European help possible for urban rail lines
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The country has received offers from European railway companies who want to improve the urban train now serving the metropolitan area.
City and central government officials met Tuesday to discuss possible ways to improve the limited service now being offered by the rail service. There are only four trips between Pavas and San Pedro each day, although a Tibás-Heredia route is in the works.
Casa Presidencial said that the Czech firm Inekon Group A.S. has made a $120 million offer that would include a concession.
Inekon makes rail cars and urban trams, but the firm also has planning and financing units. It had been in joint ventures with Skoda Transport Technology of Pilsen until a much publicized breakup three years ago.
Anyone who has visited Central Europe probably has ridden on a Skoda car. Portland, Ore., has been considering purchases from Inekon for its urban lines.
The officials who met on the concept were Rodrigo Arias, minister of the Presidencia; Johnny Araya, mayor of San JosĂ©; Bruno Stagno, minister of Relaciones Exteriores; Miguel Carabaguiaz, executive president of the Instituto Costarricense de Ferrocarriles; Viviana MartĂn, vice minister of Transportes, and Luis Diego Vargas, technical secretary of the Consejo General de ConcesiĂłn PĂşblica.
What the officials seek are ways to move people without the estimated 3,000 buses a day that come in to San José.
Concessions are a way for governments to get foreign investment to build their roads, bridges and railways. The private firm makes the investment and then collects on the revenue over time.
The major problems are that Costa Rica’s law on concession is being changed in the Asamblea Legislativa and that previous concessions have not been very successful.
For example, Juan SantamarĂa airport is being developed and managed on a 20-year concession granted in 1999 to the British firm Alterra Partners. But the relationship with Costa Rican transportation officials has been rocky.
The original Costa Rican railway service was built on a concession. U.S. businessman Minor C. Keith obtained a 99-year concession from the cash-strapped Costa Rican government of 1884. He also received title to some 800,000 acres in the Provincia de LimĂłn and control of the LimĂłn port. Keith used the land to grow bananas and the railway to haul them to the port. From his efforts grew the United Fruit Co.
The current urban train runs on the route laid out by Keith’s engineers.