MEXICO CITY – Mexico’s Transport Ministry this week said it has received five proposals from interested parties to participate in a project to boost passenger service on railroads being developed across the country, Reuters reported. The ministry did not identify which companies had expressed interest, but Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) told Reuters it had filed a proposal. The transport arm of Grupo Mexico declined to comment to Reuters but as one of the largest rail operators in Mexico it’s likely one of the bidders.
Mexico railroads are almost exclusively used for freight, but the government is looking to expand rail passenger routes. The ministry’s announcement on Jan. 16 comes a day after the deadline for proposals, set out in a decree late last year that called for plans from concession holders outlining how their freight railways could be adapted for passenger use.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, whose term ends this year, has said that if companies decide not to provide passenger services the government would do so. The government recently partially opened the Tren Maya Train, a 996-mile new railway that traverses the Yucatan Peninsula. The line is scheduled to fully open in February.
The government’s 2022 decree prioritized development on seven routes that span northern border cities, the Gulf and Pacific coasts, major cities in central Mexico, and Mexico City’s Felipe Angeles International Airport. Those routes are:
- Mexico City-Veracruz city-Coatzacoalcos
- Felipe Ángeles International Airport-Pachuca
- Mexico City-Querétaro city–León-Aguascalientes
- Manzanillo-Colima-Guadalajara-Irapuato
- Mexico City-San Luis Potosí-Monterrey-Nuevo Laredo
- Mexico City-Querétaro city-Guadalajara-Tepic-Mazatlán-Nogales
- Aguascalientes-Chihuahua City-Ciudad Juárez.
Could be interesting. Grupo Mexico shares the FEC route with Brightline, so they have seen first hand how to share with a passenger operation. It would be interesting if Grupo Mexico (if they win a route) licenses it to a Brightline de Mexico to build and operate.