There are currently no functioning

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

s in

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

, and there have never been any rail connections with the neighbouring

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

. However, between 1876 and the 1970s, various

tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

ways and railways ran in the country. A tram network operated in the capital,

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( ; ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Haiti, most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 1,200,000 in 2022 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The me ...

, between 1897 and 1932. Three railway lines, along with some industrial lines, constituted the Haitian national rail network. The first horse drawn street tramway opened in 1876, with rural railways constructed later. Narrow gauge steam locomotive train

Horse tramways

In 1876, a franchise for the construction of a street railway in

was awarded to a group of

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

financiers. They founded the Compagnie des Chemins de Fer de Port-au-Prince (CCFPP). Six open cars were ordered from

J. G. Brill and Company The J. G. Brill Company manufactured streetcars,Young, Andrew D. (1997). ''Veteran & Vintage Transit'', p. 101. St. Louis: Archway Publishing. interurban coaches, motor buses, trolleybuses and railroad cars in the United States for nearl ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

in 1877 and a tramway service connecting Croix des Bossales with

Champ de Mars Champ, CHAMP or The Champ may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Champ (cartoon character), an animated dog introduced in 1960 * The Champ, played on radio and created by Jake Edwards (radio personality), Jake Edwards * Champ ...

began in 1878. The venture was initially successful, but was hurt by competition from

buses A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...

from 1880. In 1884, the company owned 50 to 60 horses, 10 passenger cars and 16 freight cars. The CCFPP fell into

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

in 1885 and the last tram ran in 1888. Haiti rail map 1925

Steam railways

In 1896, the Comite des Negociants d'Haiti (Haitian Trader's Committee) began to restore the closed horse tramway system and to build two new rural lines. A new company, Societe des Tramways de Port-au-Prince, ordered the following equipment: * One 8-

ton Ton is any of several units of measure of mass, volume or force. It has a long history and has acquired several meanings and uses. As a unit of mass, ''ton'' can mean: * the '' long ton'', which is * the ''tonne'', also called the ''metric ...

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...

from H. K. Porter,

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

(named President Sam) * Five 12-ton steam locomotives from Krauss,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

* Three steam locomotives from Ateliers de Tubize,

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

* Ten open

passenger cars A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...

from the Jackson and Sharp Company, US

Port-au-Prince

Steam-hauled tram services in Port-au-Prince began in April 1897. Between 1912 and 1918, there were plans to electrify the system, but these did not come to fruition. Instead, a small

railcar A railcar (not to be confused with the generic term railroad car or railway car) is a self-propelled railway vehicle designed to transport passengers. The term "railcar" is usually used in reference to a train consisting of a single coa ...

, based on

automobile A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...

parts, was introduced. This iteration of the tramway closed in 1932.

Rural lines

The rural lines were operated by a separate company, Compagnie des Chemins de Fer de la Plaine du Cul-de-Sac (CCFPCS), but the two companies shared their rolling stock. The track gauge, in both cases, was

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum railw ...

. There were two routes: * Port-au-Prince to

Léogâne Léogâne (; ) is one of the coastal communes in Haiti. It is located in the eponymous Léogâne Arrondissement, which is part of the Ouest Department. The port town is located about west of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince. Léogâne has ...

(36 km) * Port-au-Prince to Manneville (43 km) Following the

US occupation of Haiti The United States occupation of Haiti began on July 28, 1915, when 330 US Marines landed at Port-au-Prince, Haiti, after the National City Bank of New York convinced the President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, to take control of Hai ...

in 1915, the CCFPCS was taken over by the

Haitian American Sugar Company Haitian American Sugar Company, S.A. (HASCO) was an American business venture which sought to produce and sell sugar and other goods in Haiti and the United States. The company was registered with a capital of five million dollars on 5 August 1 ...

(Hasco) and renamed Chemin de Fer Central. Hasco used the following locomotives: * One 32 ton

2-6-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and no trailing wheels. T ...

* One 36 ton 2-6-0 * One 15 ton

0-4-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents one of the simplest possible types, that with two axles and four coupled wheels, all of which are driven. The wheels on the earliest four-coupled locomotives were ...

These might possibly be the three locomotives from Ateliers de Tubize (see above) or they might be new locomotives. The 0-4-0 carries the note "Cie.H.Duw. 2" but whether this is the name of the maker, or of a previous owner, is unclear.

Saint-Marc line

In 1905, a new company, Compagnie Nationale, built a

steam railway from Port-au-Prince to

Saint-Marc Saint-Marc (; ) is a List of communes of Haiti, commune in western Haiti in Artibonite (department), Artibonite departement. Its geographic coordinates are . At the 2015 Census the commune had 266,642 inhabitants. It is one of the biggest cities ...

(100 km). The track was later extended another 30 km east to

Verrettes Verrettes (; ) is a commune in the Saint-Marc Arrondissement, in the Artibonite department of Haiti. It is located approximately 58 km north of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and has 144,812 inhabitants (2015). * Settlements * DesJardins * ...

. There was also a line from

Cap-Haïtien Cap-Haïtien (; ; "Haitian Cape") is a List of communes of Haiti, commune of about 400,000 people on the north coast of Haiti and capital of the Departments of Haiti, department of Nord (Haitian department), Nord. Previously named ''Cap‑Fran� ...

to Bahon, but it is unclear whether this connected with the Saint-Marc line and whether they were of the same gauge.

Industrial railways

As well as the passenger-carrying railways, there were also

industrial railway An industrial railway is a type of railway (usually private) that is not available for public transportation and is used exclusively to serve a particular industrial, logistics, or military site. In regions of the world influenced by British r ...

s serving

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

and

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

and sisal

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

Closures

By the mid-1950s, two public-service railways totalling remained operating.Sampson, H. (Editor) ''The Dumpy Book of Railways of the World'', page 182, Sampson Low, London, c.1956 All the railways are now closed.

References

External links

Report on Haitian railroads from US Department of Commerce (1925)
{{North America in topic, History of rail transport in

Rail Rail or rails may refer to: Rail transport *Rail transport and related matters *Railway track or railway lines, the running surface of a railway Arts and media Film * ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini * ''Rail'' (1967 fil ...

Rail transport in Haiti 3 ft 6 in gauge railways in Haiti 2 ft 6 in gauge railways in Haiti fr:Transport ferroviaire à Haïti#Histoire