The Felipe Ángeles Train is inaugurated, but who really benefits?
Yesterday, Delfina Gómez gave the required speech: the Felipe Ángeles Train is going to improve the quality of life and reduce distances. Sounds nice, doesn’t it? But when a governor talks about rescue and transformation, I already know that you have to read between the lines.
“President, the launch of the Felipe Ángeles Buenavista-AIFA Train is a decisive boost to the transformation that the State of Mexico is experiencing,” said the president.
Of course, because before this, Otomi communities like Xaltocán and Nextlalpan were forgotten. Now it turns out that a train is going to save them. Hopefully. But if my old man taught me anything (losing lawyer against a corrupt company) it is that power always has better lawyers; the truth, journalists with memory.
What are they not telling us? That this train connects with AIFA, that airport that was going to be the largest in the world and today looks like a white elephant with wings. The governor talks about regional development, but I wonder: how much did it really cost? And who will pay the extra costs?
“Without a doubt, this expansion of the train is essential to continue uniting municipalities… this second floor of the Fourth Transformation is experienced throughout the state territory,” added Gómez.
Second floor… or layer of makeup on structural problems. Because while they promise decent mobility, in Edomex we continue to see how public transportation is a lottery: sometimes it arrives, sometimes it doesn’t. And the rates… well, that’s another topic.
President Sheinbaum received the applause. But I remember other megaprojects: the Mayan Train, the Dos Bocas Refinery… all with grandiose promises and mixed results. History doesn’t lie: every time a politician says transformation, I look for the original contracts and audits.
Quick Conclusion: The train can be useful if it works and is accessible. But as long as they continue using phrases like town in the center without showing clear figures, my skepticism does not go away.
