User:JJS222/Rail transport in Mexico

President Lerdo and his successor Porfirio Díaz encouraged further rail development through generous concessions that included government subsidies for construction.

Impacts of the Diaz Administration
At the beginning of his first term Díaz inherited 398 miles (640.5 km) of railroads consisting almost exclusively of the British-owned Mexican Railway. By the end of his second term in 1910, Mexico boasted 15,360 miles (24,720 km) of in-service track, mostly built by American, British and French investors.

From a small start, the railway network expanded significantly, linking many parts of the country previously isolated. The Interoceanic Railway linked Mexico City to the port of Veracruz; the Monterrey and Mexican Railroad linked that northern city with the Gulf Coast port of Tampico; the Southern Pacific of Mexico linked west coast cities from Guaymas to Mazatlan; the Sonora Railway linked Nogales to the port of Guaymas; and the Mexican Central Railroad went north to the U.S. border at El Paso, Texas. The British invested £7.4 million in railways during the decade of the 1880s, jumping to £53.4 million in the 1910s. The decade-total of new investment in mining went from £1.3 million in the 1880s to £11.6 million in the 1910s. Investments in land and other properties rose from near zero in the 1880s to £19.7 million in the 1910s. The totals reached £135 million, almost as much as the United States.

'''In the late nineteenth century, railroads were becoming symbols of centralized power, political and monetary, in Mexico. The institution of rail systems in the country required new regulations and legislation for residents and railroad development. There was great debate surrounding the early railroads in Mexico, regarding how much they were truly improving the country. Scholars view the rail systems as simultaneously encouraging rapid economic growth and commercial relationships while displacing the population and creating widespread poverty within the sectors that were run by the rail systems. Porfirio Díaz had developed his country but at the expense of his people. Much of the criticism levied toward Díaz regarded his rapid modernization in a country still rebuilding from Spanish colonization.'''

Growing nationalistic fervor in Mexico led the Díaz administration to bring the bulk of the nation's railroads under national control through a plan drafted by his Minister of Finance, José Yves Limantour. The plan, implemented in 1909, created a new government corporation, Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México (FNM), which would exercise control of the main trunk rail lines through a majority of share ownership.

Nationalization
'''Ferrocarril Nacional de México, incorporated in Colorado in 1880 as Mexican National Railway, was built on narrow-gauge railroad tracks under the instruction of General William Jackson Palmer of the Denver and Rio Gange Railway. The main line from Mexico City to Nuevo Laredo was constructed using the 3-ft narrow gauge tracks. From Saltillo, Coahuila to Concepción del Oro, Zacatecas, the FCNM built narrow-gauge tracks in 1903 to service mining operations. A likely reason for this, aside from General Palmer’s preference for the narrow gauge in use of mining, is that narrow gauge is more cost efficient. In 1901, however, the tracks began conversion to standard gauge.'''

The rail system deteriorated greatly from neglect during the period of the Mexican Revolution. Following the Revolution, the entirety of the Mexican rail system was nationalized between 1929 and 1937. During the 1950s, the Yucatan Peninsula experienced successful development as it integrated into the national network. '''In Oaxaca, on June 26, 1958, union workers from the Sindicato de Trabajadores Ferrocarrileros de la República Mexicana (STFRM), led by railroad worker and union activist Demetrio Vallejo, began a series of strikes seeking higher wages. When their demands remained unmet, a system-wide strike was called on January 18, 1959. The strike escalated on the afternoon of January 25th when Ferrocarriles Nacionales (the National Railway) officially began their strike action. By 10 a.m. the following day, an agreement had been reached that included medical care for workers' families, higher wages, and an allocation of 30 million pesos for the construction of affordable rental housing for the workers.'''

In 1987 the government merged its five regional railroads into FNM. During the later period of national ownership, FNM suffered significant financial difficulties, running an operating deficit of $552 million (37 percent of its operating budget) in 1991. Competition from trucking and shipping decreased the railroad's share of the total freight market to about 9 percent, or about half of rail's share a decade earlier.

Privatization[edit]
In 1995, the Mexican government announced that the FNM would be privatized and divided into four main systems. As part of the restructuring for privatization, FNM suspended passenger rail service in 1997.

In 1996, Kansas City Southern (KCS), in a joint venture with Transportacion Maritima Mexicana (TMM), bought the Northeast Railroad concession that linked Mexico City, Monterrey, the Pacific port at Lázaro Cárdenas and the border crossing at Laredo. The company was initially called Transportación Ferroviaria Mexicana (TFM), but was renamed Kansas City Southern de México (KCSM) in 2005 when KCS bought out TMM's interests. KCS's systems in the United States and Mexico jointly form an end-to-end rail system linking the heartlands of Mexico and the United States.