Passenger train costs have shot up 53% and project’s not done yet

Mexico City-Toluca train predicted to cost 71 billion pesos, up from 46 billion

Friday, January 4, 2019

15shares

The cost of building the Mexico City-Toluca intercity passenger train has increased by 53%, according to a government report.

A cost-benefit analysis completed by the Secretariat of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP) shows that the projected cost for the 57-kilometer railroad had shot up to just under 71 billion pesos (US $3.6 billion) on December 5 compared to just under 46.3 billion pesos (US $2.4 billion) in 2013.

Protests against the project, legal problems, compensation payments to affected property owners, construction delays and changes to the planned route have all contributed to the cost blowout.

Outlays on a range of new studies, including ones related to topography and the environment, work stoppages, postponements of the expected completion date, legal expenses, inflation and the necessity to complete works that hadn’t been anticipated were also factors in the ballooning cost of the project.

A total of 54 modifications to construction agreements have been made since 2013 in response to problems the project has faced, the SHCP report said.

In its 2019 budget, the federal government allocated an additional 3 billion pesos (US $154.5 million) to completing the intercity train, intended to reduce travel time between Mexico City and Toluca to just 39 minutes.

If that funding is taken into account, the cost of the project has risen by 59%.

The previous federal government said early last year that the project would be finished by the end of 2018 and that trains would start running early this year. In June last year, the starting date for train services was pushed back to summer 2019.

While President López Obrador has committed to completing the project initiated by his predecessor Enrique Peña Nieto, he said last week that it could be another three years before it is ready to start running.

The original completion date was April 2017.

Trains operating on the new railroad will have the capacity to carry 230,000 passengers a day.

Source: Milenio (sp)

15shares

Reader forum

MORE NEWS

OPINION

Who cares what’s inside other people’s pants or under their skirts?

To those so passionately concerned about what’s in other people’s pants, under their skirts or in their brains, I would say: “People, chill.”

June 12

Advocacy group rejects claim it received government funding or aid

The United Against Human Trafficking Commission says it is supported by private donations and does not depend on government funds in any way.

June 10

Answering the call: in Mexico the baño is not a place where one spends a lot of time

Here in Mexico, the facilities which accommodate this very natural process range from posh to pitiful, but can quickly deteriorate into the mortifying.

June 7

MEXICO LIFE

Canyoning in Mexico: falling down waterfalls for the fun of it

Canyoning is a sport which involves rappelling down cascades, lots of hiking and plunging into cold pools of water in order to follow a river down a canyon.

June 14

17k bike tour will celebrate bicycle month in Mexico City

It’s bicycle month in Mexico city and to celebrate, the city agency Muévete en Bici CDMX (Move by Bike Mexico City) will hold a 17-kilometer bicycle tour.

June 14

This mega thrift market said to be the biggest street market in Latin America

‘SanFe’ is a massive marketplace of car parts, used clothing, housewares, refrigerators, furniture and antiques and draws hundreds of thousands of visitors.

June 12