Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México

Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México
This article is about the nationalized system that existed from 1909 to the 1990s. For the pre-1909 independent system, see National Railroad of Mexico.
Ferrocarriles Nacionales de Mexico train.
A train in Mexico City station, 1984
Train Mexico City Oaxaca 1981
Logo, Painting on a train

Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México, (better known as N de M) was Mexico's state owned railroad company from 1938 to 1998, and prior to 1938 (dating from the regime of Porfirio Díaz) a major railroad controlled by the government that linked Mexico City to the major cities of Nuevo Laredo and Ciudad Juárez on the U.S. border. The first trains to Nuevo Laredo from Mexico City began operating in 1903.[1]

N de M absorbed the Mexican Central Railroad (Ferrocarril Central Mexicano, first section from Mexico City to León, Guanajuato, opened in 1882) in 1909, thus acquiring a second border gateway at Ciudad Juárez (adjacent to El Paso, Texas). The N de M was nationalized by President Lázaro Cárdenas del Río in 1938, and privatized 60 years later by President Ernesto Zedillo. N de M operated most railway trackage through the central and northeastern regions of the republic.

During the days of steam locomotives, N de M was best known for operating Niágara class locomotives, which took their name from the New York Central Railroad locomotives of the same wheel configuration. N de M was one of the few railroads outside the US to purchase new diesel locomotives from Baldwin Locomotive Works, including the Baldwin DR-6 and Centipede.

In Acámbaro, Guanajuato, N de M operated one of the few facilities in Latin America that was capable of constructing and doing complete rebuilds of steam locomotives, thus with rare exceptions (as with the Niagaras) , most of N de M steam motive power was purchased used and rebuilt there. Portions of the facility and a preserved 2-8-0 steam locomotive remain as part of Acambaro's municipal railway museum.

In 1995, the Mexican government announced that the FNM would be privatized and divided into four main systems, see Rail transport in Mexico: Privatization. As part of the restructuring for privatization, FNM suspended passenger rail service in 1997, and the new arrangements applied from 1998. The companies were Kansas City Southern de Mexico, Ferromex, Ferrosur, and (owned jointly by the three companies) Ferrocarril y Terminal del Valle de México or Ferrovalle which operates railroads and terminals in and around Mexico City.

As of 2006, the remaining parts of NdeM are in the process of liquidation.[2]

Notable named passenger trains of the N de M

Named trains usually bore names related to the destination, for example, El Purépecha referred to the Purepecha (Tarascan) peoples of western Michoacán.

Other passenger service was provided between Mexico City and: Cuernavaca, Morelos; Tampico, Tamaulipas; Guanajuato, Guanajuato; and Veracruz, Veracruz.

See also

References

  1. ^ Minsk, R. Todd (July 2003). "Part 1: 1870-1907". Querétaro, Qro.: a chronology of railroad development. http://www.dartmouth.edu/~rtminsk/queretarotracks1.html. Retrieved March 7, 2009. 
  2. ^ Ferrocariles Nacionales de México (September 10, 2008). "Ferrocariles Nacionales de México en Liquidación". http://www.fnm.com.mx. Retrieved March 7, 2009. 
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