RAILforum: costa rica by train?

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Posted by sojourner (Member # 3134) on :

Someone here posted that they are going to Costa Rica by train. How is that done? What is it like? I tried to check the International section but cannot find any posts there.

Posted by Geoff Mayo (Member # 153) on :

A good site to visit is http://www.seat61.com - in fact I used it recently to plan a South East Asia trip by rail. I don't think they have Costa Rica on there - in fact I think the only continent that is not covered is South America.

The Thomas Cook rail timetables are interesting reading. There's a European version and a worlwide version.

Geoff M.

[This message has been edited by geoffm (edited 05-24-2004).]

Posted by sbalax (Member # 2801) on :

Greetings from San Jose, Costa Rica!

I am about to head to the airport after a wonderful, but short, trip to Costa Rica.

As far as I know, there is no way to get here by train. There are planes, of course, and pretty good bus service up and down the Central American Isthmus.

I don't believe there are any remaining passenger (or freight?) trains here. It's a small country.

When I lived here as a Peace Corps Volunteer 40 years ago it was possible to take the train (diesel) to Limon on the Caribbean Coast. It was a wonderful trip especially from the back observation deck of the Parlour Car. That route was destroyed by a landslide and never rebuilt. The airport in Limon is going to be rebuilt (they say) but there is no commercial service currently.

I also used to take the electric train west from San Jose to Puntarenas on the Pacific. It was also a great way to get to my town, Atenas. There was a stop at Rio Grande and a bus met the trains.

Don't let the lack of trains put you off. This is still a wonderful country with great people. I spent all day yesterday going to Poas Volcano, the town of Grecia with its interesting iron church and Sarchi where we visited the last remaining oxcart factory. Also included was a typical Costa Rican lunch. It took me back in taste and smell more than 40 years!

Saludos,

Frank in SJO headed to IAH and LAX and, tomorrow afternoon, SBA

Posted by sojourner (Member # 3134) on :

Thanks for the info--and glad you are having a lovely trip.

The lack of trains won't put me off, but the planes will!

I was hoping there was a way to go by train via Mexico to Costa Rica and parts south. I'd love to go all the way down to Tierra del Fuego. Not that I could, but I'd love to. But I don't think on a bus . . . . I don't think I am fit enough for that trip.

If I had the money, I would take a BOAT

Posted by George Harris (Member # 2077) on :

Not real certain of its veracity, but I have seen some information that rail passenger service in Mexico has ended. If that is true, about as close as you can get by train to any point isn Central America is San Antonio.

Posted by JFB (Member # 2520) on :

Mr. Harris is corect. Excepting a Mexico City commuter route and excursion trains, passenger rail service ended in Mexico when N de M was sold to private interests in the 1990's.

Today, Mexican and Central American rail travel lies only in the pages of Paul Theroux's Old Patagonian Express.

[This message has been edited by JFB (edited 05-28-2004).]

Posted by rresor (Member # 128) on :

Costa Rica had (note past tense) two railroads. The Pacific Railroad, electrified in the 1920s, ran from San Jose to the Pacific coast near Puerto Caldera. I have recently seen some indications that there may be plans to re-open it, since Puerto Caldera is a port of call for cruise ships.

The Atlantic line is a sadder case. In the 1980s it was rebuilt with (I think) World Bank money. Canadian Pacific Consulting Services did the engineering. THe railroad was rebuilt with CWR and catenary -- plans were made for electric operation but I don't believe this ever took place. There were also plans for a connection between the Pacific Railroad and the Atlantic line near San Jose, which would have made a transcontinental service feasible.

In any case, a huge landslide severed the line in the early 1990s.

As info, the North American standard gauge network extends only to the Mexico-Guatemala border. The three-foot former International Railways of South America used to interchange there with the Mexican railway, but the line from the border to Guatemala City is now out of service, as is most of the railroad in El Salvador. At one time, it was possible to connect at the Mexican border for San Salvador, Guatemala City, and points on Guatemala's Atlantic Coast. But there is no longer passenger rail service on any of these lines.