Costa Rica News – What does a country to do when spare parts for trains take up to 310 days to make their way to the country? Costa Rica is facing this dilemma.
Spare parts that were part of a tender from February 15, 2016 were awarded four days later but not received until December 21 of that year.
4.7 million passengers depend on the train. They transport thousands of people daily in the Greater Metropolitan Area. Trains have been used in the country since the 1960s. They currently connect the provinces of Heredia, San José, Cartago and Alajuela.
The parts to repair or maintain these trains take forever to arrive in Costa Rica. This is, in part, due to the age of the trains. The Apollo machines and locomotives were brought from Spain in 2009 but were manufactured in the late eighties and then rebuilt in 2000.
In dozens of cases, the delivery time was between 29 and 94 days. Only in 23 procedures was the order received in less than 22 days. On 24 occasions, the wait time to obtain the equipment was between 100 and 310 days.
Three of eight new trains should enter the country next year. There are also talks of an electric train.
