Railways in the Dominican Republic in the article are divided into metro railway line in Santo Domingo (suburban rail) and the sugar cane railways. The history of the sugar cane railways in the Dominican Republic dates back to the beginning of the 20th century, some of them are active. There were plans to build a monorail in Santiago de los Caballeros and a new railway line between Santo Domingo and Punta Cana (150 km). The new line would be intended for passenger transport. The Dominican Republic has no rail connection with Haiti.
Last updated: 25.02.2024
Trains in the Dominican Republic – Metro de Santo Domingo
Santo Domingo is the capital of the Dominican Republic, with approximately 970,000 inhabitants (the agglomeration has over 2 million inhabitants). There are currently two suburban railway lines operating in the city, called metro in Latin American countries, but it is not a metro in the European sense of an underground railway (in my opinion it is “light railway”).
The idea to build a metro in Santo Domingo appeared in 2004. According to sources, it was the then president of Brazil, Lula da Silva, who suggested such a solution to the president of the Dominican Republic. Construction of the first line began in 2005 or 2006 and was completed two years later. Test runs took place from 22 December. 2008, and the official opening took place on 29 December 2009.
Line 1 runs from Villa Mella to Centro de los Héroes. It is 14.5 kilometers long and has 16 stations. The line runs from south to north of Santo Domingo.
In November 2009, the construction of line number 2 began and was put into operation on April 1, 2017. Initially, the line had a length of 10.3 kilometers and 14 stations, on August 9, 2018, the line was extended by 3.6 km.
Line No. 2 runs from east to west of the capital. The line is planned to be extended, ultimately to be 21-22 km long.
The project of an urban transport system in the form of an metro railway in Santo Domingo provides for the construction of 6 railway lines. The rolling stock consists of air-conditioned vehicles manufactured by Alstom, which run, for example, on the metro lines in the capital of Chile – Santiago.
Metro de Santo Domingo – official website
Railways in the Dominican Republic – Sugar cane railways
In the Dominican Republic, as in other countries and territories in the Caribbean, the history of railways is linked with the sugar industry. There are at least three sugar railway networks operating on the island – the network belonging to Central La Romana (CR) with approximately 340 kilometers of standard gauge lines around la Romana, 117 kilometers east of Santo Domingo.
The second is the Central Ingenio Barahona railway network. In 1970, the sugar railway network around Barahona was 109 kilometers long with a gauge of 1,067 mm. It is not known how many are currently open, but the railways are definitely active.
The third largest network – Ingenio Cristóbal Colón – is located near San Pedro de Macoris, 70 kilometers west of Santo Domingo. The length of the tracks is 68 kilometers, the rail gauge is 762 mm.
In addition, there are even smaller networks of sugar railways, but I have no information about their operation:
Falconbridge Dominicana CporA (FALCONDO) in Borano
FC Cruz de Manzanillo in Pepillo Salcedo (approx. 43 km)
Sal y Yeso Dominicanos in Barahona (approx. 30 km)
In addition to the sugar railways, there is also an industrial railway for transporting salt from brines near Santo Domingo. Sugar and industrial railways have different rail gauges depending on the network. The networks are not interconnected.
Related articles:
Railways in Americas by country
