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Aug 09Train to Heredia
Last week, on August 10, the streets of San José tremble under a new giant traveling across the city, making way trough the traffic of jammed streets, parting ways with old means of public transportation. Pedestrians wave and cars stopped as the first Apolo train departed at 5:30 a.m. from Estación del Pacífico, heading to Heredia. It will only take half an hour to arrive to its final destination. From that point, the train will pick up another group of passengers awaitng in “la ciudad de las flores” (city of flowers, as commonly called by costaricans) heading to San José: the train Heredia-San José is a reality, finally.
Ever since the train system in Costa Rica was closed in 1995, by the Figueres Olsen administration, that allegated it was causing a great deal of economical losses to the goverment, a lot of plans were proposed to develop a new railway system in Costa Rica, that would link Alajuela, San José and Cartago; none of this saw the light. Ironically, it was Jose María Figureres Olsen’s father, José Figueres Ferrer, the one who nationalize the train system in 1962, giving it back to the country. In 1985, the Instituto Costarricense de Ferrocarriles (INCOFER), was created as an autonomous instituion to rehabilitate and modernize the railway system in Costa Rica. Unfortunately, little was done within the next ten 10 years, and the modernization plans faliled to deliver. The passenger train between the Atlantic and the Pacific regions was not promoted and no real concessions were made for the freight train, leaving the transportation of cargo to the trucking companies. Therefore, with a great fleet of buses carrying people and trucks transporting cargo, streets became crowded as the railways began to show their first signs of rust. Given the situation, aside from some economic interests between the bus and the trucking companies, the train was closed 14 years ago. INCOFER remained active, keeping some railroad motorcars working as well as some locomotives, to pursue some minor goverment tasks with the freight train.
It was until 2005, forseeing the fossil fuel crisis that is in it’s hype right now, that the passenger train was reopened and that would travel from Pavas to San Pedro in San José. The system was slow in the beginning, with an old locomotive and poorly refurnished passanger cars. Youngsters used it just for the fun of it and old folks, for the nostalgia evoked from the soothing sound of those old railway lines. A strong campaing made by INCOFER, soon turn the folkroric train into a metroplolitan train system whithin the first three month, adding an Apolo train to their fleet, where at least 1000 people used the system daily to go to work, school or university. Another project, that it’s final resolution is still shrouded in mystery by our burocratic process, was proposed: TREM, that stands for Tren Eléctrico Metroplolitano, a new system taht would provide trasnportation services between San José, an its neighbour provinces: Heredia, Alajuela and Cartago. The development of this project is still in talks and American, European and Japanesse companies are interested in managing the development. We’ll se if the country won`t have top wait a lot for its proceeding like the 47 years spent in allowing permits to construct the new Costanera highway.
Between this process, the metroplitan train included a new route this year, traveling from San José to Heredia. This project was proposed two years ago, and it was until las year, that itr was given green light. INCOFER bought 4 Apolo diesel powered trains to Feve, a Spanish railway company.
The train from San José to Heredia will cover 12 km in half an hour. Traveling from San José to Heredia or viceversa, takes approximately one hour, a little more during rush hour, so the train users will save o lot of time, fuel andd money. The pass costs 350 colones, one trip.
Right now, the system seems about right, carrying between 3000 and 4000 users per day. We’ll have to see if the rate of users increases, actions taken by the goverment and the institutions in charge of approving the TREM, which is said that it would take 19 minutes to go from San José to Heredia, and will cover other porvinces and places in San José, will take place. As for now, the people are responding to a new mean in public transportation that lifts up the weight of long hours awaitng stuck in traffic jam in San José. It’s up to the goverment to take this response to a much higher level and determine the future of trasportation in a country that experiments a major increase in population each year, and a major decrease in it’s streets capacity each day.