No menu items!

COSTA RICA'S LEADING ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER

HomeNewsCosta Rica Train Service Offers Scenic City Connection

Costa Rica Train Service Offers Scenic City Connection

Passenger rail travel in Costa Rica has been around since the late 19th century. The first functioning railroads connected the Port of Limon with San Jose and were used mainly for transporting freight. The railways from Limón to San Jose and San Jose to Puntarenas became operational for passenger travel in 1910 and helped to connect various regions of the country.

Rail travel was common during much of the 20th century. The writer Paul Theroux, in his 1979 railroad travel book The Old Patagonia Express, devoted a chapter describing his experience riding the rails to both Limon and Puntarenas.

After years of less use and a slowly deteriorating infrastructure, the rail routes suffered major damage in the 1991 Limon earthquake. Shortly after, they were abandoned almost entirely after a major financial crisis brought about by high level corruption that included the forced closing of one of the major banks.

But in the past decade, passenger rail service has resumed. There is morning and afternoon peak hour service that connects San Jose with Pavas, Curridabat and Belen, as well as separate lines that connect San Jose with both Heredia and Cartago.

My knowledge of the interurban rail service was pretty much limited to the occasional news stories about a vehicle being struck at one of the many railroad crossings. I had passed by the old depot in the northeast sector of San Jose many times, but it always looked closed. When I confirmed the schedule I returned in midafternoon and joined a crowd awaiting the 330 train from San Jose to Heredia.

The train was two extended cabs, each of which seated about fifty people with plenty of aisle space for another fifty or more standing room only riders. Compared to the various bus lines that run to Heredia, it was much more comfortable, with padded seats and ample legroom.

The ride was surprisingly quick– about fifteen minutes–and was punctuated by continual blasts of the horn, as there are numerous places where the tracks cross neighborhood streets. The train is loud, between the clacking along the rails and the blowing of the horn, and the route cuts through all types of areas– forgotten hardscrabble barrios with walls adorned with graffiti art, industrial quarters whose properties are ringed with razor wire, past a small coffee plot tucked on an urban hillside, and on through working class areas and sections with nicer houses and condos.

There is talk of plans to expand the service, and if I was on a regular commute to San Jose from one of the outlying cities, I would be a regular user. Fast, cheap, more comfortable than a bus and less stressful than driving.

Costa Rica Train Ticket
Costa Rica Train Ticket
Costa Rica Local Train

Trending Now

Costa Rican Lottery Official Investigated in Money Laundering Case

Another money laundering case has shaken Costa Rica. Following a series of raids that dismantled a laundering network operating through legal and illegal lottery...

Venezuela Accuses El Salvador of Torturing Deported Migrants From U.S.

Sexual abuse, daily beatings, rotten food: The government of Nicolás Maduro on Monday denounced “torture” against Venezuelan migrants sent by the United States to...

Remittances to Central America Surge 20% Amid U.S. Deportation Fears

Family remittances in Central America grew by around 20% in the first half of 2025, according to official data—a rise that experts attribute to...

El Salvador at Center of Controversial U.S.-Venezuela Detainee Exchange

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele received the 10 Americans exchanged on Friday between Washington and Caracas for 252 Venezuelans who had spent four months in...

Chiquita Executives Convicted in Colombia for Financing Death Squads

Colombian justice on Wednesday sentenced seven former executives of the multinational banana company Chiquita Brands to more than 11 years in prison and a...

Costa Rica Tops Latin America in Attracting Foreign Millionaires

Costa Rica is a country that attracts millionaires. Projections indicate that by the end of 2025, a total of 350 foreign millionaires will have...
spot_img
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Travel Insurance
Costa Rica Rocking Chait
Costa Rica Travel

Latest News from Costa Rica