Metrorrey, officially Sistema de Transporte Colectivo Metrorrey, is a
light metro
A medium-capacity system (MCS), also known as light rapid transit or light metro, is a rail transport system with a capacity greater than light rail, but less than typical heavy-rail rapid transit. MCS’s trains are usually 1-4 cars, or 1 ligh ...
/
rapid transit
Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be c ...
system in
Monterrey, Nuevo León
Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is anchor ...
, Mexico. Operations began in 1991.
, the system operates 50 high-floor electric trains, along a total system of 40 stations with a length of .
[
]
Operations
Lines
The Metrorrey has three lines with 40 stations.[
]
Line 1 opened on April 25 of 1991 and has 19 stations, it runs through the center of the city from the north-west to the eastern part of the Monterrey metropolitan area
The Monterrey metropolitan area refers to the surrounding urban agglomeration of Monterrey, Nuevo León. Officially called ''Area Metropolitana de la Ciudad de Monterrey'' or AMM, the metropolitan area is the 2nd-largest in Mexico.
Overview
Th ...
. Built as an long line,[May, Jack (1994). "Mexico Says Sí to LRT: Light Rail ''South of the Border''". ''1994 Light Rail Annual & User's Guide'', p. 7. Pasadena, CA (US): ]Pentrex Pentrex Media Group, LLC, is an American producer and seller of railfan-related videos and DVDs. It was founded in 1984 and was originally headquartered in Pasadena, California, Pasadena, California. . . it runs parallel to the former 1887 Topo Chico tramline and is grade-separated as it runs on an elevated structure. A complete ride along this line takes about 27 minutes.
Line 2 has 13 stations and is long, it is also fully grade-separated, partially on an elevated structure and partially underground, running from the center of the city towards the north. The first long underground segment opened on November 30 of 1994 with 6 stations, with the possibility of transferring to Line 1 at Cuauhtémoc station. In 2005 construction began on an expansion to the line with a total investment of US$200 million. Said expansion comprised 2 phases, the first one being ( of it underground) long, it opened on October 31 of 2007 adding 3 more stations to the line. The second phase added another of elevated railway along the center of the Universidad avenue and 4 more stations, it was inaugurated on October 9 of 2008 by Nuevo León Governor Natividad González Parás
Natividad (Spanish for "Nativity") may refer to:
* Natividad, California, USA
* Natividad, Pangasinan, Philippines
* General Mamerto Natividad, Nueva Ecija
General Mamerto Natividad, officially the Municipality of General Mamerto Natividad ( ...
and Mexican president Felipe Calderón
Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa (; born 18 August 1962) is a Mexican politician who served as the 63rd president of Mexico from 1 December 2006 to 30 November 2012 and Secretary of Energy during the presidency of Vicente Fox between 2003 a ...
.
Line 3 has 8 stations and is long,[ it is grade-separated and runs mostly on an elevated structure, except the southern end section that connects with Line 2 at Zaragoza station. The two lines are operated jointly.]
Construction of Line 3 started in 2013[ and was completed by January 2020, but the rolling stock had not been delivered; at that time, the estimated delivery for twenty-six rail cars was December 2020. It was eventually inaugurated on February 27, 2021][ by Nuevo León Governor ]Jaime Rodríguez Calderón
Jaime Heliodoro Rodríguez Calderón (born 28 December 1957 in Ejido Pablillo, Galeana, Nuevo León), sometimes referred to by his nickname "''El Bronco''", is a Mexican politician. He served as the Governor of the northern state of Nuevo León ...
.
Ridership
According to Mexico's National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Informatics, Metrorrey's two lines transported 180.8 million passengers in 2018, which corresponds to an average daily ridership of 495,000 passengers.
Fares
The following are the travel fares :
*Single Trip - MXN4.50 (~USD0.22)
*2 Trips - MXN8.00 (~USD0.39)
*Metrobus - From bus to Metro: Cash: MXN12.00 (~USD0.64), with "Feria" card: MXN11.79 (~USD0.62), From Metro to bus: MXN8.00 (~ USD0.42)
Metrorrey also offered "Boletos Multiviaje" (multitrip tickets) until 2016. These tickets were intended for recurrent users and they are sold in denominations ranging from 15 to 85 trips.
Since the opening of the extension of the Line 2, Metrorrey began offering the "Mia" Card, a rechargeable card that can be loaded with multiple trip credits. The "Mia" card can be initially purchased for MXN20 (~USD0.97) and can be recharged in increments ranging from MXN1 to MXN100. (~USD0.05 to ~USD4.83) Also, every MXN4, are added MXN0.50.
On May 16, 2009, Nuevo León governor Natividad González Parás announced that Metrorrey would be free for the following 60 days, as part of a program to reduce the effects of the economic downturn on citizens.
Rolling stock
The Metrorrey system uses 134 high-floor
High-floor describes the interior flooring of commuter vehicles primarily used in public transport such as trains, light rail cars and other rail vehicles, along with buses and trolleybuses. Interior floor height is generally measured above the ...
articulated vehicles, used to form two- or three-car trainsets each, with the possibility of forming up to four-car trainsets. The MM-93 cars have an air-conditioning system. The first 25 cars were manufactured in 1990 by the Mexican government-owned Concarril (the National Railway Car Manufacturing Company) and the next 23 in 1992–93 by the Canadian company Bombardier, after it acquired Concarril in 1992, all 48 of these cars being built at a factory in Ciudad Sahagún, Mexico, and the two batches being "nearly identical". Those 48 cars were followed by 22 that were built in Spain by CAF, with the remaining 14 vehicles built by Bombardier. Specifically, Metrorrey ordered 25 two-section MM-90 cabs in 1988, and 23 MM-90/2F cabs in 1990 from Bombardier for Line 1; the latter type represents the second generation of the same vehicle equipped with high-tech components, including, among other things, asynchronous traction motors with the power supplied by catenary
In physics and geometry, a catenary (, ) is the curve that an idealized hanging chain or cable assumes under its own weight when supported only at its ends in a uniform gravitational field.
The catenary curve has a U-like shape, superficia ...
. The MM-93 cab, debuted during the opening of the Line 2, including full-closed windows, and an air-conditioning system, and following the expansion of Line 2, Metrorrey acquired 16 cabs based in an evolution of MM-90 / MM-90/2F cab.
In 2019, Metrorrey bought 24 former Frankfurt U-Bahn
The Frankfurt U-Bahn is a Stadtbahn system serving Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. Together with the Rhine-Main S-Bahn and the Frankfurt Straßenbahn, it forms the backbone of the public transport system in Frankfurt. Its name derives from the Germa ...
Type U3 trains, which were withdrawn from U-Bahn service in 2017, The trains were built by DUEWAG in 1979 and 1980, and underwent a refurbishment programme by Talbot Services to extend their service life by 20 years. The new fleet, purchased to operate on the upcoming Line 3 as well as to reduce headways on the existing system, includes also 26 newly manufactured CRRC Zhuzhou articulated cars.
In resume, the rolling stock is:
* 25 Concarril MM-90A trains. Originally Built for Line 1. (#01 - #25)
* 23 Bombardier MM-90B trains. Originally Built for Line 1. (#26 - #48)
* 22 CAF MM-93 trains. Originally Built for Line 2. (#49 - #70)
* 14 Bombardier MM-05 trains (basically modernized MM-90 trains) Originally Built for Line 2 expansion. (#71 - #84)
* 26 CRRC MM-20 trains. Originally Built for Line 3. (#109 - #134)
* 24 Talbot MM-80 trains (former Frankfurt U-Bahn
The Frankfurt U-Bahn is a Stadtbahn system serving Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. Together with the Rhine-Main S-Bahn and the Frankfurt Straßenbahn, it forms the backbone of the public transport system in Frankfurt. Its name derives from the Germa ...
Type U3 trains, refurbished between 2019 and 2020, and recalled MM-80) Built to reinforce L1 and L2 service. (#85 - #108)
Transmetro
Metrorrey also has a bus system that uses exclusive and obligatory stops along its route.
It has nine lines. On Metrorrey Line 1 there are four Transmetro lines, three in Talleres station and one in Exposición station. On Line 2 there are five more Transmetro lines, two at San Nicolas (Santo Domingo and Las Puentes) and three more at Sendero (Montreal, Fomerrey, and Apodaca).
There is no additional fee, other than the standard Metro Ticket, to use Transmetro.
Future service
Throughout his campaign and in the first months of his term, Governor Samuel García pledged to substantially expand the Metrorrey network during his tenure. In November 2021, García unveiled the planned routes for Lines 4 and 5. The 13.5 km-long (8.5 mi) Line 4 will connect the Western suburb of Santa Catarina with Downtown Monterrey, while Line 5 will follow a southern route towards the Carretera Nacional area, with an estimated route of 8.5 km (5.3 mi).
García furthermore announced that the new lines will predominantly run on an elevated viaduct, which caused some backlash among neighbors in South Monterrey, with calls for an underground system. Line 6 was announced in the wake of this controversy. At 18.5 km (11.6 mi) long, it is expected to become the longest route in the system, connecting Downtown Monterrey with the suburb of Apodaca.
In all, the expansion plans set forward by Governor García call for 41 new kilometers (25.6 mi) of track and 41 new stations built by 2027, effectively doubling the network's length and number of stations in six years. Lines 4 and 5 will are expected to begin construction in July 2022, at a cost of MXN$19 billion (US$1 billion). The cost for Line 6 has been estimated at MXN$26 billion (US$1.3 billion), with a start date for its construction yet to be announced.
Network Map
See also
* List of metro systems
This list of metro systems includes electrified rapid transit train systems worldwide. In some parts of the world, metro systems are referred to as subways, U-Bahn or undergrounds. , 205 cities in 61 countries have a metro system.
The London ...
* List of Latin American rail transit systems by ridership
The following is a list of all urban rail transit systems in Latin America, ranked by passenger ridership. These kinds of systems are most commonly known as ''metro'' (or ''subway'' in English), but may also be known as ''subte'', ''tren'', or ''tr ...
* Mexico City Metro
The Mexico City Metro ( es, Metro de la Ciudad de México) is a rapid transit system that serves the metropolitan area of Mexico City, including some municipalities in Mexico State. Operated by the Sistema de Transporte Colectivo (STC), it is ...
* Xochimilco Light Rail
The Xochimilco Light Rail (locally known as el Tren Ligero and known by the government as Tren ligero de la Ciudad de México) is a light rail line that serves the southern part of Mexico City. It connects to, but is not considered a part of, th ...
* Guadalajara light rail system
Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Mexico, while the Guadalajar ...
* Ecovía
Ecovía is a bus rapid transit (BRT) system in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon that began operations in January 2014.
Overview
As of 2014 Ecovía consists of a single route that runs 30 kilometers serving three different municipalities of the Monterrey ...
References
External links
Metrorrey – official website
* ttp://www.tramz.com/mx/mo/mo.html The Tramways of Monterrey
{{Rapid transit in Latin America
Underground rapid transit in Mexico
Electric railways in Mexico
Railway lines opened in 1991
1991 establishments in Mexico