LatinNews Daily - 21 November 2023

* Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has published a decree declaring the provision of passenger rail services in Mexico a “priority area for national development”. The decree, published in the official gazette (DOF), states that passenger rail services will be given a preference over freight services on the main railroad communication routes under concession in Mexico (some 17,484km of track), with the aim of improving “quality of life, well-being, and mobility of people”. Companies that hold freight rail concessions, including subsidiaries of Mexican conglomerate Grupo México - Ferromex, Ferrosur and Ferrovalle - and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC, formerly KCSM), will be the first to be invited to present projects for implementing the passenger rail service to the transport ministry (SICT) by 15 January. If current concession holders fail to present viable proposals within the specified timeframe, the government may grant assignment titles to the defence ministry (Sedena) or the navy ministry (Semar), entities already operating the Tren Maya tourist railway and the Tehuantepec isthmus trainline, which will connect the Pacific and Gulf coasts of Mexico. Alternatively, titles may be granted to individuals who present proposals. The decree, which criticises the privatisation of Mexico’s railways by former president Ernesto Zedillo (1994-2000), in 1995, coincides with the 150th anniversary of the installation of Mexico’s first passenger railway, initiated by former president Benito Juárez (1858-1872).