State of Mexico Focuses Budget on Chalco-Santa Martha Trolleybus

The public debt of the State of Mexico is mostly spent on the construction of the new Chalco-Santa Martha trolleybus. The project will connect several municipalities in the state with Mexico City, making it one of the key public mobility projects for the inhabitants of the eastern part of the Valley of Mexico.

The Secretary of Finance of the State of Mexico confirmed that of the MX$5.5 billion (US$274.1 million) authorized as debt by the local Congress for 2022, 95 percent has already been allocated since March 2022 for various works, including the Chalco-Santa Martha Trolleybus.

This report was published in the information package that the state governor delivered to the local Chamber of Deputies as part of the Fifth Government Report.

In 2022, the Trolleybus will have an expenditure of MX$3.7 billion (US$184.4 million), meaning the state government will be spending 60 percent of its public debt authorized for this year on its construction. The rest of the annual budget is being allocated to mobility projects parallel to Felipe Angeles International Airport (AIFA).

The Chalco-Santa Martha trolleybus is being built through a joint investment between the state governments of the State of Mexico and Mexico City as well as the federal government. So far, the three entities have invested a total of MX$7.3 billion (US$363.8 million).

This project will become an extension of the Ermita Iztapalapa Elevated Trolleybus. The Chalco-Santa Martha route will start at the Santa Marta terminal, at the Sistema de Transporte Colectivo (STC) Metro station on Line A of the same name, and will end in Chalco.

The Chalco-Santa Martha Trolleybus will connect several municipalities in the eastern part of the Valley of Mexico with Line A of the Metro, a route that runs along Avenida Ignacio Zaragoza. The current route from Chalco to Santa Martha takes 2 hours and 20 minutes. Once the trolleybus is inaugurated, the estimated travel time will be reduced to 30 minutes.

According to Alfredo del Mazo, Governor of the State of Mexico, the Chalco-Santa Martha Trolleybus will be completed in the 2Q23, a few months before his term as head of the local government finishes.