transcontinental railroad (1869).
What it led to
- fast passage of passengers, gold and mail between the two US coasts before 1869
- infrastructure used by the Panama Canal
- railway experience in tropical jungle with high worker mortality