Regulation of rail transport in Mexico

Rail services represent the main transportation mode for a number of sectors in Mexico, in particular the automotive industry in relation to international production linkages with the United States. The current regulatory framework grants exclusivity rights in the provision of rail freight transport services through concessions, and concessionaires need to negotiate about compensations for interconnection services and access rights. Prices for freight, passenger and auxiliary services are set freely, and the rail network was privatised so as to promote competition. However, a number of shippers have claimed that railway rates are too high. The rail system has important challenges: to develop capacity to collect and analyse the data needed to form judgements on issues of competition to establish timelines for the development of analytical capacity for determining conditions for the use of trackage rights to enhance efforts to gather and report available information to assess performance and evaluate possible public policy changes.