Guatemalan railway.

The U.S. Embassy here provides the following status report on the Guatemalan railroad system, which might offer opportunities for providers of goods and services:

Between 1877 and 1908 the first stage of the Guatemalan railroad system was built linking Guatemala City with the Pacific coast and to the southwestern part of the country. The second stage (1892-1904) of the railroad connected Puerto Barrios on the Atlantic coast with Guatemala City. At the same time, several secondary or branch lines were built. The capital city was linked by rail to the Atlantic coast ports (Puerto Barrios and Puerto Santo Tomas de Castilla). In the south at the Pacific coast, the railroad connects the Ports of San Jose, Puerto Quetzal and Puerto Champerico, to the west with the Mexican border and to the east to the Salvadorean border. Guatemala's narrow gauge (914 mm) railway network extends approximately 512 miles and was the most extensive in Central America. The narrow gauge rails do not interconnect with that of the neighboring countries. Until 1984, the system operated with government subsidy;

The fast-growing banana business (1912) furnished abundant cargo to the railroad system and in Guatemala and El Salvador, the railroad became known as International Railway of Central America --IRCA, operating a system of 198 miles in the northern part of the country and 177 miles in the south, with a total of 375 miles of main railway. In 1933 a contract is signed between IRCA and the United Fruit Company--UFCO (U.S.) acquiring the company shares of the railroad system to operate at a low cost the banana transport to the Guatemalan ports. When UFCO ceased the banana plantation operation (1945) the rights acquired returned to IRCA. In 1968 the company operates under the name of Ferrocarriles de Guatemala--FEGUA. In March 1996 FEGUA operations were closed until further notice. The Guatemalan government declares that the railway system was not profitable since it was reporting only losses and the government could not provide further subsidy;

In January 1997, the Ministry of Communications, Transport and Public Works announced the invitation to participate in an International Public Bidding process for the concession and operation of the national railway system FEGUA. In June 1997, the Public Bidding to operate FEGUA is awarded to the U.S. Railroad Development Corp.--RDC, of Pittsburgh, Pa. and is locally registered in 1998 as Compania Desarrolladora Ferroviaria--Ferrovias Guatemala, S.A. Ferrovias de Guatemala has a 50-year concession to operate the railroad in Guatemala;