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Paraguay Rail System
Since 1965 the Paraguayan railroad has played a declining role
in domestic transportation. One of South America's oldest rail
systems, the President Carlos Antonio López Rail Line, was started
in 1854. Swapped back and forth by the state and private companies
several times, the railroad was nationalized in 1961. Offering
twice-weekly service between Asunción and Encarnación, the 367-
kilometer rail system was outdated, wood-powered, slow, and
generally costly even with government subsidies. The amount of
cargo carried on the railroad declined swiftly in the 1970s and
1980s as alternative roads and waterways became more efficient, but
some agricultural goods did move by train. In Encarnación, the
Paraguayan railroad system connected via ferry with the Argentine
city of Posadas, which was connected by rail to Buenos Aires and
the Uruguayan railroad. There also was a small "soybean railroad"
near the Brazilian border. In the 1980s considerable debate
revolved around the possibility of an electric urban transport
system in Asunción or the electrification of the national railroad,
drawing on the country's large installed electrical capacity.
Data as of December 1988
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