The main challenges of the US$4.6bn Mexico City-Toluca rail link

The 93bn-peso (US$4.6bn) Mexico City-Toluca interurban train project faces two major challenges before its planned inauguration in 2024, according to an expert. 

One relates to the rights-of-way for the third and final stretch, where not all complementary works have started yet, while the other involves pre-operational tests, for which a certification by railway regulator ARTF is needed, railway consultant Saúl Gorostiola, told BNamericas.

Coordination with the communications and transportation ministry (SCT) “is being implemented to begin the evaluation of the track and the operation of the train. This is to determine which operator is the most competent” for certifying the tests, he said. 

“The main challenge of the train is undoubtedly to certify and start-up the control systems and the operation of the train itself,” Gorostiola, who has also advised SCT on regulations, said. 

PROGRESS

The rail project to connect Mexico City and the urban area of Toluca in Mexico state reached a major milestone on August 16, when the first stretch was completed.

Stretch two, comprising a 4.7km tunnel, is also finished, according to an SCT statement Tuesday.

The ministry, which oversees the project, said nearly 41km of the rail line’s projected 58km are complete.

But the overall passenger transport project, comprising five stations and two terminals, requires more work, especially since stretch three is only 53% complete, seven years after construction began.

The 36.3km stretch one connects Toluca’s Zinacatepec and La Marquesa areas, while the tunnel, or stretch two, links to the 16.8km stretch three in Mexico City through Cuajimalpa, Santa Fe and Álvaro Obregón districts.

In an update presented at President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s daily press conference on August 16, SCT highlighted the progress at the different sections, but it did not mention when work on four projects key to operations start-up will begin.

These include the Vasco de Quiroga and Santa Fe stations in Mexico City’s Santa Fe district, the Observatorio terminal in the heart of the capital, and the 1bn-peso, 600m Conagua-Manantial viaduct, a cable-stayed bridge.

While a construction contract for one station has been awarded and bidding for the bridge has started, tender dates for the other station and the terminal remain unknown. 

CABLE-STAYED BRIDGE

In a session on August 16, SCT clarified some doubts about the viaduct.  

A total of 296 questions were received by August 4 from 14 bidders, according to records on procurement site Compranet.

Another closed-door meeting to answer bidders' questions was scheduled for August 18. The ministry was expected to announce a date for the reception of proposals that day, too.

The interested parties are:

1. CAABSA Infraestructura
2. La Peninsular Compañía Constructora
3. Construcciones y Dragados del Sureste
4. Contratista General de América Latina
5. ICA Constructora
6. Consuleza Profesionale
7. Acciona Infraestructura México
8. Constructora Moyeda
9. GAMI Ingeniería e Instalaciones
10. COMSA Infraestructuras
11. Constructora de Proyectos Viales de México
12. Constructora Makro
13. Freyssinet de México
14. Impulsora de Desarrollo Integral

STATIONS AND TERMINAL

SCT launched the construction tender for the Vasco de Quiroga station in April, but after receiving bids from five consortiums, it declared the process void on May 26 due to high costs. 

The contract was awarded directly to firm VISE on July 12 for 545mn pesos.

The station was suggested by mayor Claudia Sheinbaum and capex rose from 90bn pesos to 93bn pesos, according to the latest cost-benefit analysis.

SCT had launched on July 7 a supervision tender for the Santa Fe works, but a construction tender has yet to be announced. 

Last year, then metro director Florencia Serranía, who resigned recently over the metro line No. 12 accident, told local media that the Observatorio terminal transformation should be completed by 2022. 

But details on a plan to expand the station by 21ha have not been presented. The station is expected to have several levels and connect three metro lines plus the interurban link and other transport systems such as bus terminals. 

Technical-financial and cost-benefit analyses were concluded in November 2017, but it is unclear if the administration will change the proposal. Related documents are available on Mexico City’s government website.