Tren Suburbano

The Tren Suburbano is an electric suburban rail system in Mexico City. It is operated by Ferrocarriles Suburbanos with concessioned trains from Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF). It was designed to complement the extensive Mexico City metro system, Latin America's largest and busiest urban rail network.

The railway has one operative line with a length of 27 km with seven stations, located in Cuauhtémoc and Azcapotzalco in Mexico City, and Tlalnepantla, Tultitlán and Cuautitlán, in the State of Mexico. A second line is under construction to connect with the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) in Zumpango. Additional expansions were proposed in the 2000s with a total length of 242 km of rail system.

History and description
Line 1 covers a route measuring 27 km from Mexico City's Buenavista Station to the State of Mexico's Cuautitlán. The section, which began commercial service on June 2, 2008 (after three weeks of fare-free trial operation), cost US$706 million to build, with the Mexican Federal Government contributing 55% of this investment. The inaugural demonstration trip of the service from Buenavista to Lechería Station and back again was made by then-President of Mexico, Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, and then-Governor of the State of Mexico (and eventual president of the country), Enrique Peña Nieto, with Calderón acting as the train's engineer.

Line 1 was built on an existing at-grade railroad right of way. However, inside Mexico City itself on the approach to Buenavista Station, a considerable amount of grade separation, including below-grade excavation and new bridges, was necessary due to high density and traffic congestion. The construction elicited complaints by Mexico City residents who objected to having their neighborhoods split by the rail line, but the public supported the project overall.

In addition to the track, the construction of Tren Suburbano also benefited from like-new electrification infrastructure already in place along most of the route, part of National Railways of Mexico (NdeM)'s Mexico City-Querétaro 25 kV 60 Hz mainline electrification completed in the 1990s but de-energized a few years later after NdeM was privatized.

On August 24, 2005, Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles, S.A. (CAF) obtained a 30-year concession to supply rolling stock, build and operate the Tren Suburbano. The trains used on this service are electric trains built by CAF and are similar to the series 2000 trains of the Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos of São Paulo, Brazil.

Ridership
Line 1 was projected to carry 100 million passengers annually. From the period of June 1, 2008 through July 7, 2008, the service carried one million passengers, or an average of approximately 30,000 passengers per day, which is a rate far below the annual projections. As of January 31, 2010 according to the head of Comercialización y Administración de Riesgos del Ferrocarril Suburbano stated that Line 1 of the Suburban Railway of the Mexico City Metropolitan Area served an average of 88,000 passengers per day. As of the end of 2012, ridership reached 132,000 per day, short of the 192,000 per day the private operator needed to stay solvent due to the high initial upfront cost and debt schedule. In 2012, the system ran an operational profit, but the profit was not high enough to cover accumulated debt repayment yet. Ridership had increased to 184,000 per day as of 2015. As of 2018, the Tren Suburbano had an average of 200,000 passengers per day. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico, ridership decreased 73% as of May 2020.

Trains are scheduled every 6 minutes during peak hours.

Fare structure
As of 2021, the fares are 9.50 pesos (approximately US$0.45) for a trip of three or fewer stations and 21.50 pesos (approximately US$1) for longer trips of four or more stations. Fares are paid using a rechargeable card that costs 15.00 pesos.

Felipe Ángeles International Airport–Lechería
A proposed branch route toward the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) in Zumpango is expected to be completed by the summer of 2024. The line follows the route of a previously proposed branch from Lechería to Jaltocan, and it will pass through the municipalities of Tultitlán, Tultepec, Nextlalpan and Zumpango.

Previous proposals


In the 2000s, authorities proposed extending the system to a length of 242 km, in order to reduce Mexico City's heavy road traffic congestion and air pollution. In most cases the system would follow existing rail lines, with potential grade separations similar to the ones done on the initial segment.

In December 2006, SCT announced that approval had been given for a route extending 19.3 km from Jardines de Morelos to Martín Carrera; and another route running 12.8 km from Chalco to La Paz. Neither line was ever built.