The consortium led by Gami Engineering and Installations will build and design 136.48 kilometers (km) of the Saltillo-Nuevo Laredo passenger train , segments 18, 19 and 20 Arroyo El Sauz-Nuevo Laredo.

According to the tender decision, together with Construcciones Urales , Recal Estructuras and Azvi submitted an offer for 12 billion 669 million 670 thousand 550.55 pesos , the lowest of the three submitted.

Meanwhile, the consortium led by ICA Constructora submitted a proposal of 17 billion 131 million 534 thousand 748.22 pesos.

The third bid was awarded to Operadora CICSA and FCC Construcción , with a bid of 17.91 billion 630 thousand 448.94 pesos.

The Rail Transport Regulatory Agency (ARTF) evaluated the proposals by points and percentages, with the winner receiving 88.12 points, the runner-up receiving 85.98 points, and the third-place consortium receiving 75.30 points.

The agency specified that the contract signing will take place on October 10 , while construction of the project is expected to begin on the 13th of the same month, with a 1,054-day completion period.

“I don’t know why anyone would say that. Look at the bidding processes; the information is public. Right now, we’re on schedule (with bidding processes),” he emphasized.

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“There are places where, for topographical reasons, we have found it extremely difficult to expand the right-of-way—places with ravines, hills, houses, slopes, curves—and we simply cannot find the space to occupy the right-of-way and have a mixed operation there,” said Andrés Lajous, head of the department.

He explained that these five kilometers are part of the 750 kilometers corresponding to the first four passenger projects that have been announced and are located on the Mexico-Querétaro train route.

He also commented that they have found that there are interactions in places with industrial services, although depending on the demand for the new infrastructure, they intend to avoid the right of way or build infrastructure that allows them to “skip” these areas.

“In some cases where there is low demand for freight, and few freight services, we plan to create operating windows that ensure passenger and freight trains never coexist on the same track segment,” he explained.

During his participation in the bimonthly meeting of the Mexican Association of Railways (AMF) , he reiterated that the objective is to build dedicated tracks because ” we don’t want to share the tracks with freight . They are tracks adjacent to the freight tracks, so we can take advantage of the existing right of way and only in those places where we have to rectify the layout to achieve higher speeds are we deviating from that right of way.”

ARTF will be the ATTRAPI

Lajous reported that the ARTF will change its name to the Integrated Public Train and Transport Agency (ATTRAPI) once the federal government approves the reforms to the Railway Service Regulatory Law , the Organic Law of the Federal Public Administration, the Federal Roads, Bridges, and Motor Transport Law, the General Communications Routes Law, and the General Law of National Assets, regarding railways and regulatory harmonization.

He explained that these actions are due to the legislative initiative introduced in the Chamber of Deputies to modify the agency’s powers and the Railway Service Law, as well as the name change.

“Now, the powers that will be exercised will not only include those related to railways and railway operations, but also those related to public transportation,” Lajous said.

According to the proposal, ATTRAPI  seeks to have the authority  to exercise greater control  over the construction, upkeep, and maintenance of railway infrastructure, ensuring its safety, efficiency, and durability.

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Since the federal government declared the railways as a strategic area, both for passenger and cargo transport , it decreed that the General Directorate of Railway and Multimodal Development (DGDFM) will become part of the Railway Transport Regulatory Agency (ARTF) .

Consequently, the ARTF, in coordination with the Secretariats of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SICT) and Finance and Public Credit (SHCP), will carry out the necessary administrative acts to transfer the resources that have been assigned to them in the Federal Expenditure Budget for Fiscal Year 2025, within a period of no more than 20 business days following the entry of the decree.

“Formally, it will disappear, although in reality it will be incorporated into the ARTF, including its personnel and material and financial resources. It could be interpreted as a decision that will strengthen the Agency, given the expansion of responsibilities that this body will assume in this administration, in line with the experience of its director in the development of people mobility projects,” according to Carlos Barreda Westphal, director of the Ferroviaria.mx platform .

In this sense, he considered the scant participation of the DGDFM during the development and construction of the Mayan Train and Interoceanic railway projects during the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador to be a correct decision, “and the expected participation of the ARTF led by Andrés Lajous in the passenger train projects announced in the Mexico 2030 Plan in recent days.”

Similarly, the decree sent to the  National Commission for Regulatory Improvement (Conamer) establishes that the matters in process that are handled by administrative units must be handled and resolved by them.

He stated that in light of the announced railway projects and in order to ensure the best possible organisation of work and speed up dispatch , “it is necessary to delegate powers to the head of the ARTF”, who will carry out 23 actions, such as proposing and, where appropriate, implementing policies and programmes for the development, promotion, supervision and logistics of the railway system, mass passenger transport and multimodal transport.

As well as planning strategic development in railway matters and processing requests related to the granting of concessions and assignments for the construction, operation and exploitation of general railway communication routes, in addition to establishing, modifying and approving the dimensions and characteristics of the right of way in the construction, reconstruction or modernization projects of the concessioned railways, among others.

It should be noted that this year the SICT will have a budget of 147 thousand 511 million 456 thousand 246 pesos, with the main projects being railways for freight and passenger transport, mass passenger transport, and the reconstruction and maintenance of roads.

It should be noted that the total resources are higher than those previously requested by the SICT, which were 140 thousand 799 million 46 thousand 115 pesos, that is, 4.7% more.

According to the calendar of the authorized budget for the fiscal year 2025 published yesterday in the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF) , during this month, it will receive only 4,196,056,651 pesos, and February will be the month of greatest resources with 15,558,353,022 pesos.

While the DGDFM had been allocated 92 billion 28 million 187 thousand 428 pesos, however, these resources will be transferred to the ARTF after the aforementioned decree.

Meanwhile, according to calendar data, the ARTF was allocated 48 million 295 thousand 053 pesos , of which, in January it will receive four million 053 thousand 923 pesos, while it will not be until October when it registers the largest resource with five million 217 thousand 079 pesos, ending December with one million 401 thousand 870 pesos.

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With a global investment of 157 billion pesos (mdp) , the Government of Mexico will start work next year on the construction of four sections of the passenger train, which are: AIFA-Pachuca , Mexico-Querétaro , Saltillo-Nuevo Laredo and Querétaro-Irapuato , as announced by Andrés Lajous , head of the Railway Transport Regulatory Agency (ARTF) , during the morning conference of President Claudia Sheinbaum.

The official added that this budget will also cover additional works, such as the Mayan Cargo Train and the Interoceanic Train tracks , and reported that in the first half of 2025 the Ministry of National Defense (Defense) will begin works on the AIFA-Pachuca train and the Mexico-Querétaro train.

Lajous explained that the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transport (SICT) will tender works on the Querétaro-Irapuato and Saltillo-Nuevo Laredo sections, and at the same time the tender for the first fleet of rolling stock, that is, the trains that will be operating, will be held.

“The passenger trains will provide intercity (city to city) and regional services with dedicated tracks at maximum speeds of between 160 and 200 kilometres per hour, with main and secondary stations,” added the head of the ARTF.

Reducing travel times, improving the transport experience, increasing safety, decreasing the carbon footprint and connecting communities are the objectives that are sought to be achieved with these works.

Lajous also pointed out that during the administration of President Claudia Sheinbaum, more than three thousand kilometers (km) of passenger roads will be built on the AIFA-Pachuca, Mexico-Nogales and Mexico-Nuevo Laredo routes, among others, under a four-phase implementation strategy that would total three thousand 393 km .

“The AIFA-Pachuca (54 km), Mexico-Querétaro (242 km), Saltillo-Nuevo Laredo (306 km) and Querétaro-Irapuato (184 km) sections totaling 786 km. The Querétaro-San Luis Potosí (263 km), Mazatlán-Los Mochis (441 km), and Irapuato-Guadalajara (206 km) routes totaling approximately 910 km,” he said.

In addition, another 1,145 km with the Guaymas-Hermosillo (135 km), Guadalajara-Tepic (204 km), San Luis Potosí-Saltillo (444 km) and Los Mochis-Guaymas (362 km) routes. And 552 more kilometers with the Tepic-Mazatlán (275 km) and Hermosillo-Nogales (277 km) trains.

The official said that an interdisciplinary team made up of SICT, Defense, the Secretariat of Agrarian, Territorial and Urban Development (Sedatu) , the Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) , the National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (Conabio) , the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) , the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples (INPI) , as well as state and municipal governments, are carrying out the preparation of the projects.

It is worth remembering that Claudia Sheinbaum had already announced that she would continue with the construction of passenger trains, with three thousand new kilometers of tracks during her six-year term, which would represent double the works carried out during the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador .

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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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