He return of passenger trains and the “natural” growth of cities of less than 500,000 inhabitants have motivated Banobraswith the collaboration of World Bankto modify the guidelines of the Mass Transportation Support Program (Protram) with a proactive vision in the face of its reorganization and organization challenges for the benefit of the populations, including vehicle renewal programs.
The director of Transportation Projects at Banobras, Fernando Tehuintle, stated during his participation in the Mexico Route Forum (led by the Mexican Association of Mobility Authorities, AMAM) that are about to finish a study and its analysis with the aim that six months later it can be sent to the corresponding government bodies.
Some cities they are thinking about are: Boca del Río, Manzanillo, Mazatlán, Puerto Vallarta, Tampico or Altamirawhere public transportation complications are already beginning to be seen.
The goal is that we can collaborate with these cities with strategic reorganization actions, through technologies that can provide timely monitoring and have indicators. We have to understand that with not so expensive infrastructure we can prepare the way for the growth that will come and people will not have so many complications to reach their destinations,” he commented.
Banobras currently supports larger cities, such as Guadalajara, Monterrey, Puebla or León on suburban trains, subways, light rail and trams, bus rapid transit (BRT) and multimodal integration infrastructure.
According to the official, in the last 15 years with Protram, recoverable and non-recoverable support has been granted for more than 26,000 million pesos for the development of 27 projects in 18 cities.
The resources come from the National Infrastructure Fund (Fonadin) with the intention of promoting public transportation that provides a comfortable, efficient and safe service to citizens, and also promotes the participation of the private sector in the development of these projects.
Connection with trains
After his participation, Tehuintle explained that Banobras’ objective seeks to address the various opportunities that arise in transportation, including the new passenger rail services.
“The question is: once passengers arrive at the stations, how do they move to their final destinations (school, work, home, hospital). A train, like the Maya, is triggering the arrival of passengers to places where their complement of the trip has to be attended to and that is where we can and want to provide solutions,” he said.
Another aspect that is analyzed is that of participating comprehensively in a vehicle fleet renewal strategy with a comprehensive vision that includes charging centers for electromobility, work yards, maintenance areas, training for operators and, above all, encouraging truck-man or truck-families to be commercial companies that face the challenge of offering a good service.
“We will have to make use of existing technology so that the authorities have real-time information on the services that are being offered and address a complication as soon as possible, which will also allow governments to be more efficient by having fewer supervisors on the streets.” “, explained the Banobras representative.
