Konstantinos Panagiotou, CEO of Doppelmayr México, talks about the advantages of Cablebús in CDMX and the start of construction of Line 3
AN: Konstantinos, what is the outlook for the cable car as a means of mobility?
They are systems with a great future. They will take place in many cities around the world. It is a solution for cities with a lot of traffic or with topographic problems, where you have to cross a river or a mountain to get to the other side or where there is no space to build more road infrastructure.
In addition, they are green, since they do not emit gases; They are economical and their operation and maintenance are self-financing: only an initial investment is needed to create the infrastructure. However, they are not the solution to mobility; they are a feeder system for other types of systems, such as a BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) network or the Metro.
We are going to build Line 3 of the Cablebús in Mexico City, which will serve 12 million passengers a year in two markets: the passengers who will use this medium for their daily activities, and the national and foreign tourists who will use the Cablebús during the weekend to get to know Mexico City.
Line 3 will allow you to visit tourist points within the Chapultepec project:
Nature and Culture, and the four sections of the Chapultepec Forest.
I estimate that within a year and a half or two, this line will be self-financing in operation and maintenance. We need affordable public transportation systems that can be self-financing in their operation and maintenance.
The feasibility studies for Line 1 of the Cablebús showed that the first three years we were going to move close to 28,000 passengers a day. Today we are transporting between 55,000 and 57,000 passengers a year and a half after the inauguration of the system. Projects like this will continue to grow, because this is a reliable and clean transportation system, with WiFi, cameras, and emergency buttons.
AN: What plans do you have for 2023?
We have consolidated and new projects, both tourism and public transport. We are in a difficult time, but this business is going to grow, because there are still many opportunities in mobility. Now we are in the production of the electromechanical equipment and doing the engineering, surveying, soil mechanics and architectural design works for Line 3. At the same time, we are manufacturing the electromechanical system in Austria. In 2023 we will work on civil works, foundations and station buildings. We have to deliver the project in December 2023.
Another project is the installation of a hub in Mexico City to serve all of Latin America, with an initial investment of 10 million euros.
This hub, located in Vallejo, will serve various areas of our business from 2023. First, it will provide spare parts to all the cable systems that Doppelmayr has, from the Rio Grande to Patagonia. Second, it will house all the special tools we need to do major maintenance or develop a new installation. They have already been ordered to Australia and Switzerland, and will be at the Doppelmayr hub in Mexico City. The hub will also have a permanent training center, with classrooms and a cable car simulator.
We are training Mexican engineers to attend this hub and we are going to create new jobs.
In addition to being an engineering center, the hub will also function as a financial center for Latin America. This hub is the first investment in the city, but we are going to continue investing in Mexico for the next ten years. We have seven cable car systems and with Line 3 we will add eight.
AN: Why did you decide to set up your hub in Mexico?
First, because of the country’s geographical position, since it has access to both the Pacific and the Atlantic and we move a lot of merchandise by ship. Mexico’s port infrastructure facilitates our operation.
The country also has many air connections with Europe, the United States, Canada and Latin America. Specifically, Mexico City has abundant connectivity with the rest of the country and with Latin America, and the quality of Mexican engineers is very good.
The Vallejo hub is extremely important for the business, because the cable car lines of the city and Latin America will be served from here. Instead of waiting for a part that could take five days or more from Austria, we can ship it to Latin America in a matter of hours.
With the supply problems caused by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, we are already applying nearshoring: We are serving our customers faster from Mexico, because we are closer.
This hub is going to be growing in the next 10 or 15 years in terms of people and capacity in spare parts and machinery.
For Doppelmayr, Mexico is very important, because it is such a large metropolis that it is a showcase for the world: if there is a solution that works here, it can be applied elsewhere.
MORE NEWS:
High level Team of young journalists whose objective is to explain the most relevant business, economic and financial news. We are passionate about telling stories and believe in citizen and service journalism.