At the end of 2024, the Tehuantepec Isthmus Railway (FIT) will have transported 40 thousand 20-foot containers (TEU), while next year it will be up to 150 thousand TEU, according to the projections of its managers.
Rear Admiral Alan Cruz Saba, general director of the FIT, explained that growth depends on the development of the ports of Coatzacoalcos, Salina Cruz, Chiapas and Dos Bocas.
“We can move four trains today, but the idea is to move up to eight trains a day, but it is of little use to us that we can move several trains if we do not have the capacity of the ports to cope with that,” he stated.
The FIT is a substantial part of the infrastructure project of the current Mexican government, the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (CIIT) , with which it seeks to take advantage of the narrowest part of the Mexican territory, between the states of Veracruz and Oaxaca, to transport goods in interoceanic transits , mainly those coming from Asia bound for the east coast of the United States.
In an event organized by the Mexican Association of Intermodal Transport (AMTI) , Cruz Saba detailed that currently the FIT Z Line, 303 kilometers that goes from Coatzacoalcos (Veracruz) to Salina Cruz (Oaxaca), is fully operational offering cargo movement and passengers from 2023.
While the FA Line, of 328 kilometers that goes from Coatzacoalcos to Palenque (Chiapas), has a general progress of 65.6% and only 40% is operational. Although it is expected to end next August.
Meanwhile, Line K, which connects Ixtepec (Oaxaca) with Ciudad Hidalgo (Chiapas), continues its rehabilitation of 459 kilometers, 526 bridges and 387 drainage works, as well as 13 passenger stations, so only 10% It is operational, has a progress of 54.3% and it is expected to have a first stage ready by next September.
He explained that the FIT currently has 12 multipurpose locomotives, 12 road or used locomotives and 10 yard locomotives, as well as 130 bulk hoppers, 300 railway hoppers for polyethylene, 100 vans, and 50 articulated platforms.
For his part, Rear Admiral Alfonso Fabián González Belmonte, general coordinator of Investment Promotion of the CIIT, said that the potential market for this project is the east coast of the United States , a country that receives 18 million TEUs annually, where more than 50 % of these are imported and move from the west coast.
“What we are looking for is that we capture the market that does not cross the Panama Canal and that we can rent the Interoceanic Corridor with a reduction in time and costs,” he mentioned.
Regarding the Development Poles for Wellbeing (Podebi), industrial parks that will be established precisely in the Isthmus area, he commented that seven have been concessioned, two are in the bidding process, one has been directly awarded, while Tapachula I and Tapachula II are in the process of regulation.
“In Chiapas we are close to taking out two more, one of 250 hectares and 150 hectares that are within Puerto Chiapas to be able to establish the poles and we were also in Tabasco searching,” he indicated.
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