The federal government intends to undertake studies to assess the viability of a light rail system in Campeche city.
The Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SICT) has asked the Finance Ministry (SHCP) for 29.9 million pesos (US $1.45 million) to carry out a range of pre-investment studies as well as a cost-benefit analysis.
A private company with experience in planning and building rail projects would be contracted to provide additional technical advice, the ministry said.
The light rail system would make use of just over 20 kilometers of existing, unused tracks, according to the SICT. The ministry is proposing that the system be established with resources from the National Infrastructure Fund but hasn’t disclosed a projected cost.
In a funding application submitted to the SHCP, the SICT said that vehicular traffic is one of the main problems in the municipality of Campeche, which has a population of about 300,000. The operation of a light rail system would help alleviate that problem, it said.
The SICT is planning to carry out pre-investment studies this year for five other proposed rail projects. Those projects are the Derramadero-Ramos Arizpe suburban train in the metropolitan area of Saltillo, Coahuila; the Colima-Manzanillo regional train; the Monterrey-Saltillo inter-urban train; the Monterrey-Nuevo Laredo inter-urban train; and the Morelia light rail system in Michoacán.
The federal government is already building the 1,500-kilometer Maya Train railroad in the country’s southeast, and intends to finish the Mexico City-Toluca passenger train line, which its predecessor began but failed to finish. It is also extending the Mexico City suburban train line so that it reaches the capital’s new airport in neighboring México state.
With reports from El Economista
