ICA, Carso, and Alstom, were in charge of the construction of the Metro Linea 12 that collapsed last night in CDMX leaving dozens of deaths and injuries.
Merida, Yuc., May 04, 2021, (SIPSE).- Line 12 of the Mexico City Metro, where a structure collapsed last night, was built by the consortium made up of ICA, Carso, and Alstom. It is worth mentioning that the structures presented failures since the beginning of their operation.
It is important to highlight that the company of Civil Engineers Associates (ICA) is currently in charge of a section of the Maya Train, more specifically section 4 that will connect Izamal with Cancún, Q. Roo.
A project by Marcelo Ebrard
LIne 12 of the CDMX Metro System was built during the term of the then former Head of Government of the Mèxico City, Marcelo Ebrard, and cost 26 billion pesos, 70 percent more than the amount originally planned.
The three companies built different sections of Line 12. Carso was in charge of the section that includes the Periférico Oriente, Tezonco, Olivos, Nopalera and Zapotitlán stations. Between the Tezonco and Olivos stations, where a Metro bridge collapsed last night.
Since it started operations in 2012, this Line has presented failures. The STC (Metro Collective Transport System)
The Mexico City Metro registered 66 failures in fixed installations or trains from its inauguration on October 30 to November 23 of that year.
Of 66 failures, 20 occurred at the doors of the convoys mainly due to the difficulty in closing during rush hours, another 12 were related to the driving of the convoys, both in their automatic piloting mode and in the manual due to deficiencies in the train systems, revealed in that year Grupo REFORMA.
In March 2014, a premature wastage issue was reported at 12 of the 20 stations on the line.
On the 14-kilometer route between Tláhuac and Atlalilco, deficiencies were recorded on the rails, which caused unevenness and irregular alignments outside the normal parameters, according to the opinions prepared by the German firm ILF Consulting Engineer.
Given this situation, the authorities and the companies in charge of the work blamed each other for the failures.
ICA, which led the consortium, said in the same month that the wastage of the tracks was faster than normal because the design of the wheels of the trains, manufactured by CAF, was not compatible with the installed rails. CAF responded that the trains were made in close collaboration with the Metro Collective Transport System (STC).
Previously, the companies asserted in a statement that they only did the work in accordance with what the CDMX government requested.
“The STC determined the layout of Line 12 and defined the basic engineering of the road system,” they clarified in March 2014.
Line 12 presented undulatory wear due to a compatibility problem between the wheels and the rails, since its manufacture is of different origin, the French company Systra concluded in June 2014 in a diagnosis requested by the Mexico City government.
” The origin of the problem does not seem to be a defect in the materials (except the ballast), but rather a very delicate compatibility problem at the level of the rail/wheel interface where you have a rail that corresponds to the Arema standard (American) and a wheel manufactured under European standards “, the company Systra underlined in a report he made on this particular work.
Systra also argued that among the determining elements for the appearance of accelerated wave wear on the Line was the layout of the road with curves of less than 350 meters in radius.
After that, arrangements such as the reprofiling of rails were determined by the companies that built the project.
Source: SIPSE
