Editing Transportation in Puerto Rico (section)

==Rail transportation==
{{Main|Rail transport in Puerto Rico}}

===Current systems===
* '''[[Tren Urbano]]''' - Provides passenger train service between various points of the [[San Juan Metropolitan Area]],  between [[Bayamón, Puerto Rico|Bayamón]], [[Guaynabo]] and several important sections of San Juan.
* '''[[Port of Ponce Railroad]]''' - The only [[industrial railway|industrial railroad]] operating on the entire island and located within the [[Puerto de Las Américas]] in [[Ponce, Puerto Rico]]. It consists of a small [[Rail yard|railroad yard]] and a railroad ferry terminal. About twice monthly, the [[Train ferry|railroad ferry]] transports [[tank car|tanker cars]] on a [[Car float|barge]] between [[Mobile, Alabama]] and the Ponce rail terminal, delivering chemicals for Puerto Rico's pharmaceutical industry.<ref name="PR-chemex">[http://ferrocarrilesdepuertorico.web.officelive.com/P2Welcome.htm#Ferrocarril_Chemex Railroads of Puerto Rico: Ferrocarril Chemex] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100227075110/http://ferrocarrilesdepuertorico.web.officelive.com/P2Welcome.htm#Ferrocarril_Chemex |date=2010-02-27 }} Chemex Railroad operation in Ponce.</ref>
* '''[[Heritage railway|Tourism Railroads]]''' - Several locomotives are used for tourism and recreational services, such as "[[El Parque del Tren]]" in Bayamón (demolished to make way for the ''Tren Urbano'')<ref name="radiosabor">[http://www.radiosabor.es/viajar/puertorico/4bayamon.html Bayamon Tourism], RadioSabor.es</ref> and the historic narrow gauge old sugarcane plantation "[[Train of the South|Tren del Sur]]" in [[Arroyo, Puerto Rico|Arroyo]] (currently abandoned but with plans for restoration).<ref>Government of Puerto Rico [http://www.gobierno.pr/OECH/index.htm State Historic Conservation Plan 2006-2010] {{in lang|es}}</ref>

===Defunct systems===
[[File:Train Station in Yauco.jpg|thumb|right|19th century train station in [[Yauco]]]]

The Puerto Rico train system flourished during the late 19th and early 20th century due to a large [[sugar cane]] industry there. Most, if not all, of these system were privately owned. [[Vieques, Puerto Rico|Vieques]], an island-municipality, also had the system connecting its sugar cane plantations.

During the 1870s and 1890s, Puerto Rico did not have a national railroad system, but the city of Mayagüez did have a small passenger rail system for transporting its residents mainly along the [[Calle Méndez Vigo (Mayagüez)|Mendez Vigo Avenue]].

The main system can be traced back to 1891, when the northern line was built between San Juan ([[Martín Peña (Santurce)|Martín Peña sector]]) and [[Manatí]]. The system was expanded to include all the western coastal towns, providing a link which would allow passengers to travel between the northern and southern parts of the island in less than a day for the first time in its history. Before its downfall, the Puerto Rico railroad system operated in all major cities, with tracks and stations along most of the coastal towns and direct lines to all major sugar refineries.

However, when Puerto Rico changed its mostly agricultural economy to an industrialized one, and the U.S. and Puerto Rican governments started investing heavily in interstate [[highway]]s and [[freeway]]s, the railroad business soon collapsed. Passenger travel ceased in 1953, while the commercial train system (mostly for the sugar cane industry) continued operating until 1957.<ref name="iprac">{{cite web | title=Institute of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture Transportation | website=iprac.aspira.org | date=March 5, 2002 | url=http://iprac.aspira.org/iprac_transportation.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081015014935/http://iprac.aspira.org/iprac_transportation.htm | archive-date= October 15, 2008 | url-status=dead | access-date=January 27, 2023}}</ref>