the Train

[sonja]

i saw that the passenger train is up and running again.. it looked pretty fancy from photos.. brand new with comfortable seats and someone who comes around to take your drink order.. i know it goes to Kingston, but haven't found out the route yet.. anyone know? really excited about it, as was everyone in the photos i saw..

[Odinson]

I think it is a great idea but it looks like it is stalled a bit.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...---again_45539

[Irieonline]

Definately looks like it will be a challenge but I would love to see it happen

[johng]

Seeing train service from MoBay - Kingston would be awesome to see!! But with all the $$$$ Spent on the new highway system I wonder how they can afford to rebuild the RR????

[sonja]

i wish i knew how to post the photos. they are from facebook.

[Bnewb]

More current information is in the links below....

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...l-again-_54852

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/b...-jamaican-rail

[Accompong]

I have a lot of fond memories of the train rides I took for a decade before the train quit running from Kingston to Montego Bay. I now live in an area of St. Elizabeth where remnants of the JRC used to traverse and I think it would be very difficult actually maybe next to impossible to bring it back. First, there is little left of the old system as rails and ties have been stolen and used or shipped off as scrap as well as whole sections of hillsides have disappeared where the track used to run.

The Chinese are the only people (at this point) capable of doing the job but the cost to Jamaica will not be cheap as China will want a lot more than money to do it.

What killed the railway in the first place was cheap fares, corruption from station masters and maintenance of the infrastructure which includes the trains. If a new train comes into being, the cost to ride will price out most Jamaicans from riding the route. The trains used to supply a method of cheap transportation for farmers and vendors to get their goods to market; children to school and some people to and from work. Remember, these were the days when there were few taxis in Jamaica and when most rural Jamaicans did not venture out often from home.

Bauxite is not as profitable as it once was and the bauxite train paid for a lot of the track maintenance. The last of the trains I remember from the Western End of the island were the Rum Trains from Montego Bay to Appleton that stopped in Catadupa and I seem to remember the ride cost $20 (or maybe) $25 US for a round trip and even those were not profitable enough to keep running let alone the $4-5 Jamaican it cost to ride the blue JRC train between Kingston and Montego Bay. But, again, tourism was only a fraction of what it is now so perhaps reviving the Appleton Express might still prove to be profitable.

You can't build a profitable business on nostalgia. JRC Chairman Joseph A Matalon is one of the wealthiest people in Jamaica and even he wants to "divest" and reform the company with new investors if this is ever going to happen again.

My friends and I in Maggotty still reminisce about the "good ol days" of the train but getting older sometimes makes one wiser.

Peace and Guidance

[sonja]

thanks for the history and insight, Accompong.. i sure was hoping the old public transportation type train was coming back, but i see what you mean. the photos did look like some kind of tourist thing.

[sonja]

thanks for updates, bnewb, that's the train i saw in the photos.