Traveling by train in Panama | DW Documentary

very very much [Music] phenomena to the drum of joy was written in 1918 is a simple advertising jingle for a dance bar today the song is a national symbol of Panama popular with street musicians along the waterfront of the capital Panama City [Music] the German children's book author Janos also penned an enduringly popular homage to the country with his book the trip to Panama its title in German translates as ah how beautiful Panama is we're going on a journey to discover for ourselves just how beautiful Panama really is our main focus the Panamanian railway it's quite a bit older than the better-known Panama Canal that it has run alongside for more than a century [Music] [Music] [Music] Panama is the southernmost Central American nation at the country's narrowest point it can now connect the coastal cities of Panama City and colon the Pacific with the Atlantic and Caribbean the ticket hole in the station of the Panama Canal railway is low on charm and there aren't many customers it's the rainy season and that means low season a total of 10 diesel electric locomotives hauled the passenger trains they're named after stations along the route their numbers derive from the early years of the railway in Panama our trains ready it has a locomotive at both ends this push-pull system means the staff don't have to do any shunting at the final stops Jude bound to a la Mancha is a tour guide he'll be showing us a very special corner of his country served by students trying to top up their income a small but welcomed breakfast at 7:15 on the dot the only passenger train of the day departs Panama City for : the 77 kilometer takes around an hour and only runs weekdays undeterred by the early hour passengers from many countries have come along for the ride the excursion is one of numerous tourist attractions in Panama there's the Casco Viejo Panama City's old town for example a UNESCO World Heritage Site the architectural splendor of Panama's colonial past still shines bright here the buildings were commissioned by newcomers from Spain and later from France and North America the days when trams rode through the quarter are long gone in the heart of the city on plaza mayor dress polish lien resplendent white is the impressive varrock cathedral metropolitana the old town is Panama City's number one tourist attraction [Music] in recent years the state of private citizens have been investing in the renovation of its many dilapidated buildings gentrification is pushing up rents in the casco and changing its character a problem faced by many old towns around the world but for tourists the colorful buildings are a picture-perfect backdrop [Applause] time and again the streets and squares afford attractive views of Panama City's modern skyline there's a lot of bold architecture beyond the waterfront Road Avenida Balboa Latin America's highest skyscrapers can be found here international trading houses banks and hotels Panama City at the Pacific end of the canal is the seat of government a speculators paradise a money-laundering center and a destination for migrants it's a cosmopolitan city undergoing rapid growth the capital is home to one and a half million panamanians that's more than a third of the country's entire population that number swells every day with the influx of commuters the public transport system is largely serviced by buses these often wildly painted vehicles are known as Diavolo ojos Red Devils a metro opened in Panama City in April 2014 the city is very proud of it it's Central America's only underground railway Linea uno is 16 kilometers long and traverses the city south to north a second line is under construction and a third one is in planning the operator of the state-run Metro says 250,000 passengers use line 1 every day there are 19 trains with three carriages each on the line they were built in Spain they operate at 3 minute intervals servicing 14 stations there aren't many tourists out on foot amid the exhaust fumes in modern Panama City they prefer to admire its skyline from a farm tourism elsewhere in the country on the other hand is evolving into a key income generating industry actually that's the idea of to be no promoting Panama as a tourism tourism destination you know Panama has many attractions and that's why we are happy that we are receiving a lot of tourists from all over the world so we're becoming a very trendy country as with regards of tourism the Panama Canal has been a destination for travellers for a century not many people explore the country beyond it sure I mean it's our main attraction people think of the canal when they think about Parma but then when they leave when they go back home they they're going to know that it's more than just a canal that we have a lot of other beautiful things to offer as well a trip on the Panama Canal railway is one such attraction it guarantees views that you wouldn't get in a car or on foot the Canal Zone is closed off apart from a few access points at the locks own trains are allowed in [Music] the exquisite journey doesn't come cheap a train ticket from Panama City to : cost twenty five US dollars the bus equivalent is two dollars 50 [Music] that's probably why it's only tourists enjoying the views in the historic carriages for many people the trains just too expensive it's just for tourists which i think is ashamed sometimes people from Panama City asked me where I work I tell them on the train they think I mean the Metro many don't even know the Panama Canal railway and they've never been to cologne the place we are going they often ask me what kind of train this is one of the carriages of the train is reserved for employees of the Cologne free trade zone they use it to go to work the schedule is set so that we get to work on time we depart Panama City at quarter past seven and we arrive at 20 past 8:00 and are in the office on time then we work for eight hours which is the norm in Panama you have to be one of the company's managers that's what gives you the privilege of taking the train it's not cheap after all is it too expensive for regular Panamanians they might try the Train one day just for fun we take this train every day but only because the company pays for it otherwise we wouldn't be able to afford it [Music] Miraflores Pedro Miguel and gatina a ship has to pass three locks to get from the Pacific to the Atlantic or vice versa by the shortest route possible namely 81.6 kilometers the tugboats that assist the huge vessels play a crucial role they're called Rimmel Cal Dora's in Spanish reason I usually love fishing their engines have more than 6000 horsepower our boats currently maneuvering a Chinese container vessel into the miraflores lock there to talk was right now assisting this ship one on the bow and minister the reason I'm here is to help them control if need be the stern and help him not have headway are you able to slow him down or even stop well the other one on the Bower tries to control the bow and people in indirection mainly because it's a canal and not open water it's better for the ship actually for us to move them whether it be a couple angles in its course couple degrees in the course and for him to you know eventually get into the locks easier rather than trying to steer and then the ship being heavy or not make a wider turn and not necessarily what we need [Music] once we do the locket you're doing by himself and once he goes by himself then we go in the florists lake there we tie up again and make sure he goes into bedroom begin and then we repeat the process again would be like two hours two and a half hours until we get to the other side [Music] raising and lowering the water level in a lot chamber takes around 10 minutes around 400,000 liters of water are moved the container vessel will head on to the gap to lock where other tugboats will assist it after around 10 hours it'll be in the Atlantic edgers shift is over for today 6 right now today and that's just a normal day usually sometimes there is even more very few times there's left the Japanese mules the electric locomotives that run on the lock walls work incredibly hard they pull the huge ships through the locks more than 30 of them per day locomotives are equipped with two motors of 260 horsepower each as well as a rock rail system made in Switzerland the cop wheels grip a central rack which gives them support yet another rail supplies the Mules with electricity they're named after the pack animals that traditionally carried goods on the Panama Canal route [Music] they're called mules because they're workhorses they need to be very strong for that it's all about the work they do the animal exactly up to 14 thousand ships a year make their way through the Panama Canal which was opened in 1914 the lock gate still hopeful so far nothing serious has happened the canal is maintained very carefully that makes me incredibly proud this engineering feats the greatest thing my country has to offer lots of different cultures work here and everyone's passionate about it offering the best service around the clock for ships from all around the world the construction of the impressive Panama Canal was documented by the New York artist William B van ingen in realistic mural paintings they were installed in the Panama Canal headquarters in 1915 [Music] the building is located on a hill 26 metres above sea level which is equivalent to the highest elevation in the canal an avenue illustrates the length and width of the locks one of the exhibition's in the Panama Canal museum displays objects from the everyday lives of Panamanians the exhibit highlights the canals increasing importance in public and private life from the early 20th century [Music] many developments in Panama are associated with the isthmus but there's of course more to the country than the canal the museum seeks to answer questions on the identity of Panamanians [Music] Panama before the canal and we were panamanians before the canal a big canal is part of our identity but it's not the only part and the building of that identity is the descriptive of this Museum the canal museum opened in the old quarter of Panama City in 1997 recreated scenes from the lives of canal workers the famous photograph of President Theodore Roosevelt's visit to the canal a rusty wagon from what was then the world's largest construction pit pictures newspaper articles and tools not least for the newly created Railway Department the collection has it's very own history this museum began without anything so I put an ad in the papers that said be a part of the history if you have so and so and so these kind of things please contact me and the response of the people was amazing people began came calling and calling and bringing things and we found that bench that is arena from the station and that wonderful piece that is from Sally Jane's forum and you can see in the relief all the stops of this train station a rich digital photo album tells the story of the Panamanian railway it traversed the country from ocean to ocean long before any ship in the canal from 1855 onwards it spared travelers from having to sail the longer route around Cape Horn at the tip of South America their brain Ron was that opportunity to carry through days more not only caribou and people would culture thoughts and to enrich our identity the Panama railway was founded in New York more than 10,000 workers died from malaria or cholera during its construction the railway was initially a success story but its significance faded with the completion of the Transcontinental route across the United States in 1869 it regained importance during the canals construction when the French began excavation in 1881 they bought the railway and used it to transport workers and materials they ran out of money however and in 1904 the United States acquired control of the Canal Zone overseeing the project to its successful completion now the old railway route had to be changed because it followed the river valley that would be flooded the line was relocated at a cost of nine million dollars during the canals construction trains carted away around two hundred million cubic meters of soil and rock nobody cared about their fate when the area was flooded on the 15th of August 1914 the Panama Canal opened to traffic [Music] while the shipping route flourished from the outset the railway was in the red nationalizing it in 1977 made no difference either the railway line once celebrated as the first interoceanic connection on the isthmus decayed for decades it was rescued by a private company that has been operating the service since the year 2000 on new tracks through the Canal Zone our guide Joe Berto is a member of the Kuna an indigenous tribe who live on the San Blas islands of the coast of Panama the Train used to be cheaper he remembers especially me and my kin that we move sometimes to the island by boat this take the train is coming to the city the Panama City because he was working in the Panama Canal in that time he was the first Kuna is gonna work in history in Panama Canal Jabberjaw has lived in Panama City for a long time he likes it there but nothing beats island life this is more relaxed in the sea in the island because the living about the normal very natural life so we don't the people didn't depend to the today's wicked this Monday is nothing like that don't worry about what time is now [Music] there's a rollercoaster like road through the rainforest to the Kuna Yala region on Panama's north coast we accompany do better on a trip there [Music] 49 islands on the San Blas archipelago are inhabited in 1925 the Kuna won autonomy from the Panamanian government in a bloody fight for the survival of their culture every island community has its own rules some reject tourism others have cautiously opened their idyllic world to outsiders [Music] judi Berto is from the island of Carty Zoot stoop and were allowed to accompany him there first we're introduced in the Casa de Congreso the Assembly Hall he's like a Minister of Culture for all the communities he's just visiting tomorrow he'll travel to para and Baku where he'll talk about our traditions over there we have our three Chiefs this is the most important house of the Kuna culture that's why all visitors should come here and drink the Chiefs a small donation is expected Carty is home to a thousand people other communities count just a hundred members the islands may be remote but solar energy and mobile phones are no rarity many Kuna work on the mainland they bring the technology with them when they return home a small festival is just coming to an end the women and girls seem to have dressed up for the occasion but in fact these colorful clothes are everyday outfits the tops are adorned with appliquéd fabrics known as mullahs they're designed to protect the wearer from the dangers of life the small village museum displays many spiritual objects of the Kuna culture along with a large collection of molars which are popular souvenirs among visitors to Panama but the museum's curator underlines their true purpose that is not a decoration Tomales is to protect the Kuna carrot or katakana life when we put in the wall and also the mollis is working every color is the black one we use the black color is to hide in the life to hide in this spirit red color red color here this particular assist you have to like the spirit of disparate trolley the yellow one is about the golden denotes okay shining is like the Sun is protecting a human being you want about this page the green is about the mainland okay the mountain okay no everybody make but most women okay the female Oona's and they dedicate to make them Mahler's okay somebody sometimes sometimes in some Island the Kuna man can work okay they can do that but the Mallis is especially for the women house Imola made several layers of fabric are placed on top of each other patterns cut out and the edges are sewn together by hand in the Kuna language Marcela tells us a little bit about her life without the name and her mother and grandmother taught her everything she says the fabrics can't be bought in the city they don't use natural dyes there she often produces traditional patterns but very modern ones too she sells them for around $20 why American mine you know when Lincoln Lewis cowboy okay baby somebody gilberto and his mother when he's in the city the thing he misses the most is her cooking 80% of the food traditionally eaten here is healthy no exaggeration it's a diet of fish and other seafood they're smoked fish yuca or genious we cook them in coconut milk that's the Kuna joy whenever I visit the island after having been in the city I wish I could stay but I have to go back to work it's a magical place it's named in Pune is see Eduardo in Spanish it's quote Christine but its real name is see Eduardo pero si awareness like a Norma do you miss you son she says yes a.m. means yes in the Kuna language but I come every Saturday the United States handed the canal over to Panama in 1999 ownership of the railway meanwhile passed to the US companies Kansas City Southern and me Jack products which leases and services terminal equipment like cranes the service is operated by the Panama Canal railway company fast transport of containers from coast to coast is a lucrative business [Music] while boy is the third largest port in the whole of Latin America it's situated at the Pacific entrance to the canal the terminal never sleeps [Music] many modern vessels are too big for a canal that's now more than a century old as a result ships unload their cargo onto smaller cargo vessels or onto double-decker freight trains we have seven trains in total five in Panama City two in Kelowna we move them from one site to the other so that we always have five here and two there we don't have a set schedule only rough times it all depends on the speed at which things get done at the port's our company works with them we don't have any influence on the times we have to wait until they bring us the containers and then we can determine a departure time the freight trains are our main business transporting international goods they're not just destined for Panama they've often come from Asia and North and South America the kind of excitement other countries have four trains doesn't exist in Panama since passenger rail service is very limited many Panamanians don't understand the significance of the railway including its historical significance nobody uses it business people do of course and international visitors but the Panamanians don't care at all about their railway train driver enrique climbs on to his workplace he doesn't know yet when he'll get the departure signal for Colin [Music] he gets his diesel locomotive ready it's an SD 60 built by General Motors in the 80s it has 3800 horsepower is he happy with it we have we need to work with this it's a Klingon you can very handle yeah to work okay right now is the pain we hope to turn weekend change the wall to get that another favorite show the locomotives which have to pull up to four and a half thousand tonnes several times a day are maintained in the company's own repair shop basically what we're doing here we repair all the local models in case a like body job you just film and that locomotor we repair it will rebuild the the frame of the engine we rebuild an overhaul the engine like we do we can look at our locomotive there we just installed the engine and we change wheels we basically make me be completely locomotive we rebuild it from all to get it new we do every 90 days inspection as well another locomotive gotta come here in the shop to there Pizza any issue we find on the LA tomorrow to make it work 200% an interesting sight on the railway line is the Gamboa bridge over the Tigris River Noah the spot sees a closer convergence of the canal road and rail tracks from here the canal runs through Lake Gatun the artificially flooded region that spans some 420 square kilometers the water for the lake comes from the dams River next to it is this over a near national park with its impenetrable rainforests the Gamboa rainforest resort runs guided tours into the area for example on a so called aerial tram that runs above the canopy of trees at a height of 85 meters [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] the phone tree is very important in Panama is approximately 550 types in all the Republic and the land is very happy because all the trees grow comfortable in the area here they feel very happy if they feel happy we feel happy also very happy because you can breathe better the oxygen is excellent in this area that sounds like monkeys sometimes is this of all howler monkeys they can make sound onto five kilometers he's nice I like it sometime we can hear the sound I'm sometimes visible body made of years we have on very nice a good tease the small rodent with the most popular in this area and also what face capuchin monkeys we have an a snake boa constrictor in this area sometime in the artificial pond is visible crocodile panama new alligator crocodile and k-mers [Music] very nice yellow eyes they grow two points 2.5 meters not toxic but they can produce allergic the pants of the people [Music] we're not alone on the observation tower but the climb is worth it the Panama Canal now is no one hand upon a million people and now we waiting for the new expansion that the Panama Canal with the new lot they recycle 60% of the water because now is there 15 2 million gallon for more fish boat and no the water wasting they go to the oceans at the moment the two big blocks with the water reservoirs are still under construction Yasmin has no trouble explaining the canal system the level for example of the ocean is leather your shoulders with the same level of the Pacific and Caribbean and you can go here to artificial area is the miraflores lock pero miguel we stay now here artificial gotta look after 40 kilometers more is got a lot and korean size [Music] Lake Gatun is 26 metres above sea level and connects the Pacific and the Caribbean in the locks the ships are raised to this level or lowered again railway line runs over a dam away from the canal [Music] [Music] a boat trip across the artificial lake isn't without its dangers when the canal was built only trees near the shipping channel were felled the remains of the former rainforest have been steadily decomposing for more than a hundred years now entire trains were abandoned and submerged when the canal was flooded [Music] [Music] [Music] this underwater museum will exist for a long time to come and it's well-guarded [Music] esque louise's Katoon the lock on the atlantic entrance to the canal ships have been sailing into the harbor of Puerto Rico Cristobal for more than 150 years now it's one of the oldest in Panama the tourist train journey ends in a completely unspectacular station in the port of cologne the fleet of taxi drivers are standing by to pick up the passengers visitors can now take a day-long visit to historic towns such as Portobello on the Caribbean coast the Train stay here for nine hours its locomotive is only used for passenger services [Music] Ursula Corinthos Ortigas this is an f40 it's quite small the Train is my life at the moment it takes me back and forth like a car and it's also my workplace so it's my life since I was a child I wanted to work on the rail [Music] Linnea we'll take a little nap and then he'll work in the harbor before driving the train back to Panama City [Music] : is the second largest free-trade zone in the world nevertheless its affluence has seen a steady decline since the late 60s [Music] the switch to newer technologies for processing goods at the Container Terminal has led to a sharp rise in unemployment the dejection is visible in the streets [Music] tour guides warn of a high crime rate and yet Colin hasn't wholly lost its Caribbean charm [Music] it's early evening and time for the Panama Canal railway to take its passengers back to the capital what did the tourism ministry say to us in the beginning sure the Canal is our main attraction but we have many other beautiful things to offer that's exactly what we learned on our trip to [Music] [Music] I said I [Music]

Channel: DW Documentary

Views: 1,069,876

Rating: 4.8141146 out of 5

Keywords: documentary, train, trains, railway, railroad, travel, Panama Canal, Panama, Pacific, ocean, Panama Railroad, Panama Canal Railway, Panama City, Balboa, Cristóbal, Caribbean, Atlantic, DW, Deutsche Welle

Id: iDo1vIBqi10

Length: 42min 25sec (2545 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 01 2018