Next administration could take over Mexico-Querétaro train

Mexico's President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said his administration would begin planning for the 50.3bn-peso (US$2.5bn) Mexico City-Querétaro high-speed train, with construction left to his successor.

This would require that the project's executive plan and rights-of-way be finalized before the end of his term in 2024, he said in his daily morning press conference. 

López Obrador, who is not eligible for reelection, recently revived hopes for the project that was proposed as a public-private partnership under his 2020-24 national infrastructure program.

"I have asked [SICT minister Jorge Nuño Lara] to look for the file because if the executive project was completed and the rights of way purchased, it's possible to build that train, even though we could not build it," the president said on Tuesday. 

Almost a year ago, consulting firm TMSourcing proposed taking over the project and extending the line to Guanajuato state’s León city as part of the 416km Bajío train. 

“We have 65-70% of the necessary studies to make the non-solicited proposal,” TMSourcing president and founder of SPV Ameriko Railways Infrastructure & Real Estate, Adolfo González Olhovich, told BNamericas last week.

“We are still interested in the ideas that have been thrown on the table.”  

López Obrador said the highway linking Mexico City with Querétaro state had become severely traffic-clogged and emphasized the need to build the 210km passenger line. 

The line was originally awarded in 2014 to a Chinese-Mexican consortium led by China Railway Construction Corp (CRCC). It was canceled the following year amid corruption scandals.