The Monterrey City Council approves an agreement to release the right-of-way for the Saltillo-Nuevo Laredo train.

Monterrey, Nuevo León. As part of the federal government's announcement to establish a new passenger train for the northern part of the country, which will pass through Nuevo León, this Thursday, July 10, the Monterrey City Council authorized the signing of an agreement with the Federal Government to release the right of way required to build yards and terminals for the "Saltillo-Nuevo Laredo" train.

The objective is to coordinate with the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SICT), the state of Nuevo León, and the municipalities of García, Santa Catarina, San Pedro Garza García, San Nicolás de los Garza, Escobedo, El Carmen, Salinas Victoria, Villaldama, Bustamante, Lampazos, and Anáhuac to clear the aforementioned right of way.

Mayor Adrián de la Garza explained that the purpose "is to facilitate technical work, for example, reducing or waiving permit fees to carry out soil mechanics work on public roads, to complete all the required engineering designs, and, above all, to establish the right of way."

"There's no specific route yet; the work is just getting started, and the agreement will allow for the necessary engineering work," he explained.

Saltillo-Nuevo Laredo section begins in August

This Wednesday, July 9, President Claudia Sheinbaum commented at the morning press conference: "Remember that the Mexico-Nuevo Laredo Train, its first part, its first stage of construction, is the Mexico-Querétaro train. That section is being built by the Defense Ministry. And from there to Nuevo Laredo, there is a route, which Andrés Lajous, general director of the Railway Transport Regulatory Agency, will talk about, and then it also goes to Guadalajara."

So, "the first part of Querétaro-Irapuato has already been put out to tender (...) and for Mexico-Nuevo Laredo it was decided to start with Saltillo-Nuevo Laredo," the president specified.

Andrés Lajous Loaeza, for his part, explained the entire process of establishing and constructing the different sections of this project.

Regarding the Saltillo-Nuevo Laredo section, he stated:

"And in the case, for example, of Saltillo-Nuevo Laredo: Derramadero-Ramos Arizpe. We have Derramadero in the far south of Saltillo, it's an industrial zone with little housing, but a lot of jobs; then we have Saltillo; and then we have Ramos Arizpe, which is also one of the fastest-growing industrial zones in the country, the northern part of Ramos Arizpe. We know there's a demand for travel, for workers who go to these two industrial zones every day."

"That means the train that goes to Nuevo Laredo doesn't necessarily have to be, let's say, the same train, the same vehicle, that makes a shorter trip from Ramos Arizpe to Derramadero in the morning, in order to move people and offer a slightly higher-intensity service," said Lajous Loaeza.

The official explained that, in terms of construction, the work has been divided between two agencies: "On the one hand, the Defense Ministry, which has already begun work on the AIFA-Pachuca and Mexico City-Querétaro sections, and the SICT, through the Agency, will begin, in August, the Querétaro-Irapuato and Saltillo-Monterrey-Nuevo Laredo sections."