CANAL RAIL LINE BOOSTS CARGO, TOURISM.The Panama Canal Panama Canal, waterway across the Isthmus of Panama, connecting the Atlantic (by way of the Caribbean Sea) and Pacific oceans, built by the United States (1904–14) on territory leased from the republic of Panama. Railway chugs from the Pacific to the Atlantic in one hour, on a 47-mile route that parallels the Panama Canal and cuts through dense tropical jungle. It has a triple role as tourist attraction Noun 1. tourist attraction - a characteristic that attracts tourists attractive feature, magnet, attractor, attracter, attraction - a characteristic that provides pleasure and attracts; "flowers are an attractor for bees" , executive commuter train and cross-isthmus hauler of shipping containers that merchant ships cannot or will not take on their transit of the canal, reports The Miami Herald (Oct. 1, 2002): "Unique is one way to put it," said Thomas Kenna, marketing director of the U.S.-owned, one-year-old railroad that has Panama abuzz with visions of increased income from tourism and a new way to handle cargo. Tourists riding the double-decker observation car on the 7:15 a.m. weekday run from Panama City Panama City, city (1990 pop. 34,378), seat of Bay co., NW Fla., on St. Andrews Bay; inc. 1909. A Gulf Coast resort with amusement parks and excellent fishing, it is also a port of entry. The city's industries produce paper, clothing, and chemicals. on the Pacific to Colon on the Atlantic can see alligators, iguanas and snakes cuddling with the sun-warmed rails ahead; Or they can stay in the five Amtrak-made club cars, with mahogany paneling, emerald-green lampshades and pots of strong coffee, for a ground-level look into some of the most pristine jungle in the Western Hemisphere Western Hemisphere Part of Earth comprising North and South America and the surrounding waters. Longitudes 20° W and 160° E are often considered its boundaries. . The train averages 150 passengers a day, mostly Panama City executives paying up to US$40 round-trip to visit the Colon Free Zone, a gritty complex of firms that import from Asia and export to Latin America Latin America, the Spanish-speaking, Portuguese-speaking, and French-speaking countries (except Canada) of North America, South America, Central America, and the West Indies. and the Caribbean; In the precise world of international shipping, where a freighter capable of carrying 4,400 containers can lose US$50,000 on a day's delay, the railroad figures it can make money by playing several angles. Freighters that now sail from Asia carrying only 4,000 containers to clear the canal's 40-foot draft limit can load the other 400 and send them across on the train; Shippers that run "long-line" freighters from South America's Pacific coast to the U.S. Eastern Seaboard and Europe can avoid the stiff canal transit fees by running two shorter "loop lines" on either side of the canal and sending their containers by train. The new railway was designed to move up to 6,000 containers a week, but traffic is now running at only 500-600 per week because of delays in the planned expansion of Balboa Balboa, town (1990 pop. 2,751), Colón prov., in the former Panama Canal Zone, on the Gulf of Panama. The port for Panama City, Balboa was the administrative headquarters of the Panama Canal Zone. It was also the site of a U.S. navy base (closed 1999). port on the Pacific, where most of the ships arrive from Asia. "When that Balboa bottleneck A lessening of throughput. It often refers to networks that are overloaded, which is caused by the inability of the hardware and transmission lines to support the traffic. It can also refer to a mismatch inside the computer where slower-speed peripheral buses and devices prevent the CPU is cleared we expect business will soar," Kenna said. *** Copyright 2002 |
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