The Tren Suburbano () is an electric

suburban rail Commuter rail or suburban rail is a Passenger train, passenger rail service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Central business district, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter town ...

system in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

. Line 1 is operated by Ferrocarriles Suburbanos with concessioned trains from

Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (Grupo CAF, ) is a Spanish publicly listed company which manufactures railway vehicles and equipment and buses through its Solaris Bus & Coach subsidiary. It is based in Beasain, Basque Autonomous Comm ...

(CAF). It was designed to complement the extensive

Mexico City metro The Mexico City Metro () is a rapid transit system that serves Greater Mexico City, the metropolitan area of Mexico City, including some municipalities in the State of Mexico. Operated by the Sistema de Transporte Colectivo (STC), it is the Lis ...

system, Latin America's largest and busiest urban rail network. The railway has one operative line with a length of with seven stations, located in

Cuauhtémoc Cuauhtémoc (, ), also known as Cuauhtemotzín, Guatimozín, or Guatémoc, was the Aztec ruler ('' tlatoani'') of Tenochtitlan from 1520 to 1521, and the last Aztec Emperor. The name Cuauhtemōc means "one who has descended like an eagle", an ...

and

Azcapotzalco Azcapotzalco ( ; ; from ''wikt:azcapotzalli, āzcapōtzalli'' “anthill” + ''wikt:-co, -co'' “place”; literally, “In the place of the anthills”) is a Boroughs of Mexico City, borough (''demarcación territorial'') in Mexico City. Azcap ...

, and

Tlalnepantla Tlalnepantla de Baz ( Otomi: ) is one of 125 municipalities of the state of Mexico, north of Mexico City. The municipal seat and largest city in the municipality is the city of Tlalnepantla. ''Tlalnepantla'' comes from the Náhuatl words ''tlall ...

, Tultitlán and

Cuautitlán Cuautitlán (, Otomi: ), is a municipality in the State of Mexico, just north of the northern tip of the Federal District (Distrito Federal) within the Greater Mexico City urban area. The city of Cuautitlán is the municipal seat and makes up ...

, in the

State of Mexico The State of Mexico, officially just Mexico, is one of the 32 federal entities of the United Mexican States. Colloquially known as Edomex (from , the abbreviation of , and ), to distinguish it from the name of the whole country, it is the mo ...

. A second line is under construction to connect with the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) in

Zumpango Zumpango is a municipality located in the northeastern part of the state of Mexico in Zumpango Region. It lies directly north of Mexico City within the Greater Mexico City urban area. The municipal seat, Zumpango de Ocampo, lies near Lake Zumpango ...

. In 2025, the concession was waived to the

Secretariat of National Defense The Mexican Secretariat of National Defense (SEDENA; ) is the government department responsible for managing Mexico's Army and Air Forces. Its head is the Secretary of National Defense who, like the co-equal Secretary of the Navy, is directly answe ...

. Additional expansions were proposed in the 2000s with a total length of of rail system.

History and description

Line 1 covers a route measuring from

's Buenavista Station to the

. The section, which began commercial service on June 2, 2008 (after three weeks of fare-free trial operation), cost US$706 million to build, with the Mexican Federal Government contributing 55% of this investment. The inaugural demonstration trip of the service from Buenavista to Lechería Station and back again was made by then-President of Mexico,

Felipe Calderón Hinojosa Felipe is the Spanish variant of the name Philip, which derives from the Greek adjective ''Philippos'' "friend of horses". Felipe is also widely used in Portuguese-speaking Brazil alongside Filipe, the form commonly used in Portugal. Noteworthy ...

, and then-Governor of the State of Mexico (and eventual president of the country),

Enrique Peña Nieto Enrique Peña Nieto (; born 20 July 1966), commonly referred to by his initials EPN, is a Mexican former politician and lawyer who was the 64th president of Mexico from 2012 to 2018. A member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), he p ...

, with Calderón acting as the train's engineer. Line 1 was built on an existing

at-grade At-grade may refer to: *At-grade intersection, a crossing between roads on the same level * Road junction *Level crossing, where a road or path crosses a railway on the same level * Diamond crossing, where two railway tracks cross * At-grade railway ...

railroad right of way. However, inside Mexico City itself on the approach to Buenavista Station, a considerable amount of grade separation, including below-grade excavation and new bridges, was necessary due to high density and traffic congestion. The construction elicited complaints by Mexico City residents who objected to having their neighborhoods split by the rail line, but the public supported the project overall. In addition to the track, the construction of Tren Suburbano also benefited from like-new electrification infrastructure already in place along most of the route, part of

National Railways of Mexico National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

(NdeM)'s Mexico City-

Querétaro Querétaro, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Querétaro, is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Querétaro, 18 municipalities. Its capital city is Querétaro Cit ...

25 kV 60 Hz mainline electrification completed in the 1990s but de-energized a few years later after NdeM was

privatized Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation w ...

. On August 24, 2005,

, S.A. (CAF) obtained a 30-year concession to supply rolling stock, build and operate the Tren Suburbano. The trains used on this service are electric trains built by CAF and are similar to the series 2000 trains of the

Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos The Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos (CPTM) () is one of the rapid transit companies serving the city of São Paulo, alongside the São Paulo Metro, Via Quatro and Via Mobilidade, all four forming the largest metropolitan rail transpo ...

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Service

Ridership

Line 1 was projected to carry 100 million passengers annually. From the period of June 1, 2008 through July 7, 2008, the service carried one million passengers, or an average of approximately 30,000 passengers per day, which is a rate far below the annual projections. As of January 31, 2010 according to the head of Comercialización y Administración de Riesgos del Ferrocarril Suburbano stated that Line 1 of the ''Suburban Railway of the Mexico City Metropolitan Area'' served an average of 88,000 passengers per day. As of the end of 2012, ridership reached 132,000 per day, short of the 192,000 per day the private operator needed to stay solvent due to the high initial upfront cost and debt schedule. In 2012, the system ran an operational profit, but the profit was not high enough to cover accumulated debt repayment yet. Ridership had increased to 184,000 per day as of 2015. As of 2018, the Tren Suburbano had an average of 200,000 passengers per day. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico The COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico is part of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide pandemic of COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The virus was confirmed to hav ...

, ridership decreased 73% as of May 2020. Trains are scheduled every 6 minutes during peak hours.

Fare structure

As of 2024, the fares are 10.50

pesos The peso is the monetary unit of several Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America, as well as the Philippines. Originating in the Spanish Empire, the word translates to "weight". In most countries of the Americas, the symbol commonly known a ...

(approximately US$0.57) for a trip of three or fewer stations and 24.50 pesos (approximately US$1.32) for longer trips of four or more stations. Fares are paid using a rechargeable card that costs 15.00 pesos.

Stations

Expansions

Felipe Ángeles International Airport–Lechería

A proposed branch route toward the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) in

, will be inaugurated in July 2025. The line follows the route of a previously proposed branch from Lechería to Jaltocan, and it will pass through the municipalities of Tultitlán,

Tultepec Tultepec (, Otomi: ) is a city and municipality located in State of Mexico, Mexico. It lies directly north of Mexico City in the northeastern part of the State of Mexico, making it part of the Greater Mexico City urban area. The name comes from ...

Nextlalpan Nextlalpan is a municipality in the State of Mexico in Mexico. The municipality covers an area of 42.49 km². Its municipal seat is the town of Santa Ana Nextlalpan. As of 2005, the municipality had a total population of 22,507. Politics ...

and Zumpango.

Previous proposals

In the 2000s, authorities proposed extending the system to a length of , in order to reduce Mexico City's heavy road traffic congestion and air pollution. In most cases the system would follow existing rail lines, with potential grade separations similar to the ones done on the initial segment. In December 2006, SCT announced that approval had been given for a route extending from Jardines de Morelos to

Martín Carrera Antonio Martín Mariano Carrera Sabat (20 December 1806 – 22 April 1871) was a Mexican general, senator, and interim president of the country for about a month in 1855. He was a moderate Liberal. Martin Carrera was a Mexican soldier and poli ...

; and another route running from Chalco to La Paz.Ferrocarril Urbano
Neither line was ever built.

Notes

References

External links

Ferrocarril Suburbano – Official SiteSee definition on FerropediaRenderings of railroad carsOfficial SCT video and details of the Ferrocarril Suburbano, in SpanishMEXLIST, the group for Mexican railway information
* {{Authority control 25 kV AC railway electrification Electric railways in Mexico Railway companies of Mexico Railway lines opened in 2008 Rail transportation in Mexico City Standard-gauge railways in Mexico Transportation in the State of Mexico