Ferrocarril Suburbano de la Zona Metropolitana de México

The Ferrocarril Suburbano de la Zona Metropolitana de México ("Suburban Railway of the Mexico City Metropolitan Area") is an electric regional rail system in Mexico City. It is also known as "Valley of Mexico Suburban Rail System" and colloquially referred to as "El Tren Suburbano".

Description

The initial line covers a route measuring 27 kilometers from Mexico City's Buenavista Station north to Cuautitlán, in the State of Mexico. This initial section, which began commercial service on June 1, 2008, cost US$706 million to build, with the Mexican Federal Government contributing 55% of this investment. The line is projected to carry 100 million passengers annually. [cite web
title=Operación: Estaciones Buenavista-Cuautitlán
publisher=Ferrocarriles Suburbanos
url=http://www.fsuburbanos.com/secciones/operacion/recorrido.php
date=2008-07-02
accessdate=2008-07-24] From the period of June 1, 2008 through July 7, 2008, the service carried one million passengers, or an average of approximately 30,000 passengers per day, which is a rate far below the annual projections. [cite web
title=El Suburbano rebasa el millón de usuarios
publisher=Ferrocarriles Suburbanos
url=http://www.fsuburbanos.com/secciones/sala_prensa/noticias.php?id=56&page=1&anio=
date=2008-07-02
accessdate=2008-07-24] Trains are scheduled every 6 minutes during peak hours.

The inaugural demonstration trip of the service from Buenavista to Lechería station and back again was made by the President of Mexico, Felipe Calderon Hinojosa, and the Governor of the State of Mexico Enrique Peña Nieto with President Calderon acting as the train's engineer.

The line was built on an existing railroad right of way. However, inside Mexico City itself on the approach to Buenavista Station, a considerable amount of grade separation, including below-grade excavation and new bridges was necessary due to high density and traffic congestion. The construction elicited complaints by some Mexico City residents who objected to having their neighborhoods split by the rail line, but overall the public has supported the project.

On August 24 2005, CAF (Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles, S.A.) obtained a 30 year concession to supply rolling stock, build and operate the Tren Suburbano [http://www.caf.net/download.php?file=img/pdf/mexicoingles.pdf] .The trains used on this service are electric trains built by CAF and are similar to the series 2000 trains of the Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos of São Paulo,Brazil [cite web
title=Frota de Trens
publisher=Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos
url=http://www.cptm.sp.gov.br/e_frota/frota/default.asp
accessdate=2008-07-24]

Fare Structure

The fares on this service are 5.50 pesos (approximately USD 0.55) for a trip of three or fewer stations and 12.50 pesos (approximately USD 1.25) for longer trips of four or more stations. Fares are paid using a rechargeable card with an initial minimum cost of 20.00 pesos, of which 11.50 pesos is counted toward the cost of the card and not usable for fare payment. [cite web
title=Operaciones: Costo del Viaje
publisher=Ferrocarriles Suburbanos
url=http://www.fsuburbanos.com/secciones/operacion/costo_viaje.php
accessdate=2008-07-24]

Future Expansion

Authorities hope to extend the system as far as it is practical to do so (the current long range plan is for 242 kilometers of lines [http://www.correo-gto.com.mx/notas.asp?id=4341 Correo | Economía | Funcionaría en 2007 tren suburbano ] ] ), in order to reduce Mexico City's heavy road traffic congestion and air pollution. In most cases the system will follow existing rail lines, however grade separations similar to the ones done on the initial segment may be necessary.

In December 2006, SCT announced that approval has been given for the 19.3 km System 2, extending to Jardines de Morelos and Martín Carrera, and System 3 of an additional 12.8 km to Chalco and La Paz. [ [http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/ciudad/80284.html Autorizan suburbano de La Paz a Chalco - El Universal - DF ] ] [ [http://www.fsuburbanos.com/noticias.php?id=22 Ferrocarriles Suburbanos - Noticias ] ] [ [http://groups.msn.com/FerrocarrilUrbano/general.msnw?action=get_message&mview=&ID_Message=303 Ferrocarril Urbano ] ]

See also

* List of suburban and commuter rail systems
* List of Mexican railroads
* Commuter rail in North America
* Metro Buenavista
* Rail transport in Mexico
* Ferrovalle

External links

* [http://www.fsuburbanos.com/ Ferrocarril Suburbano - Official Site]
* [http://ferrocarriles.wikia.com/wiki/Ferrocarril_suburbano See definition on Ferropedia]
* [http://www.fsuburbanos.com/espacio-viajero.php Renderings of railroad cars]
* [http://www.fsuburbanos.com/galeria-video-presentacion.php Official SCT video and details of the Ferrocarril Suburbano, in Spanish]
* [http://www.mexlist.com/ MEXLIST, the group for Mexican railway information]
* [http://www.esmas.com/noticierostelevisa/mexico/730150.html] (Spanish)

References