THE Central American country of Costa Rica is planning several projects to rebuild existing lines and to build an entirely new 84km long line in the country’s central valley serving the capital San Jose.
The new line and some of the rebuilt ones (Valle de la Estrella- Limón-Rio Frio) will be electrified, although they will not be the first electrified lines in Costa Rica. Unusually for the Americas, sections of the 1067mm gauge network were previously electrified as long ago as 1930 (at 15kV AC), although later electrification of other lines in 1980 was at 25kV AC.
Previous governments shut down much of the rail system following an earthquake in 1991 which led to the abandonment of much of the system and all of the electrification, which was either salvaged or stolen, although in practice some diesel trains continued to operate.
Many of the electric locos remain in store, although two have been officially preserved.