The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, published this Monday in the Official Gazette of the Federation the decree by which the passenger train service in the Mexican Railway System is declared as a “priority area for national development.”
On November 8, López Obrador reported that he was preparing a decree to allocate around 20,000 kilometers of railway tracks to passenger service and that, currently, they are used by freight trains and said that he would call, preferably, the current concessionaires of railways after the presentation of formal projects.
Precisely in the decree it was noted that the concessionaires of the public freight rail transport service (among them, the companies Ferromex, Kansas City Southern de México, Ferrosur and Ferrovalle) “They will be the first to be invited to present the projects for the implementation of the passenger rail service“.
“Interested parties must present their proposals to the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SICT) no later than January 15, 2024,” it was noted.
The document indicated that “the first seven routes that will be concessioned” are: México-Veracruz-Coatzacoalcos, Interurban AIFA-Pachuca, México-Querétaro-León-Aguascalientes, Manzanillo-Colima-Guadalajara-Irapuato, México-San Luis Potosí- Monterrey-Nuevo Laredo, México-Querétaro-Guadalajara-Tepic-Mazatlán-Nogales and Aguascalientes-Chihuahua-Ciudad Juárez, “and should preferably consider the stations that were in operation before 1995.
The decree, published by the SICT, specified that, on the concessioned roads, “Preference will be given to the provision of public passenger rail service and the public freight rail transport service will be respected. in terms of the provisions of the respective concession.”
In addition, it says that, to operate the passenger routes, the current concessionaires of the freight rail transportation service “will be the first to be invited to present the projects for the implementation of the passenger rail service,” within the routes that were assigned to them. granted.
It was noted that in the event that the concessionaires “do not present viable proposals in investment, construction time, modernization of roads to provide passenger service or do not express their interest and acceptance within the established period”, the Federal Government, through the SICT, “may grant assignment titles to the Secretariat of National Defense or the Secretariat of the Navywhich already operate the Maya Train and the Tehuantepec Isthmus Train.
Or, if applicable, “to individuals who present proposals and are interested in providing the passenger transportation service in terms of the provisions of the Regulatory Law of Railway Services and its regulations.”
“The federal government, through the Secretariat of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation, may grant assignment titles to the Secretariat of National Defense or the Secretariat of the Navy, which already operate the Maya Train and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec Train, or where appropriate, to individuals who present proposals and are interested in providing the service,” the decree states.
The publication of the document occurs within the framework of the 150th anniversary of the installation of the first passenger railway in Mexico, started by President Benito Juárez García and completed by President Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada from Mexico to Veracruz.
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