Transport In Martinique

An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It has a land area of 1,128 km² (436 sq mi) and a population of 376,480 inhabitants as of January 2016. One of the Windward Islands, it is directly north of Saint Lucia, northwest of Barbados and south of Dominica. Martinique is also an Outermost Region (OMR) of the European Union and a special territory of the European Union; the currency in use is the euro. Virtually the entire population speaks both French (the sole official language) and Martinican Creole.

Given its geography, the balance of its transport network is unusual: there are three airports, only 2.5 km of heritage railway, and 2,105 km of paved highways (in 2000). Sea transport is also important, and there are two harbours at Fort-de-France and La Trinité.

As of 2000, Martinique had 2,105 km of paved highways.

There is a part of the N5 road that has been upgraded to a motorway, running from the capital Fort-de-France through Lamentin, Ducos and Rivière Salée until Les Coteaux.

 

Martininique has now⁽²⁰¹⁸⁾ only one railway line in operation: The little-known 2.5 km long Le Train des Plantations is a heritage railway that runs from the Rhum Museum in Sainte-Marie through some sugarcane and banana plantations over two Bailey bridges to the Banana Museum.

In former times several narrow gauge sugarcane railways existed. Saint-Pierre had horse-drawn trams, which had an unusually narrow gauge. At least two steam locomotives are preserved in an optically refurbished condition, but not operational.

 

Loco at Maison de la Canne en Martinique

 

Rail bridge of l'Usine Gradis on the Riviere de Basse-Pointe

 

Narrow gauge tram at Saint-Pierre

 

Narrow gauge tram at St Pierre

It has three airports, the main one being Martinique Aimé Césaire International Airport. See List of Airports in Martinique.