Presidential House and the Costa Rican Railway Institute (Incofer) set August 2019 as the deadline to have the feasibility study of the electric train that is being installed in the Greater Metropolitan Area (GAM).
The project, which at the time was identified as the Rapid People Transportation (TRP) system, seeks to cover 73.5 kilometers of the railway line and offer a service capable of transporting 250 thousand people. With the electric train, 15 municipalities would be linked and the cantons of Paraíso de Cartago and Ciruelas de Alajuela would be connected by rail.
Elizabeth Briceño, executive president of the Incofer, explained that they already have the study of value engineering that allows us to draw a viable project for the national reality. From this document, the feasibility analysis will be elaborated.
The hierarch said that to prepare the value engineering they analyzed 3 previous studies for the construction of an electric train in the GAM. In passing, the scenario 2-A contemplated in the study made in 2012 by the company LCR Logística was taken as a basis.
“We have the beginning, as a next step to the work schedule, established today at 100% effectiveness, of the feasibility stage (…). In the feasibility study, we will specify this value engineering and we will be able to structure the concession poster to start the bidding process”, described Briceño.
10 aspects of the project
- It will be done through the current right of way
- Routes in frequencies of 3 to 5 minutes with intervals
- 42 new stations (there are currently 24)
- 37 stations will be level and 5 elevated
- 11 intermodal nodes to coexist with the processes of sectorization and trunking
- The system will be 100% electric and bidirectional. That is, there will be a rail or lane for each direction
- Initial investment: US$ 1,235 million
- How will the feasibility study be financed? US$ 1 million from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (BCIE) and US$ 300 thousand from the Incofer budget.
- What will be done? There will be a consultancy that allows structuring the concession poster to start, then start with the bidding process.
- August 2019: Date to have the electric train’s feasibility list ready
Claudia Dobles, First Lady, and coordinator of the project in Presidential House explained that with the feasibility will have the basic design, which will direct the profile of the concession and the poster for the next stage of this project.
“We consider the electric train project as the backbone for a transformation of the public transport system. The electric train alone will not solve all the problems that Costa Ricans live today, but it will be a very significant step”, said Dobles. Costa Rica has 640 kilometers of the railway line and only 100 kilometers are currently used.
The electric train will also allow a substantial reduction in travel times in the GAM. Today, at peak time, a vehicle takes, on average, 3 hours from Juan Santamaría International Airport to Paraíso. With the new system, the time to move between the 2 points would be 50 minutes.