Mexico City’s New Subway

By “Awake!” correspondent in Mexico

ON September 4, 1969, Mexico’s president Gustavo Díaz Ordaz inaugurated Line 1, an eight-mile section of Mexico City’s new subway. When the entire underground transit system is finished around November 1970 it is to consist of three lines and cover more than twenty-six miles.

Line 1 will accommodate 350,000 persons daily, and when the whole subway is completed it should take care of 3,600,000 passengers a day. This will provide some relief to residents who now get trapped in mammoth traffic jams. Mexico City has a population of over seven million.

Work on this project began in June 1967. It marked the thirty-fourth metropolitan area in the world to build such a transit system. London was the first; its subway system being inaugurated 106 years ago. But probably none before had such obstacles to overcome.

The difficulty is that Mexico City rests upon a reclaimed lake, and buildings often slowly sink into the spongy soil. One structure completed in 1934 has dropped nine feet! But even buildings in the same block will settle at differing speeds. Thus, special engineering techniques were needed to build an underground transit system under such conditions.

It was necessary to remove precisely the right weight of soil and water without undermining buildings alongside the subway’s right-of-way. Then a concrete, box-shaped tunnel was constructed; the subway being encased within it. In fact, Mexicans have called the subway “el Cajón” (the Box). Actually this box tunnel floats like a ship on the subsoil, which is 80 percent water. The special construction required for this project increased the expense. It is estimated that it will cost, when completed, 4,000 million pesos, which is over $300 million.

Inside, the stations are beautiful, made of marble floors and with Aztec designs on the columns. Especially noteworthy is the Pino Suárez station, built around the Aztec pyramid “God of the Wind,” which was unearthed during excavations.

Each orange-colored, French-built subway train is made up of six cars, and can carry over a thousand passengers. They run at about three-minute intervals, moving along noiselessly at a reasonable speed. There is hardly any noticeable vibration. The trains run on rubber tires, but each tire has a steel wheel that can be used if the tire loses its pressure. Computers are used to direct the trains, and a rheostat brings them to a stop. So the conductor’s main duty is simply to watch.

It was reported in August 1969 that during excavations more than 1,500 valuable archaeological pieces had already been found, the most outstanding of which was the pyramid of the “God of the Wind.” However, archaeologists are particularly interested in the findings during the excavations in the Zócalo (Main Square).

The Zócalo has been the main center of the city for centuries, and still is. Now located here is the National Palace, the city government buildings, the supreme court and many other old and interesting buildings. Archaeologists hope to find here the Piedra Pintada (Painted Stone), an Aztec calendar said to be as large and even more beautiful than the one called Piedra del Sol (Sun Stone), which is now in the National Museum.

The new subway is indeed a fine provision. Not only is it a beautiful, unique structure, but its transportation service is economical. One can buy five or ten tickets for eight cents (U.S.) each, or an individual ticket for one peso and twenty centavos, 9.6 American cents. Said one world traveler who has ridden in subways in many cities: “To ride this Metro is a dream.”