rail from Nogales to Mazatlan
Randy McCarthy
cost and/or schedules??
how is the service??
Ben Fairbank
I dunno what it's like NOW, but it used to be a pleasure 25 year ago. Get
yourself to Nogales, an hour's drive south of Tucson, and board the train
in time for supper. You might be surprised to find, if you are travelling as a
couple, that the "bedroom for two" you reserved is in fact an old roomette, the
kind that Pullman desgned for those travelling alone. Also (all of this is
ancient history, a quarter-century ago), if your luck is like ours, you may
find that the heat is not working (we visited just after Christmas). Wake up
in darkness at Hermosillo (I think) to the gentle thumping of cars from
California being coupled on, and then more clikety-clack as you go south
to and along the coast. We had been told by a previous rider that you get to
Mazatlan at about eleven, and so were startled when, over a leisurely breakfast
in a reputable diner, at about 8:30, we pulled into Mazatlan station. One
of us ran back to our roomette to pack up our things while the other paid for
breakfast...
I'll be interested to hear more recent reports, but I would not hesitate a
moment to take the trip again.
BAF
In article <35D7EC4B...@bc.sympatico.ca>, Randy_M...@bc.sympatico.ca
says...
James Robinson
>
> anybody with info on this service??
> cost and/or schedules??
> how is the service??
I'm not sure the service is still running. I was in Mexico City's
Bonavista station about a month ago, and the trains to Guadalajara were
no longer listed on the departure board. These were the trains that
continued to Mazatlan and to the northern cities of Mexicali and
Nogales.
The operation of the west coast rail line was recently privatized, (now
called Ferrocaril Mexicano, or Ferromex for short) and they may have
used this occasion as an excuse to drop the trains.
I will see what I can find out.
Richard P Campbell
> Randy McCarthy wrote:
> >
> > anybody with info on this service??
> > cost and/or schedules??
> > how is the service??
I was in Nogales recently and all passenger szervice on the former FCP has
been temporarily suspended. The private operator has no contract with the
government and is under no obligation to provide passenger service. In
fact the depot track was being used as a yard track. The yard was plugged.
Richard
Carl Fowler
Randy McCarthy wrote in message <35D7EC4B...@bc.sympatico.ca>...
>anybody with info on this service??
>cost and/or schedules??
>how is the service??
>According to the new issue of the usually very reliable COOKS INTERNATIONAL
TIMETABLE all passenger service north and west of Mexico City to the US
border has been dropped, including all trains to Nogales, Juarez, Mexicali,
and Nuevo Laredo. The only services surviving (and those probably not for
long) are to the southeast, includingh Merida, from Mexcico City. The only
passenger line to escape the axe in the north (and the only route on which
the "privitized" operators were given any kind of passenger service mandate)
is the Copper Canyon route Los Mochis to Chihuahua. Even there the "long
term" is clouded by the impending arrival of a paved highway at Divisadero.
The privately chartered SIERRA MADRE EXPRESS land-cruise train (which my
company represents in the US) continues to run periodic services from the
Nogales area to the Copper Canyon and, in January, 2000, will run one
round-trip only from Nogales to/from Mexico City, but barring a radical
change in government regular passenger rail in Mexico seems to be rapidly
ending.
The debacle began with the decision during the Salinas Presidency to kill
all dining car services, which renedered long-distance travel practically
impossible for Americans. This was rapidly compounded with the demise of all
sleepers, first Monday to Thursday nights, then all nights. The total
withdrawal was made certain by the current government's implimentation of a
"privitization" with no passenger service obligation on the new franchise
holders and no subsidy to the rump of the NdeM to continue the sleletal
passenger service.
Already the car sales are begining. The fascinating possibility exists to
repatriate to the USA some of the equipment of the 1937 "20th Century
Limited", as well as other great US trains. The NdeM owned most of the
sleepers from the Western Pacific's pool for the "California Zephyr", among
many other US hand-downs. Perhaps a few US museums could gain some
streamliner-era treasures here, although the equipment has been
long-neglected, and the NdeM in past sales has tried to hold out for
ludicrously high prices. Time will tell.
On a more practical note the NdeM, during the mid 1980s, in a more favorable
political regime, bought a number of new cars, including air conditioned
coaches. There were even a few new diners. This equipment might find a
useful home somewhere else.
It is the view of the Mexican government that the middle class prefers bus
travel. Only the poor (who presumeably didn't count for much) were supposed
to ride trains. This was, of course, nonsense--self-fulfilling prophesy. As
diners, lounges and sleepers vanished of course "middle class" patronage
vanished. The NdeM didn't issue a general public timetable for the lst
twenty years. The American tour operator Ed Von Nordeck produced the only
decent Mexican schedule in the last decade. On a trip in 1990 on the SIERRA
MADRE EXPRESS the Mexican conductor bought my copy of Ed's schedule, since
all he had left was an endlessly ammended employee timetable that was
litreally in tatters!
Carl H. Fowler
Rail Travel Center Tours
James Robinson
>
> Randy McCarthy wrote in message <35D7EC4B...@bc.sympatico.ca>...
> >anybody with info on this service??
> >cost and/or schedules??
> >how is the service??
>
> >According to the new issue of the usually very reliable COOKS INTERNATIONAL
> TIMETABLE all passenger service north and west of Mexico City to the US
> border has been dropped, including all trains to Nogales, Juarez, Mexicali,
> and Nuevo Laredo. The only services surviving (and those probably not for
> long) are to the southeast, includingh Merida, from Mexcico City. The only
> passenger line to escape the axe in the north (and the only route on which
> the "privitized" operators were given any kind of passenger service mandate)
> is the Copper Canyon route Los Mochis to Chihuahua. Even there the "long
> term" is clouded by the impending arrival of a paved highway at Divisadero.
I was talking to a contact in Mexico today who confirmed that all
passenger service on the old del Pacifico has been suspended, pending a
new agreement between Ferromex and the NDM to provide the service.
There is no guarantee that it will ever start up again.
The Los Mochis - Chihuahua service on the old CHP is still operating,
and he also understood that the daytime train between Mexico City and
Nuevo Laredo was also operating. No word on the mixed trains and
passenger train (Durango - Saltillo) that used to operate on the lines
now under the FFCC Coahuila - Durango.
Regarding the operations to the Southeast of Mexico City, a company
called Tribasa, which is a large construction conglomerate, has just
been awarded the operating concession. They are in partnership with
Omnitrax. Don't be surprised if the passenger operations are also
greatly reduced when they finally take possession of the lines and begin
to operate the trains themselves.
With everyone's indulgence, I have copied below part of a message I
posted on June 20 with info on trains out of Mexico City. Given the
above information, it is a very good idea to check the schedules of the
trains immediately before making any plans to ride what is left.:
================================================================
For those interested in passenger train operation in Mexico, I wrote
down the following information from the arrival / departure boards in
Buenavista station (Mexico City) yesterday morning (June 19.) No sign
of a
printed timetable or information on other routes:
Departures
==========
Train departing to Freq. time
101 Veracruz (via Jalapa) MWF 08:20
51 Veracruz (via Orizaba) Daily 08:45
1 Nuevo Laredo MWF 09:00
111 Oaxaca Daily 19:00
53 Veracruz (via Cordoba) Daily 20:15
Arrivals
========
54 Veracruz (via Cordoba Daily 08:15
112 Oaxaca Daily 12:20
52 Veracruz (via Orizaba) Daily (no time)
2 Nuevo Laredo MWF (no time)
102 Veracruz (via Jalapa) MWF (no time)
Train 101 departed the station with one locomotive and one coach.
Train 51 was getting ready to depart with one locomotive and three
coaches.
A notice board listed the following trains as "Cancelled until further
notice."
13/14 Cuidad Juarez 20:00
5/6 Guadalajara 20:30
31/32 Uruapan/
Lazaro Cardenas 21:00