Mexican rail comeback

[jis]

Perhaps those are the former Budd SPV2000 that got converted to coaches?

Yes. I think the two cars with the roof hump are ex-SPV2000s,

 

[TRA_Thom]

Here's a video in English. He addresses the controversy behind the project as well.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[tgstubbs1]

I saw this and was impressed that they have committed so much money.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s massive, debt-fueled passenger rail building program is not going to end with the administration of outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, but will instead double, he said Wednesday.

López Obrador said his successor, President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum, is planning to build three passenger train lines running from the capital to some cities on the U.S. border. López Obrador and Sheinbaum agree she will build about 1,850 miles (3,000 kilometers) of passenger rail, double the amount he built.

https://apnews.com/article/mexico-r...einbaum-debt-c026ae839d62a83622ccfb133ec618fd

 

[MARC Rider]

I saw this and was impressed that they have committed so much money.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s massive, debt-fueled passenger rail building program is not going to end with the administration of outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, but will instead double, he said Wednesday.

López Obrador said his successor, President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum, is planning to build three passenger train lines running from the capital to some cities on the U.S. border. López Obrador and Sheinbaum agree she will build about 1,850 miles (3,000 kilometers) of passenger rail, double the amount he built.

https://apnews.com/article/mexico-railways-construction-sheinbaum-debt-c026ae839d62a83622ccfb133ec618thefd

1. What's the point of high speed rail to the US border if there's no service further north? (Though it would be humiliating to us Gringos that the service south of the border is world class and whatever there is in the US is Third World.)

2. Might this induce Amtrak to restore service to Laredo?

3. I think they might be overpromising things by insisting on High Speed Rail (especially since there's no prospect of connecting High Speed rail in the US. "Fast Frequent Rail" (say, 90 to 110 mph max with no slow running chokepoints) might be a better value for the $$$$$$ they'll need to spend.

4. Why weren't they able to convince the freight operators to live with passenger rail? The AP article seemed to imply that the tracks are goverment owned, ("cocessionary private rail operators" was the wording in the article) so why couldn't they just order them to allow passenger trains, with maybe some infrastructure funding to sweeten the pot and eliminate choke points?

5. Just looking at the map, it would seem to me that Mexico City - US border is probably not the highest priority for passenger rail transport in Mexico. Any plans for a Guadalahara - Mexico City -Peubla- Veracruz corridor? Or a Monterrey - Laredo - San Antonio corridor? The rest of Mexico, at least from the map, seems to be a scattering of largish cities with lots of desert and mountains in between. Not exactly the best market for a multi-billion high speed rail corridor project.

6. Maybe they should get the Moroccans to build it.

But, who knows, I'm not that familiar with Mexico's transport situation. Maybe someone else who knows more can explain.

 

[west point]

The following statement is made with no knowledge of the location of the abandoned Neuvo Laredo passenger station and if it even exists now.
6 years to get the line to Neuvo Laredo even using mostly existing ROW seems difficult. When I was in Monterey ~14 years ago before KCS noticed that the tracks were in bad condition many running in dirt roads. That IMO would slow down the introduction on HrSR thru that city,

Now will the US and Mexico even allow a thru train(s) crossing the border seems also highly unlikely. No more Texas Aztec Eagle restoration. That puts the Laredo station ( still there for both UP & KCS access with at one time CBP location.) at least 14 short blocks walk to cross over to Mexico and who knows how far to a station in Mexico,

Other routes to the border are questionable.

 

[tgstubbs1]

I think they might be overpromising things by insisting on High Speed Rail (especially since there's no prospect of connecting High Speed rail in the US. "Fast Frequent Rail" (say, 90 to 110 mph max with no slow running chokepoints) might be a better value for the $$$$$$ they'll need to spend.

It is more like a 'higher-speed' rail rather than what we consider true high speed. But the fact they will put their own rails on the existing right of way seems like a good idea to me. The article didn't seem very promising for any quick results, but I believe it when they say it will be a boon for labor. They could spend the money on worse things.

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Sheinbaum said she was also planning a train line from Mexico City to the western city of Guadalajara, for about another $3 billion, and said that rail line could be extended to border cities like Nogales, across from Nogales, Arizona, or other border cities further west if there was time in her six-year term.

(Outgoing Pres_)López Obrador said the project is expected to be nearly double the size of his own railway building programs, which included the $30 billion Maya tourist train on the Yucatan Peninsula, a railway across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec linking the Pacific and Gulf coasts, and a commuter railway linking Mexico City to the nearby city of Toluca

Mexico seems to be on a path to a much improved rail system. While it can seem frustratingly slow to get things done here in the US I can see why the way they are progressing is controversial. Not much oversight on the environmental issues.

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López Obrador, who has portrayed himself as a champion of Mexico’s long-forgotten poor, has declared the train “our legacy of development for the southeast of Mexico.”

The populist has fast-tracked construction of the train to try to keep promises to complete it before June elections, something appears all but impossible.

The government has dodged oversight, ignored court orders, employed the Mexican military in its construction and blocked the release of information in the name of “natural security.” In a violation of Mexican law, the administration also didn’t carry out a comprehensive study to assess the potential environmental impacts before starting construction.