Mexico’s Freight Concessionaires Assist in Reintroduction of Passenger Services

Apart from new projects, tourist trains are all that remain of Mexico's long-distance passenger network. Photo Credit: Shutterstock

Feasibility studies now under way for eight long-distance routes.

Mexico’s Secretary of Infrastructure, Communications and Transport, Jorge Nuño, has announced that the government has received expressions of interest from the country’s three major freight operators in reintroducing passenger services on eight routes.

Ferromex, Ferrosur and Kansas City Southern de México (KCSM), the latter now part of Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC), have submitted the proposals in response to a government initiative announced in November 2023 by Mexico’s President, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

With a presidential election due to take place July 1, López Obrador aims to reintroduce long-distance services which were withdrawn in 1997 during the privatization of Mexican National Railways (FNM), restoring passenger trains to some 11,185 miles (18,000 kilometers) of the national network.

According to Lara, the three freight concessionaires are now developing feasibility studies that will take between five and six months to complete.

The first stage of each study will determine existing infrastructure capacity, assess potential demand, define service types, make investment and cost estimates, and undertake economic and financial assessments. The second stage will include more detailed project development and work to identify funding options.

Ferromex is due to submit feasibility studies for the following routes in July:

• Mexico City – Querétaro – León – Aguascalientes.
• Manzanillo – Colima – Guadalajara – Irapuato.
• Mexico City – Querétaro – Guadalajara – Tepic – Mazatlán – Nogales.
• Aguascalientes – Chihuahua – Ciudad Juárez.

Also working to a July deadline, Ferrosur is developing proposals for:

• Mexico City – Veracruz – Coatzacoalcos.
• Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) – Pachuca interurban train.

KCSM is studying two routes:

• Mexico City – Querétaro (submission due in May).
• Querétaro – San Luis Potosí – Monterrey – Nuevo Laredo (August).

According to Nuño, passenger trains offer the potential to reduce journey times, particularly for long-distance journeys of which 30% are currently made by road. Using rail will reduce energy consumption and cut carbon emissions by up to 75%, he says.

Modal shift to rail will also reduce road maintenance costs and the number of road accidents.

“The proposed reform to Article 28 of the constitution recognises rail passenger transport as a priority area for national development, as it enables the growing mobility needs of citizens to be met, guaranteeing Mexicans a safe, efficient, sustainable and competitive means of transport,” Nuño says.

“In this way, the Mexican state is taking back the right to use the railways that belong to the nation, in order to award concessions to private companies or allocate to public companies the development and implementation of passenger services.

“The reform is in line with the current legal framework and the conditions set down in the current concessions,” Nuño says. “The rights and obligations of those holding the current agreements will be respected. The co-existence of freight and passenger services will be guaranteed.”

“It is not a case of expropriation at all, but to make use of a right that has already been established, the right that the government has, as representative of the people, to ensure that this infrastructure, these 18,000km, can continue to be used by freight trains and that passenger trains can be accommodated,” says López Obrador.

“All this will greatly help public transport, and there will be no pollution because they are going to be electric trains, and people are going to pay less for transport. It is a very important project that we want to leave at a very advanced stage so that the new administration can execute this plan.”