Mextrak

https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews ... ity-study/
Well, well , Mr Norman, never say never.
I expect your reply will be, "talk is cheap" , and you're probably right .

What else, Mr. Benton, would you expect me to say???

Sounds like there sits a railfan in CDMX.

OK, now insofar as the NdeM goes, KCS-M (whoops, CPKC in newspeak), that is only a franchise with roundly the same rights as the operator of a MickeyD holds. If CPKC wants to renew the franchise in about the ten years it has left to run, and the government decrees "you will host a Mextrak" (or worse, you will run passenger trains for YOUR OWN account), then they had best "get with the program".

I was last down there in '75 at age 34. For someone 82 and who is afraid to walk from CUS to Orchestra Hall (X the Loop) with the high incidence of crime against persons, you won't see me riding.

But perhaps someone is looking ahead to, say, 2033 when there presumably will be surplus (almost 60yo) Amfleets as the AIRO's show up. That will be "sport" to see an Amfleet stripped of its air conditioning and with mesh over its windows.

i would say any rolling stock would be brand new Chinese , paid for by a "what minerals have you got" Chinese loan.

I'm not certain what "squeeze" "El Presidente" AMLO could put on the FCM (Ferromex) like I think he could on CPKC (KCS-M, NdeM) to operate passenger trains.

I'm pretty sure that the FCM, or trade name Ferromex, is owned by Groupo Mexico with a substantial minority interest held by Uncle Pete. If such has any bearing, it would be more likely to see a return of the CDMX-Monterry "El Regiomontano" than the CDMX-Guadalajara "El Tapatio".

Seems like AMLO and his band of "ferroequinologists" at CDMX, have been reading up on the "Amtrak Playbook" as it has wound out over the past fifty years.

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/mexic ... operations

Fair Use:

Mexico’s government issued a federal mandate this week forcing private railway companies operating in the country to offer passenger service over their normal daily freight runs.

Published in the Mexican government’s official gazette, Monday’s decree gives the country’s two main private concessionary rail operators — Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) and Ferromex — until Jan. 15 to present proposals for offering the passenger service themselves. If the two rail operators decline, the government will put Mexico’s army or navy in charge of lines designated for passenger services.

Also, looks like they have been reading up on President Truman:

https://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/ ... 950-227247

https://www.railwaygazette.com/passenge ... m_content=
Rail Gazettes usual in depth take.

https://www.railwaygazette.com/traction ... 18.article
"British HSTs among fleets finding new homes in Mexico"
quite a number of MK3 cars were scrapped in the UK and Ireland , they would have been good for countries like Mexico.
Unfortunately they were too long for New Zealand's restrictive loading gauge , otherwise we would of had some , no doubt.

Here is a comprehensive article from the UK rail publication, Railway Gazette, outlining the proposed mainline passenger train restoration in Mexico.

It appears that the Aztec Eagle, N Laredo-CDMX is high on the list, as is CDMX-Veracruz. Of interest is that both these lines are over the NdeM, which the entire road is a concession held by CPKC. It appears the passenger train interests are starting with where they can place the most "friendly persuasion" - and that is where a concession is held by a US subsidiary of a Canadian road.

I've "been there done that", albeit fifty years ago. The scenery, especially the line to Ciuadad Veracruz, is "spectacular". But would you catch me down there today? Uh, not exactly.