Since the Dominican Republic shares an island with Haiti, a quick overview into the history of trains in the eastern portion of the island may be useful to shed light on some commonalities and possibly important deviations in the development of both nations. Unfortunately, with only the use of two books, it is difficult to tell the story in great detail or perhaps address larger themes, but the main purpose of the post is really a comparative look at Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Georges Michel's text includes a useful chapter on the Dominican Republic's railroads, suggesting such a framework may be useful to see the interconnected underdevelopment of the island. Michiel Baud's focuses on the railroads of the Cibao, offering context on their construction and their relation to social and economic change in the region.
The story of the railroads of the Dominican Republic is intimately linked with views of modernization, expansion of the export economy, and the Cibao's agricultural potention and expansion. According to Baud, the population of the province was only 90,000 in 1875, but a few decades later it was over 200,000. The Dominican Republic of the 19th century, much like Haiti, lacked reliable and comprehensive roads. In order to reduce costs of transport of tobacco and, later on, cacao and coffee, local elites and the Dominican state endeavored to construct railroads through concessions to European and North American capitalists (they lacked sufficient capital to launch these projects on their own).
These concessions had dangerous consequences, particularly with regards to the role of the San Domingo Improvement Co. and the completion of the line connecting Santiago, Moca, and Puerto Plata. Much like the MacDonald Contract in Haiti, the railway ensured growing dependence on the US. The railways of both nations also share a parallel in their lack of a line connecting their capitals with the major cities in their northern provinces, Cap-Haitien and Santiago. The further centralization in Port-au-Prince and Santo Domingo, plus the concentration of US capital in the sugar industries in the DR and the Cul-de-Sac and Leogane plains in the West province of Haiti, weakened the regional economy and autonomy of the Cibao and the Nord of Haiti.
Much like the case of Haiti, the Cibao did eventually develop railroads in the late 19th century and early 20th century, connecting Santiago to Puerto Plata (Ferrocarril Central Dominicana) and La Vega to Sanchez, in the Samana peninsula. Despite numerous financial and construction problems along the way, the trains did have an impact on the burgeoning economy of the Cibao and the movement of people and goods. Like Haiti, the railroads of the Cibao played a role in the expansion of tropical commodities for the global market, although the case of northern Haiti was a less extensive railroad network servicing banana, sisal, bois de campêche, and coffee transport. Haiti was less impacted by immigration and the penetration of foreign capital, thus by the 1940s, only having 297 kilometers of railroads versus 1,247 kilometers of common-carrier and industrial use tracks in the Dominican Republic. Haiti had more kilometers of common-carrier lines, however, but it was less extensive across the country.
According to P.E. Bloom, the DR's industrial lines were mainly servicing the sugar industry in the south and east of the nation, but these were nearly all privately operated before nationalization of the sugar industry. About 815 km of the industrial railroads were owned by American capital, which speaks to the degree of American penetration of the Dominican sugar industry in the early decades of the 20th century. Bloom, like Georges Michel, also indicated the decline of passenger service in the Cibao's two railroads by the 1930s, with the Cibao lines eventually being dismantled by Trujillo and transferred to the sugar plantations in the south and the east. In the Haitian case, we have common-carrier lines like the PCS purchased by HASCO and used solely for the transfer of cane in 1932, plus a series of problems for the national train company after nationalization and a decline in services, quality, and investment.
By the 1930s and 1940s, the railways of Haiti and DR were definitely not the most commonly used form of transit, and mostly served to illustrate the dependent nature of the island on US capital with a bleak future. However, today the DR still retains some of the industrial lines, plus a Metro system in Santo Domingo. Haiti, needless to say, still lacks adequate roads and there are no functioning railroads in the country. Perhaps building one to connect Santiago to Santo Domingo would be useful for congested roads, or, if there was political will, connecting Port-au-Prince and Santo Domingo, but the latter seems particularly unlikely.
Michel's work indicates that the 1874 treaty between Haiti and the Dominican Republic included a planned railroad between the two capitals, but neither country's railways ever properly reached the border. The PCS line ended at Manneville, by Lake Azuey, but the Dominican Republic's concession in 1913 for a line to the Haitian border connecting Neiba, Barahona, and the Haitian frontier (going around Lake Enriquillo) never materialized. Thus, the main connection between Haitian and Dominican railroads was probably the significant numbers of Haitian laborers working on the the Dominican sugar plantations whose labor cut the cane transported by 1032 kilometers of private railroads. However, the number of parallels between the two nations and their incorporation into the American-dominated Caribbean of the 20th century, in addition to their impact on labor, migration, and economic relations reveal a mutual dependence if the island is viewed through the lens of a single, fragmented economic system.
The story of the railroads of the Dominican Republic is intimately linked with views of modernization, expansion of the export economy, and the Cibao's agricultural potention and expansion. According to Baud, the population of the province was only 90,000 in 1875, but a few decades later it was over 200,000. The Dominican Republic of the 19th century, much like Haiti, lacked reliable and comprehensive roads. In order to reduce costs of transport of tobacco and, later on, cacao and coffee, local elites and the Dominican state endeavored to construct railroads through concessions to European and North American capitalists (they lacked sufficient capital to launch these projects on their own).
These concessions had dangerous consequences, particularly with regards to the role of the San Domingo Improvement Co. and the completion of the line connecting Santiago, Moca, and Puerto Plata. Much like the MacDonald Contract in Haiti, the railway ensured growing dependence on the US. The railways of both nations also share a parallel in their lack of a line connecting their capitals with the major cities in their northern provinces, Cap-Haitien and Santiago. The further centralization in Port-au-Prince and Santo Domingo, plus the concentration of US capital in the sugar industries in the DR and the Cul-de-Sac and Leogane plains in the West province of Haiti, weakened the regional economy and autonomy of the Cibao and the Nord of Haiti.
Much like the case of Haiti, the Cibao did eventually develop railroads in the late 19th century and early 20th century, connecting Santiago to Puerto Plata (Ferrocarril Central Dominicana) and La Vega to Sanchez, in the Samana peninsula. Despite numerous financial and construction problems along the way, the trains did have an impact on the burgeoning economy of the Cibao and the movement of people and goods. Like Haiti, the railroads of the Cibao played a role in the expansion of tropical commodities for the global market, although the case of northern Haiti was a less extensive railroad network servicing banana, sisal, bois de campêche, and coffee transport. Haiti was less impacted by immigration and the penetration of foreign capital, thus by the 1940s, only having 297 kilometers of railroads versus 1,247 kilometers of common-carrier and industrial use tracks in the Dominican Republic. Haiti had more kilometers of common-carrier lines, however, but it was less extensive across the country.
According to P.E. Bloom, the DR's industrial lines were mainly servicing the sugar industry in the south and east of the nation, but these were nearly all privately operated before nationalization of the sugar industry. About 815 km of the industrial railroads were owned by American capital, which speaks to the degree of American penetration of the Dominican sugar industry in the early decades of the 20th century. Bloom, like Georges Michel, also indicated the decline of passenger service in the Cibao's two railroads by the 1930s, with the Cibao lines eventually being dismantled by Trujillo and transferred to the sugar plantations in the south and the east. In the Haitian case, we have common-carrier lines like the PCS purchased by HASCO and used solely for the transfer of cane in 1932, plus a series of problems for the national train company after nationalization and a decline in services, quality, and investment.
By the 1930s and 1940s, the railways of Haiti and DR were definitely not the most commonly used form of transit, and mostly served to illustrate the dependent nature of the island on US capital with a bleak future. However, today the DR still retains some of the industrial lines, plus a Metro system in Santo Domingo. Haiti, needless to say, still lacks adequate roads and there are no functioning railroads in the country. Perhaps building one to connect Santiago to Santo Domingo would be useful for congested roads, or, if there was political will, connecting Port-au-Prince and Santo Domingo, but the latter seems particularly unlikely.
Michel's work indicates that the 1874 treaty between Haiti and the Dominican Republic included a planned railroad between the two capitals, but neither country's railways ever properly reached the border. The PCS line ended at Manneville, by Lake Azuey, but the Dominican Republic's concession in 1913 for a line to the Haitian border connecting Neiba, Barahona, and the Haitian frontier (going around Lake Enriquillo) never materialized. Thus, the main connection between Haitian and Dominican railroads was probably the significant numbers of Haitian laborers working on the the Dominican sugar plantations whose labor cut the cane transported by 1032 kilometers of private railroads. However, the number of parallels between the two nations and their incorporation into the American-dominated Caribbean of the 20th century, in addition to their impact on labor, migration, and economic relations reveal a mutual dependence if the island is viewed through the lens of a single, fragmented economic system.
Works Consulted
Baud, Michiel. Historia De Un Sueño: Los Ferrocarriles Públicos En La República Dominicana, 1880-1930. Santo Domingo, República Dominicana: Fundación Cultural Dominicana, 1993.
Hoetink, H. The Dominican People, 1850-1900: Notes for a Historical Sociology. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982.
Long, W. Rodney. Railways of Central America and the West Indies. Washington: Government printing Office, 1925.
Long, W. Rodney. Railways of Central America and the West Indies. Washington: Government printing Office, 1925.
Michel, Georges. Les chemins de fer de l'île d'Haïti. Jamaica, N.Y.: Haitiana Publications, 1989.
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