Chronicle: The ‘feat’ of traveling on Metro Line 3 during rush hours

The evening “rush hour”

After 7:00 p.m. on December 3, a man, apparently under the influence of some drug, descends to the track area of ​​the Hidalgo station.

Given this fact, the authorities decide to cut off the electricity to avoid an accident, while elements of the capital Police try to persuade the man to leave the place.

On the platform, the majority of users watch with annoyance as the subject walks along the tracks, aware that their trip will be delayed even more and, as expected, the hallways heading to Indios Verdes were already packed in a matter of minutes.

Fabián and his wife, along with their young daughter, are part of the crowd trying to return to Indios Verdes after a day of shopping in the Historic Center.

“Hold the girl well. If I don’t come in, we’ll meet you where you know,” Fabián tells him. The family protocol is activated when the first three arrives after the incident at the Hidalgo station.

There is an “unwritten code of solidarity” among users and, despite the saturation of passengers, there was space for the family to enter and the minor to travel in the least uncomfortable way.

In the women-only car, some young women give up their seats to mothers with children in their arms. Passengers maneuver like Tetris pieces to make way for a street vendor.

Their merchandise: hair clips, multicolored rubber bands and lip balms of various flavors that interest several buyers who raise their hands and shout the flavor of the lipstick for “10 pesos”, who do not take long to smell when they receive it.

Is a renewal coming for Line 3?

While users of Line 3 suffer daily delays due to broken trains and various incidents, the government of Mexico City anticipates a total renewal of the route, as it already does with Line 1.

“We will continue investing in the heart of the city’s mobility, which is our Metro. We are going to transform and renew line by line: we will complete the expansion of Line 12 of the Metro, we will renew Line 3 and Line A of the Metro and we will provide permanent maintenance to the rest of the lines,” said Brugada after his inauguration, the last October 5th.

However, there is no plan, no investment amount or date to carry it out, so the ordeal of traveling at “peak” hours on this metro line does not seem to have a solution soon.

Renewing it implies a strong investment: according to official data, Metro Line 1 has a total investment of 37,000 million pesos, payable over 18 years. The works that began in 2022 forced the operation of the line to be closed in sections and it has not yet fully opened.

The case is not exclusive to Mexico

Metro systems in different parts of the world face operational challenges that affect both users and the viability of the service. In New York, A report from Comptroller Brad Lander revealed that between 2012 and 2017 delays tripled, with train speeds dropping to levels in the 1950s.

Additionally, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) was singled out for reporting inaccurate data on the causes of delays, attributing them to “overloading.” These practices not only distorted public perception, but also made it difficult to identify structural problems in the service.

In Buenos AiresSubway line B, the busiest, suffers from obsolete rolling stock, with trains that are more than 65 years old and frequent evacuation problems due to electrical failures. Despite an ongoing tender to procure new carriages, there is no clear implementation date.

Other factors, such as stairs and elevators out of service, compound the difficulties for passengers. These problems add up to widespread delays and an increasingly deteriorating travel experience.

The solutions are known: they not only involve renewing the rolling stock, but also implementing effective monitoring systems and preventive maintenance actions, that is, investing in the system is necessary.