Crisis in the Subway; now it was Line 3

The crisis that the Metro Collective Transport System (STC) is going through showed a new facet with the crash of two trains on Line 3, which runs from Indios Verdes to Universidad, and which resulted in the death of Yaretzi, a young art student at UNAM, in addition to some 100 injured, of which 22 remained hospitalized until yesterday.

The foregoing is part of a reduction in the Metro budget, spending under-exercises and lack of compliance with the preventive maintenance programs of the facilities and trains, according to official data.

It was around 9 in the morning on Saturday when the train crash took place. In the afternoon of the same day, the death of Yaretzi was reported, who yesterday was watched over by her relatives, and the dozens of her wounded.

Due to the facts, the CDMX prosecutor’s office reported that it opened an investigation folder. However, until yesterday there had been no information on what would have caused the mishap, if a human error or a mechanical one.

The authorities of the capital have reported that it will be the local prosecutor’s office that establishes responsibilities.

Preventive Maintenance

Between 2019 and 2021, the percentage of compliance with the actions scheduled for the maintenance of Metro facilities and trains has been significantly reduced, going from 85.7 to 56.85, according to data from the STC Public Accounts.

For 2019, a total of 465,577 maintenance actions were scheduled in three electronic installation areas (232,264); electromechanical installations (208,560); track installations (24,753), of which 398,984 (85.7%) were fulfilled.

However, by 2020 —the year in which the Covid-19 pandemic officially began in Mexico— the general percentage of compliance with scheduled preventive actions fell to 54.36, when 262,989 of 483,774 were executed.

“The variation was mainly due to the absence of personnel due to Covid, as well as the presence of breakdowns that were recorded contingently during the operation, which were attended to by preventive maintenance personnel,” indicated the STC Metro in its Public Account of the 2020.

By 2021, general compliance amounted to 56.65%, when 272,352 of 480,803 were completed.

The reasons for not reaching the goals, specified the STC Metro, was due to the support given for the works of Line 12; as well as other support works.

clippings

Since the beginning of the administration of the head of government, Claudia Sheinbaum, the Metro has suffered significant budget cuts.

According to data from the CDMX Finance Secretariat, one of the hardest-hit items has been Metro Installation, Repair, Maintenance and Upkeep Services. Between 2018 and 2019 it went from 2,271 million pesos to 1,451 million, a drop of 36 percent.

In turn, during 2019, there was an under-exercise of said resources of more than 19% due to the fact that the Metro did not use a little more than 343 million pesos in the item.

For 2020, the maintenance budget amounted to 1,866 million pesos, 28% more than in 2019. However, it also had a sub-exercise of just under 18% of the resources, this by not spending close to 955 million pesos.

In 2021, maintenance spending was reduced by 13.6%, that is, 254 million less were granted than in 2020. It should be noted that for this year, the sub-exercise of the resources for Installation, Repair, Maintenance and Conservation Services of the La CDMX was more than 36 percent.

Finally, by 2022, the maintenance bag reached 2,007 million pesos. Until the second half of last year, only about 507 million pesos had been spent.

politica@eleconomista.mx