Some of the works that had been previously announced and that are already under construction have become more expensive, such as the Mayan Train and the Suburban that connects with AIFA.
The federal government and the private initiative have sections and new lines of 15 railway projects in 17 states of the country under construction and planning, which will be developed with a joint investment of 672,000 million pesos and will add 4,413 kilometers to the national railway network , which consists of 23,731 kilometers.
According to the National Railway Program 2022, presented by the Undersecretary of Infrastructure through the General Directorate of Railway and Multimodal Development, of the 15 projects, six are in the process of being built, while the development of four is about to start and five more are under study.
The new projects include freight trains, passenger trains and railway bypasses, mainly run by private companies. However, some of the works that had been previously announced will be more expensive.
This is the case of the Mayan Train, the project of more than 1,500 kilometers whose budget already amounts to 230,000 million pesos, around 65,000 million pesos more than initially planned. Similarly, the expansion of the Suburban Train to the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) already has an estimated investment of 25,000 million pesos, higher than the around 23,000 million pesos projected until last year.
The program also accounts for two railway projects that will be in charge of the Secretary of the Navy (SEMAR) Roberto Ayala: the Dos Bocas branch, which will connect with the new refinery to be inaugurated on July 2, with a budget of 6,054 million pesos, and the Mayab-Chiapas Railway, which will have a budget of 20,000 million pesos.
On behalf of the private initiative, there are two bypass projects that are still under construction: the bypass to Celaya, in which the companies Ferromex and Kansas City Southern de México jointly invest 11,300 million pesos, and the bypass to Monterrey, which Ferromex leads with an investment of 1,400 million pesos.
Among the projects, there are six under study and it is expected that five will be carried out by the private initiative. This is the case of a new train that will run from Durango to Mazatlán by the Caxxor Group fund, which through a 360-kilometer network will connect to the T-MEC Corridor project, which will connect Mexico, the United States and Canada and in which a series of logistics nodes such as warehouses and industrial warehouses are planned.
Other private projects without defined concessionaires are the Monterrey-San Antonio Train, a project drawn up over 480 kilometers that will require an estimated investment of 60,000 million pesos in which some companies such as the American Amtrak have shown interest.
In addition, the project of a Train from Mexico to Querétaro and León, of more than 44,000 million pesos, is still on the table. In this work, companies such as the Spanish CAF – concessionaire of the Suburban Train in Mexico City have also shown interest.
In the long term, the country’s railway potential is still great. Between this year and 2026, the firm TMSourcing, through the financial vehicle Ameriko Railways Infrastructure & Real Estate, seeks to attract investment and partner with the public sector in around 50 projects in the rail and transportation sector, which together add up to around 200,000 mdp.
Part of Ameriko’s dynamic is to present unsolicited proposals, which is why it has even identified potential projects such as the Naucalpan-Buenavista Light Train, a format that would seek to replicate in regions such as Cancun, Tapachula and Xalapa.
Source: Expansion
