The Secretariat of Infrastructure, Communications, and Transport (SICT) expects the Mexico-Toluca train to be profitable with 120 thousand passengers per day, although it will receive subsidies in its initial years of operation.
“The financial balance depends on two things: capacity and fare. We always aim for an economical cost, and in the first years of service, there’s usually some form of subsidy while the project matures and we achieve higher capacity. This train is designed to transport 230 thousand passengers per day, and I believe that perhaps with half, with 120 thousand, it could achieve an economic balance in its operation and maintenance,” said Manuel Gómez Parra, Director General of Railway and Multimodal Development (DGDFM) at SICT.
The official specified that the fare from Mexico City to Zinacantepec for this train is estimated to be 120 pesos.
Additionally, it will maintain two fares: an urban fare for the Toluca area and for those traveling in the Mexico City area, which would be between 15 and 20 pesos.
“When you cross from Mexico City to Toluca, we estimate, although the fare is not yet defined, it will be around 120 pesos, which is roughly the cost of a bus, an intermediate bus, so it doesn’t represent a major expense for people, making the train a truly viable option,” he said during his participation in a Dialogue with Engineers organized by the Mexican College of Civil Engineers (CICM).
On the other hand, Jesús Campos López, Technical Vice President of the CICM, commented that the investment in this project compared to the demand of approximately 10 million passengers per year requires better planning of such works.
“You point it out very well (Gómez Parra), passenger trains are hardly financeable. With an investment of 100 billion pesos, and that should give me a cost at a rate of 10% of approximately 10 thousand pesos per capita per year in the case of the Mexico-Toluca route, so it would be impossible to ever consider a freight train, especially considering the gradients. Instead, we should think about how to replace freight transportation on roads like the Mexico-Querétaro route,” he stated.
The SICT official ruled out the possibility of this train transporting freight at any time due to the gradients of the project.
Gómez Parra reiterated that the total cost of the Mexico-Toluca Train will be 100 billion pesos. Construction of this project began in 2014 under then-President Enrique Peña Nieto, with a total estimated investment of 44 billion pesos.
This system covers 58 kilometers from Mexico City to Zinacantepec, with a total of seven stations. Four of them—Zinacantepec, Toluca Centro, Metepec, and Lerma—have been operational since September 15, while the remaining stations continue their construction process.
The travel time between terminals will be 39 minutes, with 20 trains each capable of accommodating 719 passengers.
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