{"id":13798,"date":"2026-06-05T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/expat-times.com\/panama\/?p=13798"},"modified":"2026-06-05T14:44:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T19:44:23","slug":"historic-balboa-train-station-demolition-threatens-canal-heritage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/expat-times.com\/panama\/politics-government\/historic-balboa-train-station-demolition-threatens-canal-heritage\/","title":{"rendered":"Historic Balboa Train Station Demolition Threatens Canal Heritage"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Residents and preservationists are raising alarms over plans to demolish a historic Balboa train station. The structure, part of the Panama Canal Railway<\/a>, sits within the Returned Areas of the Panama Canal<\/a>. Officials say the building must be removed to make way for the Fourth Bridge over the Panama Canal<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The station, built around 1915, is a relic of a bygone era. It once served passengers and cargo moving through the canal zone. Now, it stands in the path of a massive infrastructure project that promises to reshape transportation in Panama City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Community Fights to Save 1915 Railway Station<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Citizens and urban planners argue the station is irreplaceable. They say its demolition would erase a key piece of the nation’s identity. The building was originally slated to become a railway museum, according to original blueprints reviewed by residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Urban planner \u00c1lvaro Uribe spoke passionately about the station’s value. He said the structure is more than old bricks and mortar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“These are the trucks heading to the port with no road to use, forcing them to go anywhere. The station must be declared historical heritage precisely because it is part of our history, of what happened here, of the recovery of the returned area, of the system’s operation, and of the landscape that is so important within these areas. Now they want to demolish it, when the original plans defined it at least as a railway museum.” [Translated from Spanish]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Residents see the station as part of a larger architectural ensemble. The area was designed as a unified civic and administrative center. Removing the station would break that visual and historical puzzle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“When this was designed, it was designed with the concept of a landscape unity complex,” one resident explained. “Remove this, and it’s like removing a piece from a puzzle. This entire system here was designed with the concept of a civic administrative center. It is part of a set, part of an element of a system that was built here.” [Translated from Spanish]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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