QCOSTARICA – And again, the commuter train and a vehicle collide, this latest Wednesday morning, in Concepción de La Unión, en Tres Ríos.
The total so far this year is 20 crashes between locomotives and vehicles – almost 2 per week.
So far this year two people have lost their lives in train-vehicle related crashes, a number that is worrying the Instituto Costarricense de Ferrocarriles (Incofer).
“It happened at 8:07am at the Tres Rios crossing. The damage was mostly to the vehicle, meanwhile the Apollo type locomotive was sent to the shop for assessment,” said Maria Fernanda Arias, spokesperson for the Incofer.
A witness to the crash, Adby Orozco, commented on her Facebook page “the driver of the vehicle ran the stop sign, although the train blew its whistle way ahead of the crossing.”
“The train was blowing its whistle, it was a complete irresponsibility of the driver. Given all the accidents in the news and people do not get it,” commented Orozco.
Last year, there were 57 train-vehicle accidents.
Arias added that the Incofer is not responsible for level crossing signaling, all the conducts can do is slow down, they cannot go over 25 km/h and must blow the whistle.
Incofer officials are also concerned of the Heredia – Alajuela train service that is start soon, a line that has 11 crossings on some of the Greater Metropolitan Area’s busiest streets.