The International Railways of Central America (IRCA) (Spanish: FFCC Internacionales de Centro America, FICA)[1][2] was a U.S. based company founded by Minor C. Keith and incorporated in New Jersey in 1904 which operated a large network of 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge railways in Guatemala and El Salvador, it became a subsidiary of the United Fruit company in 1936.

[5] Keith had envisioned the IRCA to go as far as Panama connecting the North and South American continents through Pan-America, however the network would never go beyond La Union.

[3] By 1933 the IRCA was almost bankrupt, it could no longer precure funding for further expansion in El Salvador due to the Great Depression, furthermore the United Fruit company had made an agreement with the Guatemalan government to build a new port at Concepcion del Mar, with ships using the Panama canal which effectively usurped the IRCA.

[4] However the IRCA managed to convince the United Fruit company that rail transport would be more efficient as well as pressuring dictator Jorge Ubico,[3] and in 1936 the United Fruit company paid-off $2.6 million worth of debt, and gained significant shares in IRCA (42.6% ownership) effectively making it a subsidiary.

[4] In October 1961 the Transportation Corporation of America (TCA) under the controversial O. Roy Chalk bought majority ownership in the IRCA, little changed physically.

[1] From 1950 the IRCA ordered several diesel locomotives from General Electric, most were reallocated to El Salvador after 1968 where they remained in service past merger and nationalization, however in Guatemala most were abandoned in favour of older steam locomotives as diesel spares became to expensive to precure post-nationalization.

The IRCA's infrastructure would form the basis for the national railway networks of both Guatemala and El Salvador.