Commuter Train Starts Running Tomorrow
Come tomorrow, the "tren urbano" - commuter train - makes it's first run between the Universidad Latina en Lourdes de Montes de Oca (San Pedro_ and the Tropigás company in Pavas, and it will be free.

And it may be free on Monday as well and possibly for more days during next week since the Instituto Costarricense de Ferrocarriles (Incofer) still has yet to receive approval to charge the ¢300 colones fare by the Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos (Aresep) - the government agency that regulates public prices and services.

The approval by the Aresep is still required even though Incofer is a government agency, similar to Refinadora Costarricese de Preroleo (Recope) and the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE), the state monopolies on oil and telecommunications respectively.

Miguel Carabaguiaz, president of the Incofer, that the passenger train made up of nine passenger cars can carry up to 480 people and customers can pay for passage (once approval is granted) as they board the train and will make a total of nine runs daily, the first leaving at 5:08am in San Pedro, and the last leaves Pavas at 6:15pm.

Within 15 days, Carabaguiaz says that Incofer will add the "Apolo" train which has a passenger capacity to 650, making 11 stops along a route that takes about an hour (it takes 90 minutes by bus) at which time all the security barriers will be in place. At the moment, the train will make stops at U, Latina, La Sabana and Pavas, the only stops that have barriers installed.

Eduardo Montero, of the Ministerio de Transportes, said that his engineering department has installed all the respective signals at the 40 intersections the train will cross and the Policía de Tránsito will be stationed at the crossings to avoid accidents.

Costa Ricans are not accustomed to seeing a train on the tracks that have laid dormant for many years.


The train stops will be (from the west) at:
• Tropigás
• Villa Esperanza
• Zona Industrial
• Sabana Sur
• Cementerio (Numar)
• Estación del Pacífico
• Plaza Víquez
• Museo Nacional
• Empalme (Barrio Escalante)
• Universidad de Costa Rica
• Universidad Latina


The train schedule will be:

 
The commuter train was to have begun operations last week, however, the heavy rains in the Pacific coast delayed work in San José as work crews made repairs to the train tracks damaged in that area.