The President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo and the Minister of Infrastructure, Communications and Transport, Jesús Esteva Medina, have launched the construction of the passenger rail section between Arroyo El Sauz and Nuevo Laredo, part of the Gulf of Mexico Railway project.
The launching took place on November 7, 2025 in in Nuevo Laredo, during the People’s Conference, led by the President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, the Minister of Transport, Jesús Esteva Medina, together with the Head of the Regulatory Agency for Railway Transport (ARTF), Andrés Lajous Loaeza, and the Governor of Tamaulipas, Américo Villarreal Anaya.
The project consists of the construction of a single-track line alongside an existing freight line and will include a 2.5 km passing loop every 20 km, allowing two-way operations when necessary. The section forms part of the Saltillo–Nuevo Laredo route, with a total length of 136.5 km. The line will include three stations – Nuevo Laredo, Anáhuac and Lampazos – ebabling long, medium and short-distance journeys to meet demand in metropolitan areas and improve connections with employment and residential zones in Monterrey and Saltillo.
Trains on the Saltillo–Nuevo Laredo route will operate at maximum speeds of between 160 and 200 km/h, enabling journeys from Monterrey to Nuevo Laredo, a region of high economic activity, in just under two hours, and from Saltillo in three and a half hours. The Saltillo–Nuevo Laredo passenger railway has a total length of 396.34 km and forms part of the routes that began construction this year, alongside Mexico City–Pachuca, Mexico City–Querétaro, and Querétaro–Irapuato.
The main services to be provided are on routes totalling 869 km:
- Saltillo–Nuevo Laredo (396 km);
- Monterrey–Nuevo Laredo (285 km);
- Saltillo–Monterrey (111 km);
- Derramadero–Ramos Arizpe (35 km) and
- García–Escobedo (42 km).
The Saltillo–Nuevo Laredo section includes 52 railway bridges, 108 drainage works, 42 road crossings, a passenger station in Nuevo Laredo, and two smaller stations at Lampazos de Naranjo and Anáhuac.
These works are expected to generate around 10,922 direct jobs and 32,766 indirect jobs. This section is one of five construction segments underway between Saltillo and Nuevo Laredo.
The Gulf of Mexico Railway project is a part of a broader push by the Mexican government to expand and modernise passenger and in some cases freight rail infrastructure, one of the sections being the route between Saltillo and Nuevo Laredo in the state of Tamaulipas. Although parts of the project are being officially launched, many details remain in planning or early-stage.
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