President Claudia Sheinbaum appointed Andrés Lajous as director of the Railway Transport Regulatory Agency (ARTF) , who will be in charge not only of regulation, but also of promoting the trains that were announced in the last six-year term.
In a press conference, Lajous explained that the constitutional reform to article 28 that was approved on Tuesday night in the Chamber of Deputies , ensured that passenger trains are a priority area for the Mexican State.
He recalled that in 1995 a reform was carried out which initiated the process of train privatisation, which meant the disappearance of passenger trains and the predominance of freight trains.
However, in 2018 the recovery of passenger service began under former President López Obrador, with the Maya Train, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec Train and the ‘El Insurgente’ Mexico-Toluca train.
“This has allowed that currently 7.5% of the total number of roads in operation are used for passenger transport services. What the constitutional reform does is recover the roads for the State and that the 18 thousand kilometers of passenger service can be operated by public entities, not only those that are already operating ,” Lajous explained.
He said that with the reform, the Mexican State regains the right to use railway lines to provide passenger transport services , so the Federal Executive can grant allocations to public companies or concessions to private individuals.
“The reform raises the priority for the provision of public passenger rail transport services to constitutional level as a priority area for national development. These reforms seek to implement passenger trains on existing right-of-way, without affecting the public freight rail transport service,” said the head of the ARTF.
He explained that the reform also promotes this recovery, as was done with the implementation of passenger trains during the last six years, which implies greater safety, better quality of life, reduction in the carbon footprint of travel and reduction of accidents.
“Many communities were isolated after privatization. These were communities that were connected to the rest of the country through passenger train services, but when they became freight-only services, they were no longer connected. The plan will allow these places to regain connectivity,” said the official.
For her part, Claudia Sheinbaum stated that the reform allows the Mexican State to resume the right to use the railway tracks for passenger transport services. She assured that this is very important because, at the same time, the concession for railway freight transport is maintained. “The Constitution already allows, openly and clearly, that passenger trains can operate on those same tracks,” said the president.
Lajous recalled that during the last six-year term, 2,240 kilometers of passenger rail service were put into operation. Meanwhile, during the current administration of President Claudia Sheinbaum, more than three thousand kilometers of railroad tracks will be put into service for passenger trains.
Andrés Lajous Loaeza was Secretary of Mobility for the Government of Mexico City . He holds a degree in Political Science and International Relations from the Center for Economic Research and Teaching (CIDE) . He holds a Master’s degree in Urban Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Master’s degree in Sociology from Princeton University . He has been an editor of political magazines, an opinion leader in various media, and a party leader.
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