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Proposed Mexican rail line would link El Paso area with Pacific Coast
Well, it looks like all the money that we pay China, for cheaper products, will be heading to Mexico. Since UP is a minority partner in Ferromex, one of our own companies will see American dollars used against them, in a round-about way. Really disturbing how China is making inroads in a country, in our back yard.
I wonder what locomotives they would use…
Any ideas?
I suppose this will be a competitor to KCS de Mexico’s deepwater port at Larezo Cardenas and route to southern Texas. KCS has been trying for years to promote it as a bypass of busy west coast ports, I guess with not much success.
Uday - I honestly hope they use Chinese diesels. That way, when they burn up after a few weeks, EMD or GE will get an order ASAP for a new fleet. I understand their quality control leaves much to be desired. A batch of engines delivered to New Zealand had asbestos laden materials (as built), and they required out of service time to replace those materials. More of a disposable mindset, not a service and rebuild one.
It’s 702 miles, as the crow flies, from San Blas, Nayarit, to Juarez. By the time they get to and over the Sierra Madres to Juarez they’ll probably have to build over a thousand miles of mainline. Built by only 2,000 workers? Do they plan on bringing in Chinese workers to build it, as they’ve done in Africa, and with none for the locals (see Kenya’s new railway)?
Given the rather big lack of actual facts concerning this project, I’d be willing to bet this never happens. Too many vested interests already in place in Mexico will oppose it, and the planning and permissions cycle alone could take five years or more. Now, if they pay a lot of very, very expensive bribes, there is no telling what could happen.
What happens if Mexico once again ‘nationalizes’ the existing rail lines by opening them to all comers?
Sud Pacifico de Mexico?
It could eventually be a good thing for BNSF since they could develop the existing interchange to increased traffic to and from Denver and the rest of the front range. That would help keep the rails over Raton Pass shiny.
China is investing the profit it makes from world wide sales on a scale that is unknown to most Americans. China is colonizing Africa. An in-depth explanation of what is going on in Africa, is not what this forum is for. Please Google China, investments and Africa, and read for yourself.
Seems to me, the purpose of this rail line is to compete with the Panama Canal and decease shipping time to the Midwest. What is interesting about this proposal is that a Chinese billionaire is funding a new canal that will compete with the Panama Canal. Is the Chinese competing against itself?
Maybe this group from China could buy the Raton Pass line to connect with and keep it going. It would save Amtrak the states of New Mexico, Colorado and Kansas a ton of money.
No mention if China intends to bypass the west coast of the United States, shutting out the longshoreman in the process.
The first thing you need when you see/hear/read news coming out of Mexico is a big slug of skepticism. If you accept more than 1% of the claims and announcements from Mexican politicians, you are believing too much. They’re gonna build a road, huh? To service a seaport that doesn’t exist? And it’s all in the bag? Come on guys, does this make any sense?