Mexico Sets ATTRAPI’s 2030 Roadmap for Passenger Rail, Freight

Mexico has published ATTRAPI’s 2026–2030 institutional program, setting a roadmap to expand passenger rail, improve freight rail efficiency and integrate new train corridors with urban public transport systems. The plan supports the country’s broader rail strategy, including projects linking Mexico City with Pachuca, Nuevo Laredo and Nogales.

Mexico has formalized the 2026–2030 institutional program for the Agency for Trains and Integrated Public Transport (ATTRAPI), establishing a roadmap to expand passenger rail, strengthen freight rail competitiveness, and improve integration between new rail corridors and urban public transport systems.

The program, published in the Official Gazette on June 30, takes effect immediately and aligns ATTRAPI’s work with the National Development Plan 2025–2030 and SICT’s sectoral infrastructure program. It sets three strategic objectives: expand passenger rail connectivity, build a safer and more productive freight rail system, and implement urban, suburban, and interurban public transport services in key cities and metropolitan areas.

ATTRAPI’s publication gives the federal government a more detailed operational framework for the passenger-rail revival announced under Plan México. The agency was created in January 2026 as a decentralized body under SICT, replacing the former Railway Transport Regulatory Agency (ARTF) and combining project-planning, construction, regulatory, and oversight responsibilities.

Passenger Rail Expansion Moves Into an Institutional Phase

The program places passenger rail at the center of Mexico’s connectivity strategy. ATTRAPI is tasked with expanding the network to improve regional and national links while supporting economic activity, tourism, social inclusion and lower-emission mobility in the regions served.

Mexico’s passenger rail strategy is tied to the federal government’s commitment to build 3,000km of new passenger rail lines during the current administration. President Claudia Sheinbaum said in May that her administration will build at least 2,377km of public railway lines, positioning passenger rail as one of the federal government’s central infrastructure priorities and a key component of Mexico’s regional connectivity strategy. 

The program identifies the routes connecting Mexico City with Pachuca, Nuevo Laredo, and Nogales among the strategic corridors that ATTRAPI will help plan, coordinate, and monitor through 2030. It also calls for integration with existing services, including the Tren Maya, the Interoceanic Train, and the Mexico-Toluca Interurban Train, known as El Insurgente.

The agency’s long-term vision is to establish a more integrated national railway system with separate but coordinated networks for passenger and freight services. By expanding rail connectivity, the government aims to reduce dependence on private vehicles and create additional options for travel between cities that may be too close for commercial aviation but lack efficient public transport alternatives.

According to the program, Mexico’s rail network totaled 28,863.73km at the end of 2025. While the system connects ports, border crossings, and major cities, passenger services account for less than 10% of its use, underscoring the scale of the government’s planned shift toward public rail mobility. 

Freight Rail Remains a Core Logistics Objective

Although ATTRAPI is closely associated with the passenger rail strategy, its institutional program also makes freight competitiveness a central priority. The agency will seek to ensure a safe, productive, and efficient freight rail system that strengthens national connectivity and supports lower logistics costs.

This approach recognizes the role rail already plays in moving goods through Mexico’s ports, industrial zones, and border crossings. The program notes that the national system includes eight rail border crossings with the United States, 10 connections to strategic ports and 150 freight terminals across the country. 

ATTRAPI’s freight agenda includes improving rail infrastructure, supporting maintenance, and operational oversight, and coordinating with concessionaires, assignees, and permit holders. The objective is to improve the reliability and efficiency of rail freight while maintaining the government’s broader effort to increase intermodal connectivity between rail, highways, ports, and urban transport systems.

ATTRAPI’s creation consolidated rail-development and regulatory responsibilities under one federal agency. The agency is responsible for planning passenger rail infrastructure and equipment while also regulating, supervising and sanctioning activities related to rail construction, operation, maintenance, and service delivery.

Urban Integration Will Determine Rail’s Wider Impact

A third pillar of the program focuses on the connection between new rail corridors and local mobility systems. ATTRAPI will promote urban, suburban, and interurban public transport projects in strategic cities and metropolitan areas, particularly those along future passenger rail routes.

The program includes an accessibility and integration benchmark for passenger stations. It identifies stations with universal-accessibility criteria and connections to local public transport within 800m, or a 10-minute walk, as a key measure of progress through 2030.

This focus reflects a broader challenge for the national rail strategy: building tracks alone will not guarantee ridership or regional benefits. Stations, feeder services, pedestrian access, local transport links, and coordinated urban planning will be essential to turn new corridors into functional mobility systems.

The passenger rail program is advancing through a combination of construction, project planning and procurement. The institutional program now gives ATTRAPI a formal structure to coordinate these projects while linking rail expansion to freight efficiency, territorial development, and public transport integration.