Mexico Queretaro and Mexico Pachuca Trains Set for 2027 Inauguration

The first train car is already crossing the Pacific. By July 25, it will dock at a Mexican port, beginning its journey to the tracks of AIFA-Pachuca. Behind it, 33,072 workers spread across the central highlands are clearing brush, laying drainage pipe, pouring concrete for viaducts, and assembling sleepers. At the morning press conference in the Palacio Nacional, President Claudia Sheinbaum reported that the combined investment for Mexico's passenger rail expansion has reached $750 billion pesos, with the two flagship routes, Mexico City to Queretaro and Mexico City to Pachuca, targeting 2027 as their inaugural year.

"The railway program is advancing according to the planned schedule," Sheinbaum told reporters. The Mexico City to Pachuca route is already 37.06% complete, while the Mexico City to Queretaro corridor sits at 19.22%. The numbers represent the most concrete progress Mexico's passenger rail ambitions have seen in decades.

Andres Lajous Loaeza, head of the Agency for Trains and Integrated Public Transport (ATTRAPI), confirmed that the second phase of tenders for the sections toward Saltillo has already begun. "We have started the second phase of bidding for the stretches toward Saltillo," Lajous said, pointing to a widening map of rail that now extends well beyond the capital. The first train destined for the AIFA to Pachuca route, he confirmed, will arrive in Mexico on July 25.

The scale of the workforce is notable not just for its size but for its composition. General Gustavo Ricardo Vallejo Suarez of the Felipe Angeles Engineer Group reported that 6,380 of the 33,072 personnel currently deployed are women. They work alongside 7,000 units of heavy machinery and specialized equipment across multiple construction fronts. In a country where infrastructure construction has long been male dominated, the presence of women making up nearly 20% of the labor force marks a visible shift.

Behind the earthmoving and the steel, an entire land acquisition process has been unfolding. Edna Elena Vega Rangel, head of the Secretariat of Agrarian, Territorial and Urban Development, reported that 28,452,804 square meters of right of way have already been cleared. Of that total, 72% corresponds to historical right of way, while 14% each comes from social property and private property. The process required 268 dialogue tables with communities, work with 128 ejidos and community groups, 95 assemblies involving more than 4,500 participants, and the purchase of 987 individual plots.

The government is also working on the Queretaro to Irapuato and Saltillo to Nuevo Laredo stretches. Sheinbaum said that the remaining sections between Mexico City and Guadalajara, as well as those connecting to Nuevo Laredo, will be tendered this year or developed by the Secretariat of National Defense. The approach mirrors the model used for the Tren Maya, where military engineering units have taken on significant construction roles.

Freight rail is not being ignored. The federal government reported that the cargo version of the Tren Maya has reached 54.05% infrastructure completion. The project includes intermodal complexes in Palenque, Merida, Progreso, and Cancun, plus a multimodal complex in Chetumal and five operating yards, all slated for completion by 2027.

For commuters who currently brave the highways connecting Mexico City to Pachuca, a trip that can take two hours or more depending on traffic, the prospect of a passenger train is transformative. Buses and cars crawl through the Sierra de Pachuca bottleneck, a daily grind for thousands who work in the capital and live in Hidalgo state. Similarly, the Queretaro corridor, one of the busiest in the country, has long been a bottleneck for both passenger cars and freight trucks. A rail alternative running at commercial speeds could shift thousands of daily travelers off the highway and onto track, cutting travel time significantly.

The stakes are clear. If these trains open on time in 2027, Mexico will join the ranks of countries with modern, functioning intercity passenger rail networks for the first time in a generation. If they slip, the country adds another entry to a long list of delayed infrastructure promises. With 33,000 workers on site, billions of pesos committed, and the first train car already en route, the Sheinbaum administration is betting that this time will be different.

The question now is whether the remaining 63% of the Pachuca route and 81% of the Queretaro route can be completed in the months ahead. For the 6,380 women on the crews and the thousands of daily commuters watching the tracks go down, the answer cannot come soon enough.