Traveling by train as a passenger is reminiscent of the past. It was the romantic time when the Pullman left the Buenavista station at night for Guadalajara. After a succulent dinner on board, the passenger slept in one of the compartments for sunrise in the morning at Perla Tapatia. But the widespread connectivity by road and air, coupled with the fact that, like all public companies, financial mismanagement and a corrupt union, broke the passenger rail system. The last routes were privatized in 1995.
The Peña government proposed two projects to revive passenger rail routes. One, the ill-fated train from Mexico City to Querétaro that was to be built with a joint venture from China, but was canceled due to corruption. The other, the Toluca-Mexico train, which seemed like a good idea for the thousands of people who live in Toluca and work in the CDMX. But the project was delayed, there were other problems and at the end of the administration it was abandoned due to… you guessed it: corruption. Now in the 2022 federal budget an item for 7,000 million pesos was included to resume it.
Since his campaign, López Obrador conceived two major railway projects: The Mayan Train (TM) in the Yucatán Peninsula as an engine of regional development, and the project of the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The TM will depart from Palenque and covers almost 1,500 km of railways. Although it contemplates transporting cargo, its vocation will be tourist, emulating the Chepe Train of the Copper Canyon in Chihuahua. The intention is to inaugurate the first phase in 2023 and finish the rest in 2024.
Despite the fact that many documents about the project can be consulted at www.trenmaya.gob.mx, there is no detailed projection of demand for its use, evaluations about the environmental impact (due to jungle logging), the development of regional economic activities, nor an in-depth analysis of operating costs. The profitability of this project has been questioned. In the end, the TM is a willful dream.
The Interoceanic Isthmus project seems to make more sense and better planning. It seeks to commercially link the two oceans. It includes installing 10 industrial parks and expanding the container terminals in the ports of Coatzacoalcos and Salina Cruz. In this way, merchandise from Asia can be received, moved by rail to Coatzacoalcos, and from there by ship to ports on the east coast of the United States. It is expected to have it operating between 2023 and 2024. By presidential order, a company will be created to manage the transisthmian profits where SEMAR will have 51% of the shares and the four states involved the remaining 49%. But in a peculiar decree, to say the least, all the profits will be deposited in the pension funds of the SEMAR and the states. According to the president, it is a way of shielding it against privatization.
In the end, Q4 has a very bad infrastructure project that responds to a railway whim, and another apparently better planned and conceived.
Twitter: @frubli
Economist
IMEF Magazine
Economist graduated from ITAM. He has master’s and doctoral studies in monetary theory and policy, and international finance and trade. Columnist for El Economista. He has been an advisor to the Banxico Governing Board, Director of Institutional Linking, Director of External Relations and Coordinator of the Governor’s Office, Manager of External Relations, Manager of Macro-Financial Analysis, Assistant Manager of Macroeconomic Analysis, Assistant Manager of International Economy and Analyst.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx