History of the train in Nariño Department

Abstract

The residents of the Colombian southwest, in what today is the Department of Nariño, lacked adequate transportation routes to link the Andean zone to the Pacific Ocean from the colonial era to the first decades of the Twentieth Century – a scenario that hampered movement and commercial activity. From the outset of the 1900s, local leaders and citizens urged the national government to build a railway system. Work on the project, which overcame numerous obstacles, finally began in 1924. In 1929 that project came to a close – the economic crisis of 1929, the disinterest of the state, and the automotive boom halted the initiative. The kilometers of the Nariño train network began in jungle station of El Diviso and ended at the port of Tumaco. Despite its problems, the confluence of the railway and highway between El Diviso and Túquerres made it possible to obtain routes that expedited connections between populations in the interior with their seaside counterparts. This analysis examines the history of local enterprises aimed at constructing a railway system and the difficulties related to that stretch. Moreover, it also contributes to the history of the roadways’ development in Nariño.