Getting to and from Mexico City’s Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) got a lot easier Sunday with the launch of a new suburban train line connecting Buenavista station, north of the city center, with the airport, which lies some 40 kilometers north of the city. 

The train link opens just over four years after the inauguration of the AIFA airport, and forms part of the Morena government’s strategy to recover Mexico’s passenger rail services, which started during the López Obrador administration (2018-2024) and has accelerated with the current Sheinbaum government.

“Today we can say, as the armed forces say: ‘Mission accomplished,’” President Claudia Sheinbaum stated in her address during the inaugural ceremony held at the AIFA-Clara Krause terminal. 

Sheinbaum had requested that the director of AIFA, Isidoro Pastor, name the airport terminal’s train station after Clara Krause, whom she called “an extraordinary woman.” Krause, the U.S.-born wife of the revolutionary general Felipe Ángeles, was a multilingual teacher in Mexico City but had to flee to New York when the Revolution broke out and never saw her husband again.

She died of a heart attack shortly after he was executed. Her ashes were only recently repatriated to Mexico.

The new route has six stations: Cueyamil, La Loma, Teyahualco, Prados Sur, Cajiga, Xaltocan and the AIFA-Clara Krause Terminal. It is expected to transport over 57,000 passengers a day, with a capacity of more than 80,000 people. 

The trip takes around 50 minutes from Buenavista to AIFA, a time that will be reduced to 43 minutes once the service is fully operational. Passengers typically spend one-and-a-half to two hours to reach the airport by automobile or bus.

Initially, the route will operate with four of its 10 trains, running every half hour, with the aim of increasing frequency to every 12 minutes. 

For the first month of operation, a fare of 45 pesos (US $2.60) has been set, which could increase as soon as next month. The planned fare is significantly lower than the fee quoted by ride-hailing taxis, of between 600 and 900 pesos ($35 and $52) each way, and buses, which charge between 200 and 300 pesos ($12 and $17).

The new route is expected to help re-establish the Buenavista railway station as the epicenter for the National Railway System.

With reports from El Financiero and La Jornada