BnamericasPublished: Friday, July 03, 2026
Production Railway Operator Engineering Contractor Company Building Materials Passenger transport
Mexico defined the roadmap to expand its passenger railway system for the remainder of the presidential term through a program that includes 13 railway routes and more than 3,000km of new tracks, strengthening the planning of national railway infrastructure.
The 2026-2030 Institutional Program of the Integrated Public Transport and Train Agency (ATTRAPI), published in the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF), also includes the construction of 38 stations integrated with urban transport systems and a strategy to coordinate the expansion of passenger service with freight transport operations.
The document represents the first comprehensive planning instrument of the new railway agency and sets the technical, regulatory, and infrastructure priorities that the various federal departments must follow during the 2026-2030 period. Its publication provides greater clarity on the sequence of projects that the government will promote, a relevant aspect for construction companies, engineering firms, rolling stock manufacturers, signaling suppliers, operators, and potential investors involved in railway development.
The passenger rail transport strategy is tied to the federal government’s commitment to build 3,000km of new rail lines during the current administration. President Claudia Sheinbaum stated in May, however, that her government will build at least 2,377km of public railway tracks, positioning passenger rail transport as one of the federal government’s main infrastructure priorities and a key component of Mexico’s regional connectivity strategy.
In line with the program, ATTRAPI will have three core objectives: to expand the passenger rail network to strengthen regional connectivity, to consolidate a more competitive freight rail system, and to develop urban, suburban, and intercity public transport services around the new rail routes.
The Secretariat of Infrastructure, Communications and Transport (SICT) indicated that the administration’s purpose is to “develop and plan more than 3,000 kilometers of passenger train lines; strengthen freight rail transport; and implement urban, suburban, and intercity public transport services in key cities and metropolitan areas.” It added that ATTRAPI seeks to “consolidate an efficient and safe integrated Mexican Railway System by 2030, based on a network oriented toward freight transport and an independent network for passenger transport.”
Three expansion phases
The program establishes a development sequence for the new railway corridors.
The first stage includes the routes AIFA-Pachuca, Mexico City-Querétaro, Querétaro-Irapuato and Saltillo-Nuevo Laredo, corridors that already show varying levels of progress in studies or construction.
A second phase considers Querétaro-San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí-Saltillo, Mazatlán-Los Mochis and Irapuato-Guadalajara.
Guaymas-Hermosillo will subsequently be developed, Guadalajara-Tepic, Los Mochis-Guaymas, Tepic-Mazatlán and Hermosillo-Nogales.
In addition to the construction of the roads, the agency will be responsible for preparing demand studies, pre-feasibility analyses, financing schemes, inter-institutional coordination, and sustainability assessments for each of the projects before moving on to the next construction phases.
Integration with cities
One of the new elements of the program is that the railway strategy is no longer focused solely on the construction of tracks, but also incorporates urban development associated with the stations.
The ATTRAPI proposes building stations connected to local transport systems through modal transfer centers, promoting their integration with urban buses and other mobility services, developing stops for smaller communities, and ensuring universal accessibility.
It also plans to define national standards for railway telecommunications, electrification, signaling, train control, and technological interoperability in order to prevent each corridor from operating under different specifications and to facilitate future expansions of the network.
Coordination with freight transport
The program also seeks to prevent the restoration of passenger service from affecting freight rail operations.
To this end, it provides for permanent coordination mechanisms between concessionaires, assignees and federal authorities to minimize interruptions during the construction of new lines, as well as to strengthen the technical supervision of existing infrastructure through annual verification, modernization and maintenance programs.
In logistics, the strategy includes promoting the incorporation of freight transport into the Maya Train, completing Line K of the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec up to the border with Guatemala, and strengthening the economic and operational regulation of the national railway system.
Network diagnosis
The program identifies that the disappearance of passenger rail service after the privatization of the railways in 1995 increased dependence on road and air transport, raising travel times, road congestion, and polluting emissions.
According to the official assessment, at the close of 2025 Mexico had a railway network of 28,864 km, of which 66% corresponds to main lines that are under concession or assigned. The system also has eight border crossings with the United States, 10 port connections and 150 cargo terminals. Between 2023 and 2025 the network grew by 4.08%, mainly due to the incorporation of the Tren Maya and El Insurgente.
The document notes that passenger service currently accounts for less than 10% of the use of the national railway infrastructure, while freight transport continues to dominate the operation of the system. During the first quarter of 2025, approximately 132 million tonnes of freight were moved and around 52 million passengers used railway services such as the Tren Maya, El Insurgente, the Suburban Train and other regional systems.
Goals by the end of the six-year term
As part of its institutional indicators, ATTRAPI plans to incorporate around 3,300 km of new railway lines into the Mexican Railway System, raise the national railway infrastructure index, build 38 stations with urban integration, and develop 150 km of new structured public transport projects with participation from the federal government by 2030.
The program also sets budget execution targets for railway works and full compliance with the annual railway infrastructure inspection programs, with the aim of consolidating a national system that combines the expansion of passenger transport with a more efficient and competitive freight network.
(The original version of this content was written in Spanish)
