Constitutional reform advances to revitalize passenger trains in Mexico

( Spanish) –The Chamber of Deputies of Mexico approved this Tuesday a reform to article 28 of the Constitution, which establishes that passenger rail transport is “a priority area for national development.”

The reform allows passenger trains to use the existing tracks, without affecting the provision of the public freight rail transport service.

The passenger transport service only uses 7.55% of the total railway tracks in operation, according to data presented at the morning conference this Wednesday by Andrés Lajous Loaeza, general director of the Railway Transport Regulatory Agency (ARTF).

The official pointed out that this reform seeks to ensure that “the 18 thousand kilometers of passenger service can be operated by public entities.”

The Federal Government may grant concessions to private companies, as well as assignments to states, municipalities and parastatal entities to operate passenger trains throughout the country.

Lajous Loaeza said that this measure will improve the connectivity of many communities that were “isolated after the privatization” of the trains in 1995, with “greater safety, a reduction in the carbon footprint” and a “better quality of life” for users.

Under López Obrador’s administration, 2,240 kilometers of passenger rail service were put into operation, according to Lajous Loaeza. Sheinbaum seeks to continue with his predecessor’s plan and put into operation more than 3,000 additional kilometers of tracks for passenger trains during his six-year term.

For these railway projects, close to 150 million pesos (about US$7,710,231) will be allocated next year, the president indicated at the conference.

The reform approved in the Deputies was sent to the Senate for discussion. If approved, it must be sent to the congresses of the 32 federal entities, since, as it is a constitutional reform, it requires the approval of at least 17 state legislatures.

In 1938, President Lázaro Cárdenas nationalized Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México, a company that operated both passenger and cargo services.

Despite the initial push, Mexico’s National Railways faced management and discipline problems in both the labor and government sectors, which affected its long-term performance and growth, according to the National Institute of Anthropology and History.

“Instead of raising rates and reducing subsidies, both workers and the government tried to get their way at the expense of service quality and business success,” INAH notes on its website.

With the 1995 reform, the train privatization process began. This involved the cancellation of passenger trains and the predominance of freight trains. The change allowed the president in office to grant the concession of 84.5% of the existing roads to private entities for their exploitation.

According to the initiative sent to Congress, from privatization until 2017 only 23 kilometers of new roads were built.

Starting in 2018, the reactivation of passenger service began with the Maya Train, the Istmo de Tehuantepec train and the ‘El Insurgente’ train, all already in operation.