Line 4 is the fourth rail line of the Guadalajara Urban Electric Train System. It is 21.2 km (13.2 mi) long and will run from Las Juntas bus station of Mi Macro Calzada to the municipal capital of Tlajomulco. It is estimated that the number of daily passengers will be 106,000 passengers, and construction will cost 9.137 billion Mexican pesos (approximately 460 million U.S. Dollars). It officially began construction on May 22, 2022.[2]
History
Original project
Map of Line 3 proposed by Alfaro and discarded by the local congress in 2009.
In 2009, the then mayor of Tlajomulco,Enrique Alfaro Ramírez, proposed a failed project for a Line 3 of the Guadalajara light rail to the Jalisco State Congress; however it was rejected by partisan majority. The project would have entailed the construction of a completely overground line, which would have run toward the south of the Guadalajara metropolitan area; starting its route at the Isla Raza station of Line 1 of SITEUR running over the Miguel Topete street until its crossing with and taking over the Patria Sur Avenue, from there it would turn east to take the Luis Covarrubias street until a small fork to retake the Patria Sur Avenue, at which point it would make a turn south taking the FF.CC. Guadalajara-Manzanillo tracks until the Hacienda Santa Fe colony, in the municipality of Tlajomulco.[3]
With this project it was intended to benefit to more than 700,000 people, as the zones where the line would be built on suffer from a strong recession in public transport matters. Nevertheless, the Line 4 project has been already contemplated by the SCT, with a similar route to that suggested in 2009.[4][5]
Current project
After many years of many proposals to bring connectivity to the Municipality of Tlajomulco with the rest of the Guadalajara metropolitan area, both the then candidate for the presidency, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and the candidate for governor, Enrique Alfaro Ramírez, spoke independently in their 2018 campaigns about the construction of the line 4 of the electric train towards the Tlajomulco Centre.[6][7] After both candidates resulted elected, a López Obrador spokesman announced the Isla Raza to Santa Fe project,[8] route that had been proposed and analysed years before during the Emilio González Márquez administration.[9]
López Obrador and Alfaro discussed and agreed to resume this project[10] and more studies about the route to be built were made[11] and some adjustments were considered.[12] The announcement of this work caused mixed reactions among the businessmen; the Council of Industrial Chambers of Jalisco presented negative to the project,[13] while the Mexican Chamber of the Building Industry of Jalisco pronounced in favour.[14]
In 2020, some doubts arose about the backing of López Obrador to the project signed in Mexico City by the governor and the president in July 2019. Nevertheless, the doubts were dissipated the Saturday 12 September of that same year,when in his speech for the opening of the Line 3, the Mexican President said that he endorsed the promise that he made to build the Line 4.[15] It was planned to start the preliminary works for the new line in October of that same year.[16][17]
In 2021 the Line 4 of SITEUR got once again a back turn from the presidentAndrés Manuel López Obrador, since there was no money designated for the works from the federal budget of 2021, as informed by the Secretariat of Finance even though the federal government said to endorse to the project. In a meeting with the Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the Jalisco governor, Enrique Alfaro, affirmed that the Line 4 already had the technical studies for its construction and assured that the preliminary works would begin in October 2021.
The construction was planned for the end of October 2021,[18][19] but the works did not start until 2022. The preliminary works began on May 6, 2022,[20] and the formal start of the works was on May 22, 2022, with the presence of the governor, the mayors of the Guadalajara metropolitan area and some special guests. It has been planned to finish the works in March 2024, that is, in a record time of 22 months.[21][2]
Characteristics
The line 4 will have a length of 21.7 km (13.5 mi) and a travel time of 35 min.[22] It will run from Las Juntas in the Miravalle colony until the Municipal head of Tlajomulco in the south of the city. It will connect with the Fray Angélico bus station in the terminal of Mi Macro Calzada through a multimodal transfer centre (CETRAM), and will run on the railway right of way Guadalajara-Manzanillo.[2]
This line will have a budget of 9 billion pesos[20] through a federal, state and private funding, and will benefit 106,000 users. The works began in May 2022 and it has been planned to finish by March 2024, opening that same year.[2] Once open, it will become the longest line of the Guadalajara rail system.
Extension from 3 to 4 lanes on the Adolf Horn crossing with the railway tracks as part of the construction of an overpass under which the electric train will pass.
Tracks near the Tlajomulco railway station, future terminal of Line 4
South ramp of the Adolf Horn node in November 2022, first building stage of Line 4.
