Mexico is going through a period of sweeping change. The economic boom driven by the arrival of companies looking to move «closer» to the US market, combined with the progressive agenda of President Claudia Sheinbaum — built around sustainable development and wealth redistribution — is delivering one of the strongest growth stretches the country has seen in decades.

That growth is set to continue in infrastructure: by 2030, barring setbacks, Mexico is due to build more than 3,000 kilometers (roughly 1,900 miles) of new passenger rail lines.

A rail network that has to be rebuilt almost from scratch

Until the 1990s, Mexico’s rail network was among the best in Central America. But the wave of privatizations that defined those years shifted investment toward freight transport and led to the progressive disappearance of passenger trains.

Those passenger trains are now set to take center stage again. The Mexican government has announced a plan to build new links between the country’s most populous metropolitan areas.

The main corridors slated for new connections include those running from Mexico City to Querétaro, Pachuca, Guadalajara, Monterrey, Saltillo and Nuevo Laredo.

The goal is to cut road traffic, reduce harmful emissions, and serve routes considered too «long» for cars and too «short» for planes.

The first steps, and the numbers behind the plan

The first glimpse of what Mexican railways are meant to become is El Insurgente, the line connecting Toluca to Mexico City, inaugurated on February 2, 2026 by President Claudia Sheinbaum.

It is a 60-kilometer (37-mile) link, critical to easing congestion in the metropolitan area, and priced within everyone’s reach: tickets cost less than $6 (under €5).

El Insurgente cost roughly €5 billion (about $5.4 billion), and it is only the first piece of a far larger program. The government has already earmarked more than €7 billion (about $7.6 billion) and opened tenders for national corridors worth $58 billion, or roughly €51 billion.

The Chinese template

Mexico’s decision to upgrade and modernize passenger lines closely echoes the path China took.

With the appropriate caveats, the Sheinbaum administration is following the example of the Chinese government, which over two decades transformed rail infrastructure from a means of transport into a genuine lever for national economic development, turning the country into the world’s leading logistics hub.

What is certain is that the ambition is considerable. According to infrastructure experts recently interviewed by The Economist, a rail program of this scale has rarely been attempted in a country that is essentially starting from zero on passenger transport.

Finally, to hold down costs and speed up construction, many of the new lines are expected to be built alongside existing freight rail corridors.

Editor’s note

This article was originally published in Italian on money.it by Andrea Fabbri on July 19, 2026 as «La Cina ha usato le ferrovie come motore di crescita economica. Ora il Messico vuole fare lo stesso». It has been translated and adapted for an international audience by the Money.it International desk.