Panama Canal Railway Reconstruction

A RailWorks crew sets concrete ties and lays rail to construct the lead track in the Colon Yard. All materials for the Panama Canal Railway Reconstruction passed through the Colon Yard serving the Panama's Atlantic Ocean port.

Customer
Panama Canal Railway Company, a joint venture of Kansas City Southern Industries and Mi-Jack Products, Inc.

Location
The Republic of Panama

RailWorks Company Involved
Neosho Central America, Inc. Its services are now performed by RailWorks Track Services.

Project Scope
It was the second time in nearly 150 years that the 47-mile railway across Panama had been rebuilt. This time, the rehab came after 20 years of inactivity had fueled jungle overgrowth and, in some places, missing track.
Neosho Central America was the prime contractor in charge of the entire reconstruction project. The company worked nearly two years – from January 2000 to November 2001-- installing ballast, ties and rail, specifically handling:

• 40 miles of track removal, including 115LB rail and wood cross ties.
• 44 miles of mainline track
• 6.2 miles of yard track
• 16 turnouts
• 2 crossovers
• 950 linear feet of direct fixation track in an existing tunnel
• 2 container transfer yards
• 300,000 cubic yards of excavation
• 325,000 cubic yards of embankment

Today, the Panama Canal Railway provides a logistical solution for ships moving cargo between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. By avoiding the Panama Canal and instead offloading containers onto the railroad, ocean carriers save time and money. The railroad handles about 30,000 containers annually. Additionally, it carries about 50,000 people each year on its executive commuter and tourist passenger lines.

Project Challenges and RailWorks Solutions

Getting Equipment to Project Proves Major Task
The undertaking required materials from far and away. To ensure equipment arrived in time for construction, project leaders coordinated the ordering and shipping of materials months in advance.

The ballast (about 300,000 tons) was quarried in Nova Scotia and delivered via ship. The 136RE rail came from Canada, and concrete ties from Columbia. Track equipment was mobilized from the United States, where shipments were consolidated at the port of Houston before moving to Colon.

Workers Circumvent Limited Access
Panama is a narrow, S-shaped piece of land, much of which is lake and jungle. For the jungle stretches of construction — representing more than half the work — there was only one way to gain access. In those stretches, “We were absolutely cut off, “says Riner. “We built out ahead of us, and all materials and supplies were hauled out on the rail we’d just built.”

Ships delivered all materials to the Colon yard. The Panama Canal Railway Company supplied a locomotive. Ballast cars moved ballast at a rate of 900 tons per trip. A mini-rail train handled eight pieces of 1,440-foot rail. Equipment itself, plus turnouts, road crossing panels and the like, moved on flat cars.

Rainy Season Doesn’t Impede Progress
A seven-month rainy season brings an average of 120 inches of rain annually to Panama. Workers toiled as quickly as possible during dry season to complete grading and dirt work. Amazingly, the project moved forward at a pace that allowed completion in less than two years.

Staff Successfully Blends Cultures
Any potential language barrier for the U.S.-led team in a Spanish-speaking country was never an issue. Project leaders from the United States joined forces with Panamanian engineers, surveyors and others to foster a cross-cultural success story. Bilingual engineers and designers translated plans written in English, for presentation in Spanish. Bilingual staff conducted meetings with local agencies and authorities in Spanish. Notes Riner, “We ended up with a very qualified group of people.”

RailWorks Track Services
Railworks Track Services, a subsidiary of RailWorks Corporation, provides reliable track construction, maintenance and repair services for the rail and rail-transit industries. Operations of Neosho Central America, also a RailWorks company, are now performed by RailWorks Track Services.