THE TRAMWAYS OF MEXICO

This website is part of my series on the tramways of Latin America. The Tramways of Brazil and The Tramways of Chile were published (on paper) in 1989 and 1992. The Tramways of Cuba was uploaded to the Internet in 2002, The Tramways of Mexico in 2003, The Tramways of Peru and The Tramways of Haiti in 2004, The Tramways of Bolivia in 2005, The Tramways of Venezuela in 2006, The Tramways of Colombia in 2007, The Tramways of Ecuador in 2008 and The Tramways of El Salvador in 2009. Many of these pages have French-, Portuguese- and Spanish-language versions.

The postcard above shows the international tramway that operated for 91 years between El Paso, Texas, USA, and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico [col. Allen Morrison].

Mexico is the third-largest country in Latin America - after Brazil and Argentina - with an area of almost 2 million square kilometers. Its 100 million inhabitants make it the second most populous country, after Brazil. Mexico had Latin America's first street railway in 1858 and eventually had tramways in about 1,000 towns - more than all other Latin American countries combined. Most of these were animal-powered lines between the railroad station and town; in many cases the vehicles were later equipped with gasoline motors. Mexico also had an extraordinary network of mule-drawn rural tramways in Campeche and Yucatán states. Fifteen cities had electric streetcars. All these lines are gone today, but three cities recently built modern "light rail" systems.

This website concentrates on Mexico's 15 electric tramway systems, many of which disappeared during the Depression. Separate chapters summarize the animal, steam and gasoline lines that were not electrified.

The map below shows the tramway systems that are discussed. Click on the NAME of a place for a description, map and photos of its tramway lines: