Private sector to cover 90% of Mexico’s García-Monterrey light rail link

Mexican authorities are expecting the private sector to provide 90% of the investment necessary to construct the 19.8bn-peso (US$991mn) García-Monterrey airport light rail link in Nuevo León state. 

The private sector’s contribution will be 17.8bn pesos, while the state and the federal governments will split the remaining 10% equally, according to an updated version of the project on development bank Banobras’ project tracker website.

While the tentative dates for the tender have not been announced, the website states that construction will begin in December 2021 and operations in December 2024. 

The new details come two weeks after the federal government included the 62km rail project in its list of 39 infrastructure, water and energy projects that make up the new version of the national infrastructure program (PNI). 

The old version of the program, which had to be restructured due to the coronavirus pandemic, also included the rail project, but it estimated its cost at 13bn pesos. 

Nuevo León state’s strategic projects trust (Fideproes), which is planning and overseeing the works, launched four study tenders in July to help establish the bases for the pre-investment studies. 

The project will use existing rail infrastructure, the project's description states. 

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

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

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