 | This article needs to be updated.(May 2016) |
The Santiago Light Rail is a planned light rail system within the City of Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic, and the Cibao International Airport. This will be the second urban rail transit system in the Dominican Republic (Santo Domingo Metro being the first).
The construction of the light rail line crossing Santiago was approved by the Santiago municipal government. It is intended to help the city's traffic problems. To be constructed by the Spanish railway company FEVE, the line will be relatively short and will take 14 months to construct, according to city officials. The Dominican central government will not provide construction funds. It will end at the Cibao Airport; its total length will be22 kilometres (14 mi). [1] Construction was originally scheduled to begin in mid-2008. As of today[ when? ] the project is on hold due to insufficient studies about the benefits of this system. It is reported that as soon as studies are complete, work will commence. [2]
The train stations have not been officially announced, though it is reported that there will be twelve, including the Héroes de la Restauración monument in the city centre, Avenida de la Independencia, Avenida de la Circunvalacion, and a terminus at the Airport.
The Dominican Republic is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with Haiti, making Hispaniola one of only two Caribbean islands, along with Saint Martin, that is shared by two sovereign states. It is the second-largest nation in the Antilles by area at 48,671 square kilometers (18,792 sq mi), and second-largest by population, with approximately 11.4 million people in 2024, of whom approximately 3.6 million live in the metropolitan area of Santo Domingo, the capital city.
Transport in the Dominican Republic utilizes a system of roads, airports, ports, harbours, and an urban railway.
Santo Domingo, once known as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, known as Ciudad Trujillo between 1936 and 1961, is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic and the largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean by population. As of 2022, the city and immediate surrounding area had a population of 1,029,110 while the total population is 3,798,699 when including Greater Santo Domingo. The city is coterminous with the boundaries of the Distrito Nacional, itself bordered on three sides by Santo Domingo Province.
The Distrito Nacional is a subdivision of the Dominican Republic enclosing the capital Santo Domingo. It is not in any of the provinces, but in practice, it acts as a province on its own. Before October 16, 2001, the Distrito Nacional was much larger, including what is now known as Santo Domingo Province. Published statistics and maps generally show the former, larger, Distrito Nacional. The Distrito Nacional has no rural or underdeveloped areas.
Santiago de los Caballeros, often shortened to Santiago, is the second-largest city in the Dominican Republic and the fourth-largest city in the Caribbean by population. It is the capital of Santiago Province and the largest major metropolis in the Cibao region of the country. Santiago is the largest Caribbean city that is not a capital city, and it is also the largest non-coastal metropolis in the Caribbean islands. The city has a total population of 771,748 inhabitants (2022). Santiago is located approximately 155 km (96 mi) northwest of the capital Santo Domingo with an average altitude of 178 m (584 ft).
Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles is a Spanish publicly listed company which manufactures railway vehicles and equipment and buses through its Solaris Bus & Coach subsidiary. It is based in Beasain, Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. Equipment manufactured by Grupo CAF includes light rail vehicles, rapid transit trains, railroad cars and locomotives, as well as variable gauge axles that can be fitted on any existing truck or bogie.
La Vega, is the fourth largest city and municipality of the Dominican Republic. It is in La Vega Province. The city is known as the Carnaval epicenter of the Dominican Republic for its tradition and culture, its large agricultural production methods throughout its province.
Cibao International Airport, also known as Santiago Airport, is located in Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic's second-largest city. It is the country's third-busiest airport by passenger traffic and aircraft movements, after Punta Cana International Airport and Las Américas International Airport. Since its inauguration, in terms of passenger traffic, Cibao International has been projected to become one of the busiest airports in the country. Presently it has become the third-busiest airport in the Dominican Republic, only being surpassed by the airports of Punta Cana and Santo Domingo. The airport served more than 1,900,000 passengers in 2021.
Metrovalencia is an urban rail system serving a large part of the metropolitan area of Valencia. The network is a modern amalgamation of former FEVE narrow gauge electric-operated suburban railways. It is a large suburban network that crosses the city of Valencia, with all trains continuing out to the suburbs. It also has destinations on lines that make it more closely resemble commuter trains. The unique system combines light railway, metro and several tram operations north of the Túria riverbed park with line 4. Trains of lines 1, 3, 5 and 9 have automatic train operation (ATO) in 25.3 kilometers of underground system. Tram lines 4, 6, 8 and 10 are operated by modern trams.
The Santo Domingo Metro is a rapid transit system in Greater Santo Domingo. Serving the capital of the Dominican Republic, it is the most extensive metro system in the insular Caribbean and Central American region by length and number of stations. It began operation in 2008.
There are various highways and routes in the Dominican Republic. They are built and maintained by the Ministry of Public Works and Communication or MOPC. Overall the system is centered around Greater Santo Domingo, where the country's capital is located.
DR-1 is a dual carriageway highway that forms part of the five designated national highways of the Dominican Republic. DR-1 provides a fast connection between Santo Domingo, the capital, on the southern coast, and the second city Santiago and the rest of the northerly Cibao region, one of the country's main regions.
Tenerife Tram is a light rail or tram service located on the island of Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands in Spain. It is operated by Metropolitano de Tenerife, a limited company now 100% owned by Cabildo de Tenerife. Service started on 2 June 2007 over a 12.5-kilometre (7.8 mi) route that linked the Intercambiador in Santa Cruz de Tenerife with Avenida de la Trinidad in La Laguna. A second line between La Cuesta and Tíncer opened in 2009. It is the only existing tramway or train in the Canary Islands.
Aerolíneas Mas was an airline with its corporate headquarters in the Ciudad Universitaria in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. It offered flights to several domestic destinations. Its flight operations were based at La Isabela International Airport in Santo Domingo.
The Haitian occupation of Santo Domingo was the annexation and merger of then-independent Republic of Spanish Haiti into the Republic of Haiti, that lasted twenty-two years, from February 9, 1822, to February 27, 1844. The part of Hispaniola under Spanish administration was first ceded to France and merged with the French colony of Saint Domingue as a result of the Peace of Basel in 1795. However, with the outbreak of the Haitian Revolution the French lost the western part of the island, while remaining in control of the eastern part of the island until the Spanish recaptured Santo Domingo in 1809.
Rail transport in the Dominican Republic is provided by one state-owned operator and several private ones, mainly for sugar mills. There are no connections with the neighbouring Haiti.
Santiago Municipal Airport was a both passenger and military airport located in the Center of Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic. This airport served this city with daily flights to San Juan in Puerto Rico, Port-au-Prince in Haiti, Santiago de Cuba, Miami and others. It was the major hub of Dominair, who had based two Dash 8 here. It was also used as a secondary hub by the FAD.
José Desiderio Valverde Pérez was a Dominican military figure and politician. He served as president of the Dominican Republic from June 13, 1858 until August 31, 1858.
White Dominicans are Dominican people of predominant or full European descent. They are 17.8% of the Dominican Republic's population, according to a 2021 survey by the United Nations Population Fund. The majority of white Dominicans have ancestry from the first European settlers to arrive in Hispaniola in 1492 and are descendants of the Spanish and Portuguese who settled in the island during colonial times, as well as the French who settled in the 17th and 18th centuries. Many whites in the Dominican Republic also descend from Italians, Dutchmen, Germans, Hungarians, Scandinavians, Americans and other nationalities who have migrated between the 19th and 20th centuries. About 9.2% of the Dominican population claims a European immigrant background, according to the 2021 Fondo de Población de las Naciones Unidas survey.
Tourism in the Dominican Republic is an important sector of the country's economy. More than 10 million tourists visited the Dominican Republic in 2023, making it the most popular tourist destination in the Caribbean and putting it in the top 5 overall in the Americas. The industry accounts for 11.6% of the nation's GDP and is a particularly important source of revenue in coastal areas of the country. The nation's tropical climate, white sand beaches, diverse mountainous landscape and colonial history attracts visitors from around the world. In 2022, the nation's tourism was named the best-performing nation post-pandemic with over 5% visitors more in comparison to pre-pandemic levels in 2019.