The first railway in the Dutch colony of Suriname, also known at that time as Dutch Guiana, opened in the late 1890s, serving the sugar cane industry around Mariënburg.
The first public railway opened in the early years of the 20th century between Paramaraibo and Lelydorp, a distance of about 13km. It was a metre gauge line, the choice being partly determined by the gauge proposed for use in neighbouring French Guiana, although in the event no railway was ever built in the latter territory.
The Suriname railway was later extended, but infrastructure developments in the 1950s, including a new dam on the Suriname river and extensive redevelopment of Paramaraibo town centre destroyed much of the route and left the remainder unviable. It closed soon afterwards.
© 2006-2011
Glyn Williams
Flag image from CIA World Factbook
