Project Spotlight: Mexico moving forward with US$580mn Monterrey airport train

Mexico’s Nuevo León state continues to move forward with preparations to begin construction of the 13bn-peso (US$580mn) García-Monterrey airport commuter rail line in 2021.

State authorities have launched four study tenders this year for the line, which will connect seven municipalities near state capital Monterrey. These studies are intended to help Nuevo León’s strategic projects trust (Fideproes), which is responsible for planning and overseeing the project, to establish the bases to begin pre-investment studies, even though the necessary investment has already been secured from the private sector. 

The tenders for all the studies were published by Fideproes on government procurement site Compranet from July 1-22. Two have been awarded directly, while the winners of the remaining two contracts are due to be named this month.

THE STUDIES

The first study involves the project’s cost-benefit analysis and it was restricted to only three local participants: Consultores Sociales Helix, Sirius Consultoría and Altor Finanzas e Infraestructura. 

Altor Finanzas e Infraestructura received the highest score in the bid evaluations, but Fideproes declared the tender void on July 20 because the firm’s offer exceeded the trust’s budget, according to a notice published on Compranet.

On July 22, Fideproes relaunched the tender before awarding it directly to Altor Finanzas e Infraestructura for 3.4mn pesos after it agreed to trim its offer to match the budget. It will have four months to submit the analysis after signing the contract.

The second and third tenders were launched on July 21. One requires a set of legal, financial, urban and mobility studies, and the other calls for a company to carry out the specialized technical studies.

Eight companies showed interest in bidding for legal, financial, urban and mobility studies, while seven companies have expressed interest in bidding for the specialized technical studies. 

Fideproes scheduled the reception of proposals for August 11, but it had not uploaded the bids to Compranet as of August 12. 

The winner of the legal, financial, urban and mobility study will be announced on August 19 and the company chosen to carry out the specialized technical studies will be named on August 21. 

A fourth contract was also awarded directly on July 22 to German firm Deutsche Bahn Engineering for 16mn pesos. It consists of acting as a "shadow operator" and advising Fideproes during the pre-investment studies. 

Fideproes requested a proposal from the company on May 15 and received it on May 22, according to a note uploaded to Compranet.  

Mexican railway regulator ARTF advised the trust to award the contract directly to the German firm, Jorge Luis Martínez, Fideproes director, was reported as saying by daily El Norte on July 27. 

According to the many documents on the process consulted by BNamericas, the transport and communications ministry (SCT), along with ARTF and Fideproes, shook hands on an agreement in March to finance the studies with a 68mn-peso investment that will be split almost equally between the federal and state governments. 

THE PROJECT

Financing for the project was confirmed during the presentation of the first stage of the 2020-24 national infrastructure program (PNI) in November. The initiative was originally presented by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) and Nuevo León state governor Jaime Rodríguez in May 2019.

The plan is to begin construction in 2021, according to the program, with the line running 62km between Mariano Escobedo international airport serving Monterrey and García municipality. 

The line will have a total of 25 stations and two terminals, crossing the municipalities of Apodaca, Guadalupe, Monterrey, San Nicolás, San Pedro, Santa Catarina and García. 

Three of the stations will be multimodal and will connect to Monterrey's metro lines No. 1 and 2 and the Ecovía BRT system.

With each train having capacity for 200 passengers, the diesel-powered service will run at speeds of 40-55km and is expected to serve 11mn users a year during the first stage, according to Fideproes. 

The line will use existing railway infrastructure that runs along the same route. 

The agreement AMLO and Rodríguez signed a year ago includes awarding rights-of-way to the project for 172km of rail lines, which are currently being used for freight services. It also involved completing the remaining 21km of the Monterrey bypass and 18km of the Lobos-San Juan bypass, which will divert freight trains away from the metropolitan area.

The concession to operate the train will be managed by Nuevo León state.