A company owned by magnate Carlos Slim will rebuild the collapsed section of the metro in Mexico City

Grupo Carso, owned by Mexican magnate Carlos Slim, reached an agreement on Wednesday with authorities in Mexico City to rebuild or reinforce Line 12 of the subway that collapsed in May and left 26 dead.

In a statement sent to the Mexican Stock Exchange, Carso reported that its subsidiary CICSA “today entered into a collaboration agreement and a reparatory agreement with the Government of Mexico City and the Collective Transportation System to carry out rehabilitation and reinforcement works. of the elevated metallic section of Line 12 of the subway ”.

["How much will it cost us?".

This is how the failures on line 12 of the Mexico metro accumulated before the fatal crash]

The company will cover the cost and revealed that the works will consist of "repairing the collapsed section" between the Olivos and Tezonco stations, as well as the "reinforcing the elevated metal section" built by CICSA in 2013 to implement "more robust safety standards. structural ”due to the 2017 earthquake.

The construction company explained that the execution of these works "will be the responsibility" of the capital's government and its technical advisory committee.

He also clarified that CICSA "did not cause or is responsible for the unfortunate event of May 3 on Line 12 of the metro", and recalled that the line "is operated and supervised independently" by the capital metro since the consortium formed It was delivered by the companies CICSA, ICA and Alstom in 2013.

The wagons of the Metro Line 12 in Mexico City after the collapse, on May 4, 2021.Marco Ugarte / AP

The tragedy occurred on May 3, when an elevated bridge between Line 12 collapsed, in the Tláhuac mayor's office in the Mexican capital, causing the wagon to run aground in a V shape, leaving 26 dead and a hundred injured.

Neighbors of the subway section that collapsed in CDMX had reported deterioration in the structure]

An independent report commissioned by the Government of Mexico City from a Norwegian company concluded that the accident was due to a "structural failure" of the construction.

The capital's prosecutor's office presented this week the first 10 complaints against those presumed responsible for the accident, among which Enrique Horcasitas, former director of the Metro Project, who proposed the construction of the line, stands out.

The charges are for wrongful death, damage and injury.

According to local press reports, the defendants include several former city officials.

No arrest warrants were issued for those involved, and they were asked to appear before a judge for a preliminary hearing on October 25.

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The tragedy of the metro has caused a political earthquake because it splashes on Chancellor Marcelo Ebrard, capital mayor when the metro was built, and the current head of government, Claudia Sheinbaum, both candidates from the ruling party to succeed President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in 2024. 

Prosecutors noted that expert reports revealed that the collapse was due to construction defects such as poor welds and missing bolts.

Presumably there were also design errors that played a role.

The prosecution's report, presented last week, was similar, but slightly more extensive, than the findings presented by the private Norwegian certification company DNV in September.

Both reports mention faulty welds, misplaced or missing bolts, which were intended to attach the steel support beams to a layer of concrete on which the tracks rested.

[On video: The first images of the rescue of people who were hit by the subway]

Prosecutors also cited faulty welds on the steel beams under the tracks, which either did not adhere fully or split.

The steel braces to reinforce the beams were too short or not properly attached, and the raised line was not designed with a sufficient margin of safety.

Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim listens to a question during a press conference at his office in Mexico City, on October 16, 2019. Fernando Llano / AP

The defects distorted the structure of the line, causing fatigue fractures that reduced the structure's ability to bear weight.

Line 12 of the Mexico City metro was built at a cost of 1.3 billion dollars between 2010 and 2012, when the current Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Marcelo Ebrard, was the head of government of the country's capital.

Ebrard is seen as one of the main candidates to succeed President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

The project was plagued with cost overruns and alleged design flaws, corruption and conflicts of interest.

["We cannot speculate" says the head of the Government of the capital about the causes of the collapse]

The city was forced to close the line in 2014, just 17 months after its inauguration, in order to have roads replaced or repaired.

The section that collapsed has been closed since May.