SCT to invest US$2.9mn for rail routes

Mexico's transport & communications ministry SCT will invest a total of US$2.9mn to subsidize five railroad routes, which provide the sole means of transportation for their respective locations, El Financiero reported. The routes are: Chihuahua-Los Mochis, Felipe Pescador-Torreon, Felipe Pescador-San Ysidro, Ixtepec-Tapachula and Cuicatlan-Oaxaca. Passenger services are provided for the first three routes by Ferrocarriles Mexicanos (Ferromex), the following by the Compania de Ferrocarriles Chapas Mayab and the last by Ferrocarril del Sureste (Ferrosur). The subsidies are a result of the sector's privatization in the late 1990s which stipulates that the federal government must assist public services to assist isolated communities, while boosting tourism. The SCT indicates that between 2002-2006, the eight railroad concessionaires will invest a total US$969mn. In the first five years of privatization, the railroad industry recorded some US$1.2bn in investments.