Sheinbaum hands Mexican army another rail project

President Claudia Sheinbaum gave the Mexican military another construction project, the Mexico City-Querétaro passenger rail link, doubling down on a strategy begun by her predecessor Andrés Manuel López Obrador that has been criticized by infrastructure experts. 

The rail project was canceled under former president Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-18), but during her campaign, Sheinbaum vowed to revive it as part of her program to build 3,000km of railways.

The 240km line will cross Mexico City and Mexico, Hidalgo and Querétaro states and travel time will be one hour and 40 minutes.

“When will it be ready? It takes time, but we want to have it ready in three years,” said Sheinbaum during a ceremony to greenlight the pre-construction studies. 

“The studies will be carried out starting now and finish in April… to start construction that same month.”

Accompanied by defense minister Ricardo Trevilla, the president said the line will be built by the army – which has taken over other key projects such as the Maya train  – in collaboration with the infrastructure, communications and transport ministry (SICT).

Having the armed forces build projects has been criticized for the lack of transparency and expertise at the navy (Semar) and defense ministries. 

“They [congress] are approving the reforms that enable the armed forces to carry out these types of works,” Sergio Chagoya, expert in infrastructure investment at law firm Santamarina + Steta, told BNamericas. “Even if the move has a constitutional basis, there are many Mexican and foreign companies that have expertise in infrastructure and I believe they would do a better job… The army is being distracted from its primary objective.”

Soon after taking office on October 1, Sheinbaum greenlighted pre-construction studies for the AIFA airport-Pachuca rail link, another project that will be built by the army.

Also this month, the president of Mexican construction chamber CMIC, Luis Méndez Jaled, said during a press conference that the military is a well-respected institution whose role is to safeguard the country’s sovereignty, not to build infrastructure projects. 

“We agree that, when the works are related to national security, [military participation] is welcomed but otherwise the builders must be carrying out these works,” he said. 

The original Mexico City-Querétaro rail project, drawn up during Peña Nieto’s government, was meant to be a high-speed rail link. The construction contract was awarded in 2014 to a consortium formed by Mexican and Chinese companies but the project was cancelled in 2015 due to corruption allegations. 

The project proposed by Sheinbaum’s administration will connect Buenavista station in Mexico City with San Juan del Río in Querétaro state’s likewise-named capital. The trains will travel up to 160km/h with capacity for 450 passengers. 

The agrarian, territorial and urban development ministry (Sedatu) will be in charge of obtaining the rights of way and the environment ministry (Semarnat) will process the environmental impact studies. 

According to military engineer Gustavo Vallejo, quoted by daily El Financiero, the project will start operations in 2029. It is expected to connect with lines to Nuevo Laredo in Tamaulipas state and Guadalajara in Jalisco.

Sheinbaum announced her administration will spend close to 150bn pesos (US$7.5bn) to push her rail projects forward in 2025, but no specific capex figure has been published for the Mexico City-Querétaro project.