LatinNews Daily - 9 October 2024

*Mexico’s lower chamber of congress has unanimously approved a reform initiative to elevate the use of railways for passenger train services to constitutional rank. The constitutional reform was approved by all 472 deputies present in the 500-member lower chamber. The reform stipulates that the government can grant assignments to public companies or concessions to private firms. It also notes that both passenger and cargo rail transportation are priority areas for national development under the constitution, highlighting that companies that have concessions to provide freight rail transportation services may also obtain concessions to provide passenger services, with preference given to passenger rail transportation over freight. The initiative will now pass to the senate for a vote. The development of passenger train services, a key pledge of former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018-2024), has emerged as an early focus of the new administration led by President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has already unveiled plans for two new passenger train lines.