2023-11-25 18:13:17
The history of the railway in Mexico dates back to 1837, when Anastasio Bustamante was president of this nascent country, who granted the former Minister of Finance, Francisco Arriaga, the construction of the first railway line that would run from the Port of Veracruz to the capital of Mexico. At that time, a cost of 6 million 500 thousand pesos had been estimated, of course at that time.
But in the second half of the 19th century, the Puebla branch was inaugurated to the station of the same name of the Mexican Railway, Benito Juárez was president, 1869. It finally arrived in 1873 at the Port of Veracruz, in the presidency was Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, who It came into operation on January 1, 1873 and in January 2023 it marked 150 years since this event.
Porfirio Díaz, president of Mexico at the end of the 19th century, the railway network in the country was one of the most important works. Despite being a hated character for having been re-elected on several occasions, the growth of the railway network between 1880 and 1910 was of great importance: it went from 1,074 km in 1880 to 19,280 in 1910, connecting the border areas with the capital and the agro-export and mining regions.
During the Mexican Revolution the revolutionary troops were transported by rail, I remember Pancho Villa and his Dorados who were almost owners of the trains that traveled to the northeast of the country, carrying men, women, horses, cannons and supplies in their cars.
Another happened from the management of the National Railways of Mexico, as General Lázaro Cárdenas baptized them when he nationalized the trains on June 30, 1937. I want to make a note since the Sonora-Baja California Railway was built between 1936 – 1947, by the way I recommend the movie “Black Wind”. This route was called Mexicali or Bullet Train until 1995.
In the time of Lázaro Cárdenas there were 17 passenger train routes in Mexico, the oldest being the Mexico City – Veracruz route,
called “Jarocho” and of course the “El Mexicali” route, from Guadalajara – Tepic – Mazatlán – Nogales – Mexicali, without forgetting, for those of us who use this means of transportation, Benjamín Gil, Sonora.
Those romantic trips ended when on March 2, 1995, the reform to the fourth paragraph of article 28 of the Constitution was published in the Official Gazette of the Federation, thus privatizing the railway by President Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León. The only route that had no interest from individuals was the “Chepe”, from Chihuahua to Los Mochis, Sinaloa, which is operated by the government.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador published in the Official Gazette of the Federation on November 20 the decree that declares “the provision of public passenger rail transport service in the Mexican Railway System as a priority area for national development.”
The concessionaires of the public rail transportation service were invited to present projects for the implementation of the passenger rail service. Interested parties must submit their proposals to the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation no later than January 15, 2024.
Of the 17 routes that Lázaro Cárdenas had nationalized, this decree only contemplates 7, among them is Mexico – Querétaro – Guadalajara – Tepic – Mazatlán – Nogales. I was surprised to not see Mexicali as a destination. This shows that AMLO does not love Baja Californians or Marina del Pilar. Months ago I had asked Marina del Pilar if the governors of Nayarit, Sinaloa, Sonora and Baja California had talked about the issue, she answered that they had never, President López Obrador had to raise the issue with them. But Mexicali, that is, Baja California, was discriminated against, therefore the train will not arrive to Mexicali.
*The author is an independent journalist.
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