The Great Venezuela Railway (''Gran Ferrocarril de Venezuela'') was a railway from Caracas to

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

. The railway was the longest in Venezuela. It proved difficult to recoup the initial investment and the railway became a notable cause of the Venezuelan crisis of 1902–1903. It fell into disrepair through the early 20th century and the last train ran in 1966.

Origin

Friedrich Krupp AG The Krupp family (see pronunciation), a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, is notable for its production of steel, artillery, ammunition and other armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG (Friedrich Kr ...

contracted with the Venezuelan government in 1888 to build the railway in exchange for £12,800 per kilometer to be repaid at 7 percent interest.

Disconto-Gesellschaft The Disconto-Gesellschaft (full name: Direktion der Disconto-Gesellschaft), with headquarters in Berlin, was founded in 1851. It was, until its 1929 merger into Deutsche Bank, one of the largest German banking organizations. History It was fou ...

financed the project; and terms were renegotiated at £11,000 per kilometer in 1891. The railway was completed in February 1894.

Description

The railway replaced a difficult carriage road through mountainous terrain. Contemporary accounts expressed great praise for the construction, which used Krupp steel

railroad tie A railroad tie, crosstie (American English), railway tie ( Canadian English) or railway sleeper ( Australian and British English) is a rectangular support for the rails in railroad tracks. Generally laid perpendicular to the rails, ties tran ...

s. The Caracas terminus was adjacent to the gauge La Guaira and Caracas Railway to the coast, which operated until 1951. The Great Venezuela Railway entered the Calvario tunnel for level grade to Antímano where a 2 percent climb began to a summit in Corozal tunnel from Caracas. From Corozal tunnel the railway required 212 Krupp steel viaducts and 84 tunnels to cover of gently descending grade across steep canyons to reach the fertile valley of Lake Valencia. The viaduct over Agua Amarillo was the longest on the line and stood above the water. The Valencia terminus was at San Blas, but the line was eventually connected to the Puerto Cabello and Valencia Railway which had its own terminus at Camoruco. By 1922 the railway had 18 locomotives, 30

passenger cars A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as ...

, 68

flatcar A flatcar (US) (also flat car, or flatbed) is a piece of rolling stock that consists of an open, flat deck mounted on a pair of trucks (US) or bogies (UK), one at each end containing four or six wheels. Occasionally, flat cars designed to carry ...

s, and 20

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. Although the 4-4-4T locos could reach , trains took 7 hours for the 179 km.

Financial difficulty

Early in the line's history it was adversely affected by political instability in Venezuela. Krupp computed Venezuela's debt (including damages arising from the revolution against Venezuelan president Raimundo Andueza Palacio) as £1,900,000. Suspension of debt payments by Cipriano Castro in 1901 was followed by the Venezuelan crisis of 1902–1903, a naval blockade involving

gunboat diplomacy In international politics, the term gunboat diplomacy refers to the pursuit of foreign policy objectives with the aid of conspicuous displays of naval power, implying or constituting a direct threat of warfare should terms not be agreeable to t ...

Museum

The summit section of the railway forms part of a recreation park called ''Parque El Encanto'' (El Encanto is also the name of one of the stations). Work began in 2015 on a 350 million bolivar plan to restore of track as a heritage railway, with 7 tunnels and 5 bridges, providing for a 25-minute journey from Los Lagos to El Encanto.

References

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External links