The provision of federal funds for the construction of a third train line in the metropolitan area – plus similar public transport projects in Monterrey and the municipality of La Paz in the State of Mexico – was one of 13 pledges Peña Nieto made upon assuming office.
The new line would run diagonally from the northern periferico (beltway) in Zapopan, via downtown Zapopan and Guadalajara, to the Nueva Central Camionera bus station in Tlaquepaque, confirmed Abel Salgado, a federal deputy of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). Studies by the Federal Transportation Agency (SCT) are currently being completed, with the intention to start work on the project next year, Salgado said.“Once the plans are completed and submitted to the Ministry of Finance the project will be registered in order to begin a budget allocation in the second quarter of the year,” he explained.
Zapopan Mayor Hector Robles welcomed Peña Nieto’s comments and expressed hope that the new line would be in operation by the end of the president’s six-year term.
The plans for a route between Zapopan and Tlaquepaque would probably put a halt to a separate project backed by Jalisco Governor Emilio Gonzalez and the Tlajomulco government to build a third Tren Ligero line connecting Line One’s Isla Raza station to Santa Fe, Tlajomulco.
Tlajomulco Mayor Ismael del Toro criticized the new plans this week, arguing that there is less demand for the Zapopan-Tlaquepaque line, which he said would cost 14 billion pesos more than the extension to his municipality.
Tonala Mayor Jorge Arana also weighed in on the debate, saying “right now there are many plans and we will await the definitive one, but the inhabitants of Tlaquepaque and Tonala are those who most require a Tren Ligero line.”
Arana favors extending Line Two by five kilometers to Tetla in Tonala, a move which would require an investment of three billion pesos.