MEXICO CITY — Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Friday (Nov. 7) announced the start of the country’s latest major rail project, the Gulf of Mexico Train, a planned passenger route linking Nuevo Laredo at the U.S. border to the cities of Saltillo and Monterrey.
Groundbreaking was held Friday in Nuevo Laredo for the first phase of the project, a 137-kilometer (85-mile) single-track route to Arroyo El Sauz. That segment, the first of five, will require the construction of 52 bridges and 42 grade crossings, according a government press release. The new pasenger line will be built next to an existing freight line. The federal ministry of infrastructure, communications and transportation, SICT, says 71% of the right-of-way has already been cleared, and contracts have been put out to bid, according to a BNamericas report.
The full Nuevo Laredo-Saltillo route will cover 396 kilometers (246 miles) with operating speeds of 160 to 200 kilometers per hour (99-124 mph). The government projects the complete Saltillo-Nuevo Laredo route will carry 7.5 million passengers annually.
It is one of four projects for which the Mexican government budgeted funds to begin construction this year [see “Mexico budgets $7.8 billion …,” Trains.com, Dec. 3, 2024]. Work began earlier on the other routes, part of a plan by Sheinbaum to have 3,000 kilometers of new passenger lines by the end of her six-year term.
ROFL! Charles Landey ALWAYS has an opinion. Even about places he’s never visited and knows nothing about.
Hey Charles, maybe keep it on topic.
Hello Mike. You’re right. I’ve never been to Florida. Or Mexico, neither place.
I have ridden the Peninsula trains on a couple of occasions, albeit very long ago, 1973 and 1995.
Have you been to Suffolk, Norfolk, Bristol and Plymouth Counties Massachusetts? I visited three of those counties last year, and was raised in two of them as a child. Those are the four counties MBTA South Coast trains run in, from Boston to Quincy to Middleborough to Taunton to Fall River or New Bedford.
Mike, as you should have noticed, I was replying to Gregg, who brought up passenger rail investment in USA. So this thread isn’t just about Mexico.
And there are others. In Amtrak there are the Chicago-Twin Cities increased number of trains, the New Orleans-Mobile line, and of course the lines that Illinois has produced or is considering. Brightline must be close to the construction phase on the planned Las Vegas-Los Angeles connection.
At least ONE North American country is investing in passenger rail.
And we haven’t? Seems to me we’re pouring in billions. How much did it cost for MBTA to extend to the Massachusetts South Coast, in return for nobody knows how many (or how few) passengers. How much did Florida DOT spend to groom I-4 for Brightline. How much did the Caltrain electrification cost, but now it turns out there’s not enough money to operate.