Transcontinental railroad

A transcontinental railroad is a railroad network of trackage that crosses a continental land mass, with termini at different oceans or continental borders. Such networks can be via the tracks of either a single railroad, or over those owned or controlled by multiple railway companies along a continuous route. Although Europe is crisscrossed by railways, the railroads within Europe are usually not considered transcontinental, with the possible exception of the historic Orient Express.

Transcontinental railroads helped open up unpopulated interior regions of continents to exploration and settlement that would not otherwise have been feasible. In many cases they also formed the backbones of cross-country passenger and freight transportation networks.

The Americas

United States of America

The ceremony for the driving of the "Last Spike" the joining of the tracks of the CPRR and UPRR grades at Promontory Summit, Utah, on May 10, 1869, thus completing the "First Transcontinental Railroad" across the United States.

~ Transcontinental RR ~75th Anniversary Issue of 1944

The term transcontinental railroad in the United States usually refers to a line over the Rocky Mountains or Sierra Nevada Mountains between the Midwest and Pacific Ocean. Some of the eastern trunk lines are covered in the article "Railroads connecting New York City and Chicago". The first concrete plan for a transcontinental railroad in the United States was presented to Congress by Asa Whitney in 1845.

The world's first transcontinental railroad was built between 1863 and 1869 to join the eastern and western halves of the United States. Begun just preceding the American Civil War, its construction was considered to be one of the greatest American technological feats of the 19th century, surpassing both the building of the Erie Canal in the 1815 - 25, and the earlier crossing of the Isthmus of Panama by the Panama Railroad, completed in 1855. Known as the "Pacific Railroad" when it opened, this served as a vital link for trade, commerce, and travel and opened up vast regions of the North American heartland for settlement. Shipping and commerce could thrive away from navigable watercourses for the first time since the beginning of the nation. Much of this line is currently used by the California Zephyr, although some parts were rerouted or abandoned.

The coming of the railroad resulted in the end of most of the far slower and more hazardous stagecoach lines and wagon trains, and it led to a great decline of traffic on the Oregon and California Trail, which had helped populate much of the West. The transcontinental railroad provided much faster, safer, and cheaper transportation (one week from Omaha to San Francisco via emigrant sleeping car at a fare of about $65 for an adult) for people and goods across the western two-thirds of the continent. The sale of the railroad land grant lands and the transport provided for timber and crops led to the rapid settling of the "Great American Desert". The main workers on the Union Pacific were many ex-Army veterans and Irish emigrants while most of the engineers were ex-Army men who had learned their trade keeping the trains running during the American Civil War. The Central Pacific Railroad, facing a labor shortage in the more sparsely-settled West, relied on Chinese laborers who did prodigious work building the line over and through the Sierra Nevada mountains and then across Nevada to their meeting in northern Utah.

• A motive for the Gadsden Purchase of land from Mexico in 1853 was to provide suitable terrain for a southern transcontinental railroad, since the topography of the southern portion of the existing Mexican Cession land was too mountainous. However, this railroad has never been built since its land is such an extremely-dry desert. This land is now taken up mostly by large U.S. Air Force bombing ranges, sparsely-populated Indian Reservations, several National Monumnets, and a large National Park.

• The Pacific Railroad Act of 1862 (based on an earlier bill in 1856) authorized land grants for new lines that would "aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri river to the Pacific ocean".

• The rails of the "First Transcontinental Railroad" were joined on May 10, 1869, with the ceremonial driving of the "Last Spike" at Promontory Summit, Utah, after track was laid over a 1,756 mile (2,826 km) gap between Sacramento and Omaha, Nebraska/Council Bluffs, Iowa in six years by the Union Pacific Railroad and Central Pacific Railroad. Although through train service was in operation as of that date, the road was not deemed to have been officially "completed" until November 6, 1869. (A physical connection between Omaha, Nebraska and the statutory Eastern terminus of the Pacific road at Council Bluffs located immediately across the Missouri River was also not finally established until the opening of UPRR railroad bridge across the river on March 25, 1873, prior to which transfers were made by ferry operated by the Council Bluffs & Nebraska Ferry Company.)

• In 1882, the Atchison, Shelby and Santa Fe Railway connected Atchison, Kansas with the Southern Pacific Railroad at Deming, New Mexico, thus completing a second link to Los Angeles.
• The Southern Pacific Railroad linked New Orleans with Los Angeles in 1883, linking the Gulf of Mexico with the Pacific Ocean.
• The Northern Pacific Railway, also completed in 1883, linked Chicago with Seattle.
• The Great Northern Railway was built without federal aid by James J. Hill in 1893; it stretched from St. Paul to Seattle.
• In 1909, the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul (or Milwaukee Road) completed a privately built Pacific extension to Seattle. On completion the line was renamed the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific.
• John D. Spreckels completed his privately funded San Diego and Arizona Railway in 1919, thereby creating a direct link (via connection with the Southern Pacific lines) between San Diego, California and the Eastern United States. The railroad stretched 148 miles (238 km) from San Diego to Calexico, California.
• In 1993, Amtrak's Sunset Limited daily railroad train was extended eastwards to to the Atlantic Ocean, making it the first transcontinental passenger train route operated by one company. Hurricane Katrina cut this rail route in Lousiana in 2005, and this passenger train service has not been resumed, yet.

See also: Gould transcontinental system

George J. Gould attempted to assemble a truly transcontinental system in the 1900s. The line from San Francisco, California, to Toledo, Ohio, was completed in 1909, consisting of the Western Pacific Railway, Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, Missouri Pacific Railroad, and the Wabash Railroad. Beyond Toledo, the planned route would have used the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroad (1900), Wabash Pittsburgh Terminal Railway, Little Kanawha Railroad, West Virginia Central and Pittsburgh Railway, Western Maryland Railroad and Philadelphia and Western Railway, but the Panic of 1907 strangled the plans before the Little Kanawha section in West Virginia could be finished. The Alphabet Route was completed in 1931, providing the portion of this line east of the Mississippi River. With the merging of the railroads, only the Union Pacific Railroad and the BNSF Railway remain to carry the entire route.

Canada

Lord Strathcona driving the "Last Spike" of Canada's first transcontinental railroad, the Canadian Pacific Railway, in 1885

The completion of Canada's first transcontinental railroad, on November 7, 1885 is an important milestone in Canadian history. Between 1881 and 1885, the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) completed a line between Ontario and the Pacific coast, fulfilling a condition of British Columbia's 1871 entry into the Canadian Confederation. The City of Vancouver, incorporated in 1886, was designated the western terminus of the line. The CPR became the first transcontinental railway company in North America in 1889 after its International Railway of Maine opened, connecting CPR to the Atlantic coast.

The construction of a transcontinental railroad had the effect of establishing a Canadian claim to the remaining parts of British North America not yet constituted as provinces and territories of Canada, acting as a bulwark against potential incursions by the United States.

Subsequently, two other transcontinental lines were built in Canada: the Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) opened another line to the Pacific in 1912, and the combined Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (GTPR)/National Transcontinental Railway (NTR) system opened in 1917 following the completion of the Quebec Bridge, although its line to the Pacific opened in 1914. The CNoR, GTPR, and NTR were nationalized to form the Canadian National Railway, which remains Canada's "other" transcontinental railway.

Panama

Newspaper account of the 1855 opening of the Panama Rail Road

The first railway to directly connect two oceans (although not by crossing a continental land mass) was the Panama Rail Road which opened in 1855. Dubbed instead an "inter-oceanic" (as opposed to "transcontinental") line, the railroad was built across Central America at almost its narrowest point located in what is now modern-day Panama when that area was still the northern province of Colombia from which it would split off to become an independent nation in 1903. By spanning this isthmus, the line's 48 mile (77.25 km) long grade became the first railroad to completely cross any part of the Americas and physically connect ports on the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Given the tropical rain forest environment, the terrain, and diseases such as malaria and cholera, its completion was a considerable engineering challenge. The construction took five years after ground was first broken for the line in May, 1850, cost eight million dollars, and required more than seven thousand workers drawn from "every quarter of the globe."

This railway was built to satisfy the need for a shorter and more secure path between the United States' East and West Coasts, a need triggered mainly by the California Gold Rush. Over the years it played a key role in the construction and the subsequent operation of the Panama Canal, due to its proximity with the water way. Currently, the railway operates under the private administration of the Panama Canal Railroad Company, and its upgraded capacity complements the cargo traffic through the Panama Canal.

Guatemala

Main article: Rail transport in Guatemala

A second Central American inter-oceanic railroad began operation in 1908 as a connection between Puerto San José and Puerto Barrios in Guatemala, but ceased passenger service to Puerto San José in 1989.

Costa Rica

Main article: Rail transport in Costa Rica

A third Central American inter-oceanic railroad began operation in 1910 as a connection between Puntarenas and Limón which was 1067 gauge.

South America

Main article: Trans-Andean Railways

There is activity to revive the connection between Valparaíso and Santiago in Chile and Mendoza, Argentina, through the Transandino project. Mendoza has an active connection to Buenos Aires. The old Transandino began in 1910 and ceased passenger service in 1978 and freight 4 years later. Technically a complete transcontinental link exists from Arica, Chile, to La Paz, Bolivia, to Buenos Aires, but this trans-Andean crossing is for freight only.

Mexico - Panama

• FERISTSA - a proposed north-south line.

Eurasia

Further information: Eurasian Land Bridge

• The first Eurasian transcontinental railroad was the Trans-Siberian railway (with connecting lines in Europe), completed in 1905 which connects Moscow with Vladivostok on the Pacific coast. There are two connections from this line to China. It is the world's longest rail line at 9,289 km (5,772 miles) long. This line connects the European Railroad System with China, Mongolia and Korea. Since the former Soviet Countries and Mongolia use a broader gauge, a break of gauge is necessary either at the Eastern frontiers of Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania or the Chinese border. In spite of this there are through services of passenger trains between Moscow and Beijing or through coaches from Berlin to Novosibirsk. Almost every major town along the Trans-Siberian railway has its own return service to Moscow.

• A second rail line connects Istanbul in Turkey with China via Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. This route imposes a break of gauge at the Iranian border with Turkmenistan and at the Chinese border. En route there is also a train ferry in Eastern Turkey across Lake Van. The European and Asian parts of Istanbul are currently linked by a train ferry, but an undersea tunnel is under construction. There is no through service of passenger trains on the entire line. A uniform gauge connection was proposed in 2006, commencing with new construction in Kazakhstan.

Other

• The Trans-Asian Railway is a project to link Singapore to Istanbul and is to a large degree complete with missing pieces primarily between Iran and Pakistan (under construction in 2005), and in Myanmar, aside from political issues. The project has also linking corridors to China, the central Asian states, and Russia. This transcontinental line unfortunately uses a number of different gauges, 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in), 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in), 1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in) and 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in), though this problem may be lessened with the use of variable gauge axle systems such as the SUW 2000.

• • The Zahedan connection opened in August 2008.

• The TransKazakhstanTrunk Railways project by Kazakhstan Temir Zholy will connect China and Europe at a gauge of 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in). Construction is set to start in 2006. Initially the line will go to western Kazakhstan, south through Turkmenistan to Iran, then to Turkey and Europe. A shorter to-be-constructed 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) link from Kazakhstan is considered going through Russia and either Belarus or Ukraine.

• The Baghdad Railway connects Istanbul with Baghdad and finally Basra, a sea port at the Persian Gulf. When its construction started in the 1880s it was in those times a Transcontinental Railroad.

Oceania

East-West

• The first Trans-Australian Railway was completed in 1917, between Port Augusta and Kalgoorlie, and crosses the Nullarbor Plain. This line completed the link between the mainland state capitals of Brisbane then Sydney via Melbourne and Adelaide to the western state capital of Perth. This route suffered from a number of breaks-of-gauge, using 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) twice, 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) once, and 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) thrice, with five breaks-of-gauge in all.

The Trans-Australian Railway was the first route operated by the Federal Government.

In the 1940s, 1970s, and 2000s steps were taken to rationalise the gauge chaos and connect the mainland capital cities mentioned above with a streamlined 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) uniform gauge system. Since 1970, when the direct line across the country was all completed as standard gauge, the passenger train on the Sydney to Perth line has been called the Indian Pacific.

The proposed Iron Boomerang Railway would connect iron in the Pilbara with coal in Queensland, so achieving loaded operations in both directions.

North-South

• A 820 mile long land grant railway from Charleville to Point Parker on the Gulf of Carpentaria, with branches, was proposed in the 1880s, but never amounted to anything.

• The first north-south trans-Australia railway opened in January 2004 and links Darwin to Adelaide with the Ghan passenger train. The Adelaide-Darwin railway is standard or 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) gauge, though the original line to Alice Springs was 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge.

• In 2006, proposals for new lines in Queensland that would carry both intrastate coal traffic and interstate freight traffic would see standard gauge penetrate the state in considerable stretches for the first time. (ARHS Digest September 2006). The standard gauge Inland Railway would ultimately extend from Melbourne to Cairns.
• Starting in 1867, Queensland built several railways going inland from several ports in a westerly direction. From the 1920s, steps were taken to connect these lines by the North-South North Coast line.

Africa

East-West

• There are several ways to cross Africa transcontinentally by connecting west-east railroads. One is the Benguela railway that was completed in 1929. It starts in Lobito, Angola and connects through Katanga to the Zambia railways system. From Zambia several ports are accessible on the Indian ocean: Dar es Salaam in Tanzania through the TAZARA, and, through Zimbabwe, Beira and Maputo in Mozambique. The Angolan Civil War has made the Benguela line largely inoperative, but efforts are being taken to restore it. Another west-east corridor leads from the Atlantic habours in Namibia, either Walvis Bay or Luderitz to the South African rail system that, in turn, links to ports on the Indian Ocean ( i.e. Durban, Maputo).
• A 1015 km gap in the east-west line between Kinshasa and Ilebo filled by riverboats could be plugged with a new railway.
• There are two proposals for a line from the Red Sea to the Gulf of Guinea, including TransAfricaRail.

North-South

• A North-South transcontinental railroad had been proposed by Cecil Rhodes: the Cape-Cairo railway. This system was seen as the backbone for the African possessions of the British Empire, and was not completed. During its development, a competing French colonial project for a Trany line from Algiers or Dakar to Abidjan was abandoned after the Fashoda incident. This line would have four gauge islands in three gauges.

• An extension of Namibian Railways is being built in 2006 with the possible connection to Angolan Railways.

• Libya has proposed a Trans-Saharan Railway connecting possibly to Nigeria which would connect with the proposed AfricaRail network.

African Union of Railways

• The African Union of Railways has ambitious plans to connect the various railways of Africa.

See also

• Transmountain railroad
• Trans Global Highway

External links

• The Old Transandino
• Trans-Asian Railway Project
• Uniting the States of America