Bogotá's Once and Future Railroad

The old railroad station on Calle 13, west of La Candelaria. 

The crossing sign says 'stop.'
But city leaders are saying 'go.'

Bogotá's old railroad line cuts strategically north from the city's center. But, except for weekend tourist trains and some schoolchildren commuters, the line is used only by homeless scavangers, who live, sort trash and light fires amidst the weeds lining the tracks.

But this morning local and regional governments signed an agreement to build a commuter rail network along this line, Ave. Septima and other parts of Bogotá.

But will it actually happen?

I wonder how expensive this will be, particularly since Colombia's rail lines use a non-standard gauge, which is part of the reason they fell into disuse in the first place. Previous plans to create high-speed rail corridors were criticized because of danger to pedestrians and the way that they would create barriers across the city because of required safety walls.  

The weedy railroad corridor, now a campsite for homeless scavengers. 

Related Post:

Steve's Steam Train

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Riding the Rails Through Bogotá's History

About 1900, horse-drawn tranvias cross Plaza Bolivar.

Bogotá's City Hall is planning to criss-cross Bogotá with rail lines to carry people efficiently and cleanly across the city.

An electric tranvia. 

If the plan is realized - a big IF - it'll harken back to a legendary mode of transport from the last century - and a system which also marked Bogotá's social and political history.

Bogotá's first rail system - the U.S.-owned Bogotá City Railway Company - used horse and mule-drawn vehicles which ran on wooden rail along Ave. Septima and other routes, north to Chapinero, then a rural area outside the city. The animal-powered system operated from 1884 to 1910, expanding west to the Estacion de la Sabana. In 1910, the system's elecrification was begun.

Tranvias burn on Plaza Bolivar during the Bogotazo.

A tranvia at the Gaitan Museum.

That same year, however, the Tranvia turned into a target of nationalist ire after a Railway employee was accused of hitting a young boy. The incident triggered a boycott of the tramway, driven in part by anger over U.S.-backing for Panama's recent independence. After a seventh-month boycott, the Railway Company gave up and the system was purchased by the Bogotá city government. 

The city continued expanding the system. Meanwhile, however, new competition appeared in the form of private buses. The buses charged more, but had more flexible routes and weren't dependent on electricity from overhead cables.

An electric trolley. 

Doomsday for the tranvias arrived on April 9, 1948, when populist leader Jorge Eliecer Gaitan was assassinated in central Bogotá. During the ensuing riots, called El Bogotazo, thousands of people were killed, much of the city was burned and many of the streetcars were pushed over and set aflame. Some say that the bus owners paid rioters to destroy the tranvias in order to eliminate competition. The system limped on for a few more years, until the mayor gave a secret order for the rails to be asphalted over.

After that, the city created a trolley system which functioned until the early 1990s.

Today, the city plans to brick rail transport back. Streetcars, also known as light rail, have lots of advantages: quietness, efficiency, non-polluting and visually attractive- but let's hope that this version is more practical and less politicized.

For more history, see: The Tramways of Bogotá.

or, Del Tranvia al TransMilenio.

Not a bad ride. One of the old horse-drawn streetcars preserved in the Archivo de Bogotá.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Will Bogotá Get on Track?

Cars in central Bogotá. Private cars,
often carrying only on person,
take up most of the space on Bogotá's streets.

Mayor Petro's ambitious transit blueprint will dust off a mode which Bogotá hasn't seen for a long, long time: Trains.

Trolleys and streetcars have played a big role in Bogotá's history, but today the only train that operates in Bogotá is the vintage tourist train which carries holidayers to and from Zipaquira on weekends and holidays.

Work on the Museo Nacional TransMilenio station,
supposed to open for operation early next year.
A light rail line along La Septima would be
the continuation of this TM line. 

Petro's plan puts a streetcar on Seventh Ave., another train on the projected Longitudinal Avenue of the West (ALO) and two more on avenues crossing the city. Then, of course, it also includes a subway line making a loop thru central Bogotá. Then, there also two new TransMilenio lines and a pair of cable cars serving poor neighborhoods in south Bogotá.

If the plan actually gets completed, the city will be encircled by passenger rail lines.

Of all those projects, the streetcar, or Tranvia, on Ave. Septima has generated the most controversy. Critics say a light rail would only carry a few thousand people per hour - far less than a subway line, or the corridor's commuter flow. Under that reasoning, light rail will do wonders to turn Ave. Septima -which passes by many of the city's most important landmarks - from a chaotic, polluted mess to an orderly, pleasant and efficient avenue. The city also has a grand plan to turn the avenue into a 'green corridor' complete with electric buses and facelifts all along its route. But a light rail won't come close to handling La Septima's future passenger demand.

Progress: Ave. Septima's bridge over
Calle 26 is supposed to be done within a few weeks.

Still, thousands of passengers per hour is substantial. And a streetcar has the advantage of attracting higher-income commuters who would be reluctant to get onto a bus or even a subway.

These projects - if they're actually built - will move bogotanos faster across the city. But don't expect them to solve the city's traffic congestion or pollution nightmares. By a decade from now, when much of this infrastructure may have been completed, a million additional private cars will have flooded the city.

That is the real transit crisis facing the city. And without strong measures, such as a congestion charge and fines for single passenger vehicles, the city's transit faces collapse with or without new rail lines.

TransMilenio buses pass a traffic jam on Carrera 30,
near Palo Quemao market. Unless the city takes
strong measures about exploding private car use,
it'll turn into one big traffic jam. 

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Subway, Light Rail or TM for La Septima?

Old Tranvia rails on Seventh Ave. by Jimenez Ave. Will a new train run along this avenue?

It's the endless debate: Subway, Light Rail or more TransMilenio, particularly along Seventh Ave.

Seventh Ave. is chaotic, polluted and congested. It functions poorly and is an embarrasment for Bogotá - After all, this is the city's most emblematic and historical avenue, passing by Plaza Bolivar, the presidential palace, various parks, museums and the bullfighting plaza.

Mayoral administrations have cycled thru plans for a subway, a full TransMilenio line, Samuel Moreno's idea for a 'TransMilenio Light' because of the avenue's narrowness and now light rail.

One of Bogotá's old streetcars, in the Gaitan museum
in Teusaquillo. The system was destroyed
during the riots which followed Gaitan's assassination.  

Petro's light rail line would extend from the 20 de Julio neighborhood in the south up to near 200th St. in north Bogotá.

In terms of simple economics and rapidity of construction, some sort of TransMilenio line - with all its problems - is probably the best solution. A TransMilenio line can carry about as many passengers as light rail, is faster to build and has the added benefit of merging into the existing TransMilenio network, eliminating the need for transferring between modes.

Seventh Ave.'s future? Light rail in Hong Kong.
(Photo from Trek Earth)

A light rail line costs somewhat more than TransMilenio to build, but would have lower maintenance costs. Light rail also doesn't pollute the air. Light rail would also have the advantages of adding a panache and a sophistication to central Bogotá, which would give a boost to the city's image.

Any sort of rail also has the important advantage of attracting many more of the high-income riders who feel that getting on a bus is beneath them. This is particularly important for Seventh Ave. with its wealthy neighborhoods and expensive hotels nearby.

Light rail also has the advantage of being lots faster to build than a subway - a key factor for Petro, who believes that he could get the line done during his mayorship. (And then maybe run for president on the accomplishment.)

Dead end? Work on the Museo Nacional TM station
on Ave. Septima. Will riders continue
north on TM, subway or light rail? 

But Bogotá has done no studies for light rail, meaning that it would have to start at square one. And, a light rail line would require passengers to get off and wait and then transfer to a subway or a bus.

Finally, a subway line could carry many more passengers than the alternatives, but would take far longer to build - most likely decades - cost lots more and mean lots more urban trauma during construction. Also, an underground subway would do little to improve the chaos and traffic jams on Seventh Ave.

Finally, concentrating on a subway would guarantee Bogotá another decade or so without major transit improvements, since that's how long subways typically take to build.

Of course, the transit modes aren't mutually exclusive: many cities have interconnecting subways, light rail and bus systems.

Any change on Seventh Ave. would be an improvement. As a desperate-sounding community leader in the Usaquen neighborhood told El Tiempo: 'We've been waiting for years for a solution, and have seen all kinds of alternatives. We're willing to pay - just as long as they actually finally build something!'

 Comparing the space required by people in private cars and a light rail car (or a bus). More private cars will strangle Bogotá!

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Back to the Future on Seventh Ave?

Seventh Ave. today: Chaotic, polluted and slow. 

The future Seventh Ave?

First, there were horse-drawn cars, then came streetcars, then buses, then private cars, then electric trolleys, then TransMilenio - and then back to streetcars, now known as tramcars or light rail?

Mayor-elect Gustavo Petro plans to build a streetcar line on Seventh Ave. It's just the latest of many transit schemes for the historic but chaotic and polluted avenue, including a subway, a TransMilenio line, a scaled-down TransMilenio line, an 'ecological corridor' and now light rail.

              Light rail has several positives:

* It's narrow, enabling it to fit into skinny Seventh Ave.
* It doesn't pollute.
* Light rail looks sleek and modern, gives a city a panache and can attract tourists.
* While light rail's construction costs and time might be greater than an express bus line's, light rail's operation and maintenance costs are lower.
* Perhaps most importantly, higher-income people, like most of the residents along Seventh Ave., are more willing to ride trains than buses.

Passengers in a light rail car.

               But on the negative side:

* Light rail lacks the flexibility of an express bus system.
* It'll probably take longer and be more expensive to build than light rail would.
* Most importantly, it'll require passengers to deboard and perhaps change stations when transferring from the streetcar to Transmilenio (or a subway) and back again.

If the tramway does get built, it'll take Bogotá back to the first half of this century, when streetcars -called tranvias - carried bogotanos from south Bogotá up to Chapinero (a separate city then). At first, the cars were pulled by horses and mules, then for a short time operated on batteries until power lines were installed.

Streetcars on Seventh Ave. near Plaza Bolivar.

Riders hang out of the doors of a streetcar on Seventh Ave. 

The streetcar system, operated by the Bogotá City Railway Company,  became a symbol of Colombian nationalism in 1910 in an explosion of resentment against the system's U.S. owners. Shortly before, the United States had separated Panama from Colombia and made it into an independent nation in order to dig the Panama Canal. When one of the Railway Company's American owners, Johnson Martin, insulted a Bogotá policeman, Bogotanos responded by boycotting the  streetcar system until its owners were forced to sell it to the city of Bogotá.

Streetcars burning during the Bogotazo. 

The municipal owners continued expanding the system and buying new streetcars. However, in 1948 tragedy intervened. The assassination of populist politician Jorge Eliecer Gaitan triggered huge riots, called the Bogotazo, in which many buildings were burned, thousands of people were killed and the streetcars pushed over and torched. Many believe that the owners of rival bus systems, eager to destroy the competition, paid rioters to destroy the streetcars. The streetcar system limped on until 1951, when the mayor ordered the rails paved over, killing the system.

It's sad contemplating what might have been if Bogotá had preserved, expanded and modernized its urban rail system. Today, clean and orderly streetcars might carry people across the city, without the pall of smog now enveloping many Bogota avenues, and also serve as a tourist attraction.

Streetcar tracks can still be seen on Seventh Ave. and Jimenez, apparently left there as a memorial to Gaitan, who was assassinated nearby. 

A map of Bogotá in 1910 shows the streetcar line running along Seventh Ave. and then north to Chapinero. 

Find more info at: The Tramways of Bogotá (from wich I borrowed several pictures.)

Wikipedia: Los Tranvias de Bogotá.

Del Tranvia del TransMilenio


By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

The Mayor and the Metro

Samuel Moreno was elected mayor to a great extent on his promise to build a subway system.

That system has not been built or even contracted yet - but it's already being questioned. Two university studies suggested the soil was sufficiently stable for digging tunnels, that the construction could damage buildings overhead, that the trains might not be be fast enough to justify the system, that construction will impact natural areas and that passenger flows will overwhelm some stations.


But the most fundamental question is whether the city has the money to pay for this megaproject.

I can promise you right now that metro construction will go tremendously over-budget and cost way more than expected. Just look at what's happening with the Transmilenio system's expansion: one line was supposed to be finished this November, but is now going to take until mid-2011 - at least. And building a metro system is hugely more complex and expensive.




Bogotá desperately needs to keep expanding its public transit system and phase out the existing chaotic and polluting old private buses. But do Bogotanos really want to live amidst rubble, blocked roads and noise - for many years, maybe even decades?


Is a subway system really a practical, realistic solution, or a boondoggle intended to boost the mayor's legacy and make Bogotanos feel like they've got a world-class city?

I suspect the second. Bogotá should continue to expand the Transmilenio, consider light rail and institute a congestion tax like London's.


This blog written by Mike Ceaser of Bogota Bike Tours