Mexico City May Sue DNV Following Line 12 Root Cause Report
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Mexico City May Sue DNV Following Line 12 Root Cause Report

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Fernando Mares By Fernando Mares | Journalist & Industry Analyst - Fri, 05/06/2022 - 13:54

A year after the disastrous overpass collapse in Line 12 of Mexico City’s Metro System, Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum announced the city may start legal proceedings against Det Norske Veritas (DNV), the company responsible for the root cause analysis of the tragedy. 

 

Sheinbaum said that the third analysis made by the Norwegian company, which has not yet been made public, is both biased and incorrect since DNV did not follow the methodology it set out itself. She also disagrees with the two previous analyses that reported that the collapse was caused by a deficient design and lacking maintenance.

 

“This third report is deficient, poorly done, has technical problems. It is biased and wrong, that is why we started a termination of the contract process as well as a civil lawsuit against the company… We will release the report presented by the company, proving how it does not even follow its own methodology,” Sheinbaum said.

 

Sheinbaum furthermore argues that there is a conflict of interests: she said that the name of an attorney who previously initiated a lawsuit against President López Obrador and assured that DNV is linked with Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity (MCCI). She added that although she will start a civil legal process, the government considers starting a criminal proceeding. 

 

In a press release, DNV said that it has no conflict of interests, arguing that the report was delivered meeting the requirements specified in the contract and the following strict internal quality measurements.

 

“DNV confirms that the report was made with no participation of an expert that could have any conflict of interests. DNV supports the applied methodology, the findings and conclusions of the Root Cause Analysis of the incident in Line 12 of Mexico City’s Metro,” the company declared. 

 

The company’s first report was delivered in June 2021. It reported that initial construction mistakes and deficiencies regarding bolts and welding were behind the accident. The second report was delivered in Sept. 2021. After delaying the results several times, DNV confirmed its previous findings. 

 

The contract between the company and the Mexico City government includes a clause that requires recommendations to prevent future accidents, which the government expects to still be added to the document. 

 

Line 12 was built by a consortium consisting of CICSA, ICA and Alstom during Marcelo Ebrard's term as Mayor of Mexico City. It was inaugurated on Oct. 30, 2012 and temporarily closed from 2014 to 2015 during Miguel Mancera’s term due to construction faults. To date, no one has been arrested for 2021’s collapse, but 10 former public officials were marked as suspects by a local court.

Photo by:   Alejandro

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