There is no active rail transport in Belize , although there were lines in the past.
There is no active rail transport in Belize , although there were lines in the past.
An 1888 map (British Honduras, Usher, 1888) identifies a number of proposed routes for a Belize (city) to Guatemala Railway.
A 1920's map, Railroad Map of British Honduras identifies five railways / tramways:
The 1920's map shows a single proposed line from Belize to Guatemala, the Belize to Peten Railroad.
A Brief History of Pomona and the North Stann Creek Valley , taking information from the David Rollinson book, states the number of former railways in Belize as (at least) eight:
A 1965 map (see right) shows the route of the Stann Creek Railway.
Historically, one of the major railways in Belize was the Stann Creek Railway [2] [3] [4] used by United Fruit, which connected Middlesex Estate with the port of Dangriga. The railway was 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge, and operated from 1913 till 1937, when it was abandoned. Many remains are still visible along the Hummingbird Highway (between Dangriga and Belmopan). This road uses some of the old railway bridges, though they are gradually disappearing as bridges are modernized.
Belize Estate & Produce Co Ltd railway ran from Hill Bank, at the south end of a lagoon on the New River, west through Sierra de Agua to Gallon Jug, an abandoned community about 10 km from the Guatemala border. [4] [1]
There have been no railway connections to other countries.
The Belize Defence Force (BDF) is the military of Belize, and is responsible for protecting the sovereignty of the country. The BDF is under the Ministry of National Defence and Border Security, which is currently headed by Hon. Florencio Marin Jr.; the BDF itself is commanded by Brigadier General Azariel Loria. In 2012, the Belizean government spent about $17 million on the military, constituting 1.08% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP).
Dangriga, formerly known as Stann Creek Town, is a town in southern Belize, located on the Caribbean coast at the mouth of the North Stann Creek River. It is the capital of Belize's Stann Creek District. Dangriga is served by the Dangriga Airport. Commonly known as the "culture capital of Belize" due to its influence on punta music and other forms of Garifuna culture, Dangriga is the largest settlement in southern Belize.
Stann Creek District is a district in the south east region of Belize. According to the 2022 census, the district had a population of 48,162 people. Its capital is the town of Dangriga, formerly known as "Stann Creek Town." Stann comes from "stanns," or safe havens used by colonialists coming from the "old world" to the "new world."
Cayo District is located in the west part of Belize, and it contains the capital, Belmopan. It is the most extensive, second-most populous and third-most densely populated of the six districts of Belize. The district's capital is the town of San Ignacio.
Mullins River is the name of both a river and of a village on that river in the Stann Creek District of Belize.
The Hummingbird Highway is one of the four major highways in Belize. It connects the George Price Highway outside of Belmopan, Cayo District to the Southern Highway outside of Dangriga, Stann Creek District. It partially follows, and sometimes uses the infrastructure of, the former Stann Creek Railway.
The Gulf or Bay of Honduras is a large inlet of the Caribbean Sea, indenting the coasts of Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras. From north to south, it runs for approximately 200 km from Dangriga, Belize, to La Ceiba, Honduras.
Maya Island Air is an airline with its head office on the second floor of Building #1 of Belize City Municipal Airport in Belize City, Belize. It operates regular scheduled flights to 11 destinations within Belize and chartered flights to Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras. Its main base is the Philip S. W. Goldson International Airport.
Dangriga Airport, also called Pelican Beach Airstrip, is a public use airport located 1 kilometre (1 mi) north of Dangriga, a coastal town in the Stann Creek District of Belize.
Rail transport in Central America consists of several isolated railroad lines with freight or passenger service. The most famous one is the Panama Canal Railway, the oldest transcontinental railroad in the world, connecting Panama City with Colón since 1855. Other railroads in Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama were built by private and public investors mainly to facilitate the transport of local agricultural produce to export markets and harbors. Their market share and profitability went into decline in the second half of the twentieth century and most lines have been decommissioned by the end of the 1990s. As of 2018, railroads operate locally in Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama only; all rail transport has been suspended in Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua. The railways still operating do not cross national borders.
Belize's 6 districts are politically divided into 31 constituencies. Each constituency sends one representative to Belize's House of Representatives for 5-year terms. This election is known as the General Election. Each person votes for the candidate they would want to represent their constituency in Central Government.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and introduction to Belize:
Captain Monrad Sigfrid Metzgen, was a politician in the Colony of British Honduras.
Thomas Vincent Ramos, commonly known as T. V. Ramos, was a Belizean civil rights activist who promoted the interests of the Garifuna people, and is now considered a national hero.
Sir Barry Manfield Bowen was a Belizean bottling magnate and entrepreneur. His business interests included Bowen and Bowen, Ltd, which was founded by his father, and is the exclusive bottler of Coca-Cola products in Belize, as well as the Belize Brewing Company, which brews Belikin Beer. Bowen also served as a former member of the Senate of Belize and the financier of the People's United Party. In December 2007, Queen Elizabeth II knighted Bowen as a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George.
Salvatore di Pietro, was an Italian Bishop in the Catholic Church. He served as the first Vicar Apostolic of Belize from 1893-1898. He is widely regarded as the most important figure in consolidating the Catholic presence in Belize in the second half of the 19th century.
Sacred Heart Church is a Roman Catholic parish in Dangriga, Belize.
The National Garifuna Council (NGC) of Belize is a non-governmental organization (NGO) that represents the Garifuna people of Belize. It was established in 1981 and is managed by a board of directors with affiliate branches in Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. These countries all share the unique Garifuna culture, as they all served as refuges to the Garifuna people when they were exiled from their homeland, St. Vincent.
The Stann Creek Railway was used from 1908 to 1938 as a 25 miles (40 km) long 3 ft gauge narrow gauge railway from Commerce Bight to Middlesex in Belize.
