Mexican president to urge freight railroads to open tracks to passenger trains

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador earlier this week said he plans on announcing a decree sometime this month to call on freight railroads to also use their tracks for passenger rail.

Lopez Obrador made the announcement during a Nov. 9 press conference. He has made passenger-rail expansion a key component of his transportation policy, including the construction of a multibillion dollar passenger train through the Yucatan Peninsula.

If the freight railroads, which include Grupo Mexico and Canadian Pacific Kansas City de Mexico, decide not to provide passenger service, the government would do so, he said, according to Reuters.

Asked to comment on Lopez Obrador’s statement, CPKC spokeswoman Rebecca Stephen said in an email to Progressive Railroading: "We don’t have anything on the president’s news conference other than to note that CPKC de Mexico has previously agreed with the Mexican Federal Government to perform a study of what is required for proposed new passenger services between Mexico City and Queretaro."

In July, Lopez Obrador announced that his administration and CPKC de Mexico reached an agreement to study the feasibility of passenger-rail service between Mexico City and Queretaro. The service would not only serve passengers, it would help reduce accidents due to congestion on the Mexico-Queretaro highway, he said, according to a report by Mexico News Daily.