The Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transport (SICT) insisted that the existing right-of-way will be used for the new passenger trains, where a new infrastructure will be built for their operations, so the last option would be to share the track.

Adriana Cardona, general director of SICT, said that this can be done due to the modifications made to Article 28 of the Constitution.

“This constitutional reform means that we can use the existing right of way that freight trains have. The last option would really be to share, but what has been worked on is to have an additional track,” he said.

The above, he explained, is due to the fact that passenger trains have a different function than freight trains , since the former seek to have a precise itinerary and, on the contrary, “the priority of freight trains is not to move the largest volume of goods.”

He also mentioned that the construction of this type of passenger transport increases the economic impact, as well as connectivity, reduced road congestion, faster travel, greater security, and a reduction in the carbon footprint, to name a few.

During his participation in the railway discussion: Train experiences in Mexico , he insisted that with a dedicated track there will be better connection times and no service interruptions .

Adriana Cardona reiterated that the new passenger trains will be built in stages, with the first AIFA-Pachuca, Mexico-Querétaro, Saltillo-Nuevo León and Querétaro-Irapuato trains having the greatest demand from users.

However, he explained that the San Luis Potosí-Saltillo section will be one of those that will have some complexities due to the orography.

He specified that within the preliminary analysis they have carried out, it is expected that the trains will have one of the three alternative stations: terminal station, intermediate station and a stop, depending on the demand.

“This is to meet each need, we are focusing on the transfer time rather than on the speed itself, we are considering speeds between 160 km/hour and 200 km/hour and that allows us to have more room on the curves, because at higher speeds you need longer curves,” he explained.

He recalled that the AIFA-Pachuca train will be the first to begin construction next March, followed a month later by the Mexico-Querétaro train, and the Querétaro-Irapuato and Saltillo-Nuevo Laredo trains in July of this year.

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Having separate infrastructure for freight and passenger trains that the Mexican government is seeking to integrate ensures that the capacity of both systems is not limited, according to railway and infrastructure specialists.

Iker de Luisa, general director of the Mexican Railway Association (AMF) , explained that the passenger train will require several frequencies and by having an operation either in the morning or afternoon, there will not be the necessary influx for this type of transport.

“There are buses, for example, Mexico-Querétaro, with one line every 15 minutes, but if different origins arrive from all the lines, maybe there is a bus every five minutes, so how do you compete with one frequency against another that has 50, that is a bit of the point and it is not so easy to compete in price, quality, service and location,” he explained.

In this regard, he mentioned, for example, the Buenavista-Cuautitlán suburban line, which shares the right of way while maintaining separate operations for cargo and passengers.

“More than 60 freight trains coexist daily with passenger frequencies of every six minutes in each direction. It is a solution in which there are different right-of-way for freight and passengers given the high flows of both systems,” he said.

In addition, in the case of the expansion of this transport to the Mexico City International Airport (AIFA) , he commented that alternative projects were established that strengthened the freight railroad, such as relocating a yard and building the track for the passenger train.

Juan Carlos Miranda, coordinator of the Railway Subcommittee of the Transportation Committee of the College of Civil Engineers of Mexico (CICM) , considered that the railway routes announced during the current administration, Mexico-Monterrey-Laredo, Mexico-Guadalajara, Mexico-Pachuca, ” are lines with high traffic potential; it is very positive that it was decided to separate the freight infrastructure from the passenger infrastructure.”

However, he commented that both systems have different characteristics and systems that require different infrastructure and operation.

Regarding the Mexico-Veracruz train, where the same tracks may be used, it is “very important that it be analyzed very carefully,” since it has many operational challenges because there are about 30 freight trains running daily, it is very complex.”

He also pointed out that all projects must comply with environmental and social impact studies, right-of-way release, technology to be developed, routes, accessibility, planning, compatibility, regulations, among others.

Iker de Luisa mentioned that so far they do not have information on the plan or tenders for passenger train projects for the current administration.

“We have no information on how the tenders will be carried out. So far, they are announcements, we have not seen a plan that we can analyse and somehow get involved and give an opinion,” he confirmed.

During his participation in Dialogues with Engineers organized by the CICM, he mentioned that these will occur as these works progress.

However, he highlighted the more than 150 billion pesos that have been announced for these projects, and considered that the almost 1.6 billion pesos that the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transport (SICT) requested for the pre-investment studies belong to these resources.

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