Mexico is placing an enormous bet on rail

墨西哥正在对铁路事业投入巨大资金。

Can it keep its plans on track?

它能按计划推进吗？

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Jul 6th 2026|BACALAR AND TOLUCA|4 min read

GIVEN THAT its passengers are mostly heading into work, the mood aboard El Insurgente, a train linking Mexico City with nearby Toluca, is unusually upbeat. Since it began running in February Mexicans have enjoyed a smooth ride in sleek trains across one of the world’s most clogged and sprawling urban areas. It’s “wonderful” to avoid traffic, says one satisfied customer. The journey between Toluca and the Mexican capital, barely 60km (40 miles) apart, can take several hours by road. El Insurgente takes about an hour and costs under $6.

由于这列火车上的乘客大多是去上班的，因此连接墨西哥城与附近的托卢卡的 El Insurgente 号列车上气氛格外轻松愉快。自 2 月该列车开始运行以来，墨西哥人就可以乘坐舒适便捷的列车，在世界上交通最拥堵、城市规模最大的地区之一中畅行无阻。有乘客表示，能够避开交通拥堵真是“太好了”。托卢卡与墨西哥城之间的距离仅有 60 公里左右，但若开车的话则需要数小时才能到达；而乘坐 El Insurgente 号列车则只需大约 1 小时，票价还不到 6 美元。

Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s president, wants more of this. She has ambitious plans to build more than 3,000km of new passenger rail—in effect a national network—by the end of her term in 2030. Many countries, such as China and Turkey, are making big bets on trains. But Mexico’s dreams are “dramatic”, says Andrew Young, a rail analyst. Mexico is starting more or less from scratch, in a region not known for trains, and building with speed, he says.

墨西哥总统克劳迪娅·谢因鲍姆希望看到更多这样的成果。她制定了雄心勃勃的计划：在 2030 年任期结束前建成 3,000 多公里的新客运铁路线，从而形成一张全国性的铁路网络。中国和土耳其等许多国家也在大力投资铁路建设。不过，铁路行业分析师安德鲁·杨认为，墨西哥的愿景实在“过于激进”。他说，墨西哥几乎是从零开始建设铁路的，而且进展速度也非常快，毕竟该地区并不以铁路交通而闻名。