The section of the Mexico City Metro that collapsed on Monday night, designed to connect the most peripheral areas of the south of the capital with the most central part, had been involved in controversies and reports of problems for years.
Since 2017, after the deadly earthquake on September 19, residents of the area where the line passed on an elevated stretch had reported that the columns supporting the tracks
had serious damage
.
In particular, they said that the column connecting the Olivos and Nopalera stations was damaged, which were precisely two of the six that were closed for supposed repairs for a few weeks.
The section that unites them is that he suffered the accident this Monday.
["My only hope is that it was in the last car": Mexicans look for their loved ones near the collapsed subway]
Line 12, known as the "golden line", is the newest in the capital, and has sections elevated by columns and other subways.
It was built when the current chancellor, Marcelo Ebrard, was head of the Government of Mexico City.
But their problems have also arisen during the subsequent governorships of Miguel Ángel Mancera and Claudia Sheinbaum.
The
first scandal
around line 12 started shortly after its construction.
The area of the collapse on line 12 of the Mexico City Metro, the morning after the accident, on May 4, 2021.
In the first uses, it was reported that the passenger trains did not tie up correctly with the tracks, that they were not aligned, and in practically each route
they were wearing out more.
["We cannot speculate" says the head of the Government of the capital on the causes of the collapse]
This "deficient compatibility", as defined by a subsequent report commissioned by a special commission of the Chamber of Deputies, led to several stations suspending service just months after the line was released.
Several
officials were arrested, accused of fraud,
when studies carried out in Mexico and by specialized international organizations concluded that there were flaws in the design, planning and construction.
It was found that track infrastructure had been purchased from one company while the trains were being rented to another, without the authorities ensuring compatibility.
The project also cost double what was originally budgeted, not counting the investments that have been necessary later to change the incompatible roads or make more repairs and patches.
The structural problem identified since the metro opened has been especially delicate in the
elevated parts of line 12
, which were designed with a series of excessively sharp curves.
There the trains had to maneuver more when braking, so they vibrated too much when passing and that generates greater wear on both the elevated tracks and the structure that supported them, according to the report of the Chamber of Deputies drawn up in 2015.
The inauguration ceremony of line 12 of the Mexico City Metro, in 2012, was attended by figures such as businessman Carlos Slim (third from left to right);
the politician Miguel Ángel Mancera (second from left to right), current senator and former head of the capital's government;
and Marcelo Ebrard (with microphone), currently Mexican Foreign Minister and formerly Head of Government.
The
failure start led to
11 of the 20 stations were to reseal for repairs after two years of the opening of the line, in 2014.
Who was director of the Metro at that time, Joel Ortega, said then that the "line was born with endemic problems that will never be solved in his life."
Ortega wondered: "How much is it going to cost us?"
This Monday 23 people lost their lives and almost 80 were seriously injured.