The Ferrocarril del Sureste (English: "Southeastern Railway"), commonly known by the

syllabic abbreviation An abbreviation () is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method including shortening, contraction, initialism (which includes acronym), or crasis. An abbreviation may be a shortened form of a word, usually ended with a trailing per ...

Ferrosur, is a

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

that serves the southeastern regions of

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. The company was formed in 1998, following the privatization of Mexico's railways. Ferrosur won the concession to operate the southeastern railway, which includes the line between

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

and Mexico's busiest

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

port at

Veracruz Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entit ...

Grupo México Grupo México is a Mexican conglomerate that operates through the following divisions: Mining (Minera Mexico), Transportation (Ferromex, GMxT), Infrastructure and Fundacion Grupo Mexico. Founded in 1978, Grupo México became a significant player ...

has owned the company since 2005. There are long-delayed plans to merge it with the company's other railway,

Ferromex Ferromex (syllabic abbreviation of ''Ferrocarril Mexicano'', 'Mexican Railway') is a private rail consortium that operates the largest (by mileage) railway in Mexico with combined mileage (Ferromex + Ferrosur) of and is often classed with Nort ...

History

Ferrosur began operation on December 18, 1998. The original ownership group was the construction company Tribasa and Grupo Financiero Inbursa.

Grupo Carso Grupo Carso S.A.B. de C.V. is a Mexican global conglomerate company owned by Carlos Slim. It was formed in 1990 after the merger of Corporación Industrial Carso and Grupo Inbursa. The name Carso stands for Carlos Slim and Soumaya Domit de Slim ...

(like Inbursa, a

Carlos Slim Helu Carlos Slim Helú (; born 28 January 1940) is a Mexican business oligarch, investor, and philanthropist. From 2010 to 2013, Slim was ranked as the richest person in the world by ''Forbes'' business magazine. He derived his fortune from his e ...

company) bought out Tribasa in 1999. Grupo México, owner of

, acquired the railroad in November 2005 in a US$309 million stock transaction. The Mexican Federal Competition Commission (CFC) had rejected a proposed 2002 merger of Ferromex and Ferrosur amid opposition from Grupo Transportación Ferroviaria Mexicana (TFM). Following the November 2005 purchase of Ferrosur by Grupo México,

Kansas City Southern de México Kansas City Southern de México, S.A. de C.V. is a Mexican railroad and operating subsidiary of Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited (CPKC). The company was founded in 1996 as Transportación Ferroviaria Mexicana , a joint venture between KCS a ...

(KCSM), successor to TFM, petitioned the Mexican government to block the merger of Ferrosur and Ferromex. The CFC rejected the merger in June 2006 and stated that the merger would have led to excessive concentration in the railroad industry to the detriment of consumers and competing shippers. However, in March 2011, a tribunal ruled in Grupo Mexico's favor, and the merger was permitted. Grupo México continues to operate the two railways independently. File:FSRR FNM 04.jpg, "La Soledad" Bridge (February 23, 1909) File:Ferrosur SD70ACe.png, Ferrosur

EMD SD70ACe The EMD SD70 is a series of diesel-electric locomotives produced by the US company Electro-Motive Diesel. This locomotive family is an extension and improvement of the EMD SD60 series. Production commenced in late 1992 and since then over 5,700 ...

locomotive 4124, equipped with experimental sheet-metal awnings over the radiator air intakes File:FSRR FBQ 01.jpg,

rail ferry A train ferry is a ship (ferry) designed to carry railway vehicles, as well as their cargoes and passengers. Typically, one level of the ship is fitted with railway tracks, and the vessel has a door at the front and/or rear to give access to t ...

transferring rail cars in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz

Government occupation of railways

In May 2023, the

Mexican Armed Forces The Mexican Armed Forces () are the military forces of the United Mexican States. The Spanish crown established a standing military in colonial Mexico in the eighteenth century. After Mexican independence in 1821, the military played an import ...

occupied a portion of of railways in Veracruz belonging to Ferrosur so that they could be used for the

Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec The Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (), abbreviated as CIIT, is a trade and transit route in Southern Mexico, under the control of the Mexican Secretariat of the Navy, which connects the Pacific Ocean, Pacific and Atlantic Ocea ...

, one of the government's most important

megaprojects A megaproject is an extremely large-scale construction and investment project. A more general definition is "Megaprojects are temporary endeavours (i.e. projects) characterised by: large investment commitment, vast complexity (especially in org ...

Mexican President The president of Mexico (), officially the president of the United Mexican States (), is the head of state and head of government of Mexico. Under the Constitution of Mexico, the president heads the executive branch of the federal government and ...

Andrés Manuel López Obrador Andrés Manuel López Obrador (; born 13 November 1953), also known by his initials AMLO, is a Mexican former politician, political scientist, public administrator and writer who served as the 65th president of Mexico from 2018 to 2024. He se ...

said that occurred "to avoid the risk of a future

privatization Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation w ...

of the railways and as a matter of national security and public interest." The action was labeled as "unusual" and was seen as an

expropriation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with p ...

Secretariat of the Interior The Secretariat of the Interior (; SEGOB) is the executive department of the Mexican government concerned with the country's domestic affairs, the presenting of the president's bills to Congress, their publication in the ''Official Journal of ...

Adán Augusto López Hernández Adan may refer to: *Garden of Eden, the Biblical paradise, Adan in Arabic People * Adan (given name) * Adan (surname) Places * 'Adan or Aden, a city of Yemen * 'Adan Governorate, Yemen * Al-Adan, a district of the governorate of Mubarak ...

said that the action had been discussed with Grupo México, and he called it a "temporary occupation," On late May 2023, several newspapers erroneously stated that the government of Mexico had paid Grupo Mexico 7 billion pesos for the occupation of the railway, 2.5 billion pesos lower than Groupo Mexico had wanted. However, López Obrador stated in a morning press conference on May 24 that sought to reach an agreement with Ferrosur not involving financial compensation. He wanted an agreement by which Ferrosur would pay a fee to use the occupied railways, and the

would pay Ferrosur to use the railways heading to the port of Veracruz, in addition to a possible extension to a concession in exchange for the railways. An agreement was ultimately reached on the night of May 31 by which, as López Obrador had intended, the concession granted to Ferrosur in 1998 for the railways, which included the occupied sections, was extended by eight years and so it remains in force until 2056. Ferrosur would cover a fee corresponding to the right of way, and the state-owned Ferrocarril del Istmo de Tehuantepec company would be responsible for the costs and spendings for the railway's operation, maintenance, and optimal safety conditions of the railways and for their optimal safety conditions.

Territory

Ferrosur operates the ports of

and Coatzacoalcos and SC Line between Veracruz and Mexico City. The line has numerous tunnels east of

Acultzingo Acultzingo is a municipality in the Mexican state of Veracruz. It is located about 220 km from the state capital Xalapa to the south-west. Products It produces maize, rice and fabas. Geography Borders Acultzingo Municipality is delimited to ...

, including the longest one in Mexico. Ferrosur road locomotives are often seen coated in soot because they often pass through those tunnels.

Notes

References

External links