Streetcars Across the Border

Did you know that a streetcar once connected El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico?

For more than 70 years, electric streetcars connected El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Electric streetcar service operated between the two cities from 1902 until 1974, providing a unique link between the United States and Mexico.

From 1950 to 1974, the international service was operated with PCC streetcars formerly used in San Diego, California. The cars operated on a one-way loop beginning in downtown El Paso at San Antonio Avenue and Stanton Street, crossing into Mexico over the Stanton Street Bridge, continuing along Calle 16 de Septiembre and Avenida Benito Juárez, and returning to the United States over the Santa Fe Street Bridge.

The footage featured here was recorded in July 1968 by former National Capital Trolley Museum member Ed Frazier, capturing these PCCs in regular international service.

When the international service ended in 1974, the PCCs remained in El Paso, where they were stored outdoors for a number of years. Their story, however, wasn't over.

In 2018, streetcar service returned to El Paso, using the same PCC streetcars that had once operated across the border. Today, the service operates entirely within El Paso, connecting downtown with the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP).