Train to Cartago delayed until next year

The Municipality of Cartago announced Tuesday that a broken pipe under a rail line from the capital to the province of Cartago had been fixed, but train services scheduled to begin in December now will be delayed until 2013.

Damage to the pipeline occurred weeks ago to a section of the rail at Ochomogo, west of Cartago. Some 300 meters of rail were removed during the project.

“Repair work delayed us at least three weeks,” said Miguel Carabaguíaz, president of the Costa Rican Railroad Institute. The exact date of rail line’s inauguration is still unknown.

Last week, the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court, or Sala IV rejected an appeal filed by citizen Luis Roberto Brenes, who claimed the project to build the rail line began without an environmental impact study by the National Technical Secretariat of the Environment Ministry.

The Sala IV ruled that the repair and maintenance of public works such as bridges, roads, runways, railroads and buildings are excluded from the process of environmental sustainability studies.

The 23-kilometer route connecting Cartago with the capital follows the same route as a previous road built 132 years ago.