This Monday, 12 stations of Line 1 of the capital’s Metro (from Pantitlán to Salto del Agua) will close for at least eight months, so the authorities are working at forced marches to conclude with the road adaptations and the habilitation of emerging stops, so that the 300 thousand users who on average daily use these stations can make their trips and reach their destinations.
Outside the Balderas station, which will serve as a provisional terminal, a small whereabouts were set up that will be the point of departure and arrival of the RTP trucks that will provide provisional service to Pantitlán, and although the structure is almost finished, in a tour of the area it was observed that it already has leaks and the water began to seep.
Even, as part of the work in the area, workers of Urban Services were given the task of fixing the vegetation of the camellón of Arcos de Belén Avenue – right next to the provisional whereabouts – but police considered that the arrangements will not hesitate for a long time because people will end up stepping on them.
The provisional whereabouts were placed about six meters from the traffic light with Balderas, that is, those who wish to cross Arcos de Belén to get on the trucks will have two options: do it at the traffic light and walk on the vehicular roll to the whereabouts, or do it right where the whereabouts begin, but where there is no signage or traffic light.
“Now it will depend a lot on people and traffic colleagues to do their job well, because he is right, the crusade is complicated … Just step on the plants,” acknowledged a police officer from the Secretariat of Citizen Security (SSC).
In the immediate vicinity, it was also noted that the authorities began with the reorganization of informal trade, albeit in its entirety.
For example, outside the Library of Mexico, businesses continue to sell. Asked if they have been notified they will be relocated, the traders said they have not been told anything. However, vendors who worked on Gabriel Hernández Street, next to the Revolución elementary school, were relocated to the vicinity of the Civil Registry.
“They sent us here because of the Metro (…) This is just our third day here and the truth is that the sale has been very weak,” said a seller of steak tacos and pambazos.
“Let’s see if it improves for the next few days,” said the man, who has been working in the same space for 20 years.
Also on Arcos de Belén, between Eje Central and Luis Moya, the capital authorities closed the extreme left lanes in order to prevent cars from occupying that space on the road that, a couple of blocks ahead, becomes the provisional whereabouts of the RTP trucks that will provide emerging service.
This Friday, personnel from the Ministry of Mobility (Semovi) were also observed giving training to dozens of young people who wore vests with the legend “Bienestar CDMX”. They will be tasked with guiding and helping users.
Measuring times
Gregorio and his wife are neighbors of the Jardín Balbuena neighborhood, in the Venustiano Carranza mayor’s office, and this Friday they occupied the morning to make reconnaissance trips of the route that rtP trucks will follow.
“I told my wife ‘let’s know the route’ to see what the movement is like, where (the truck) stops and where it doesn’t, how each car says because there are different routes… There are some who do not enter San Lázaro; so, that’s why we’re testing,” Gregorio said.
In the face of what will be the integral modernization of Line 1 of the Metro, the man considered that this is excellent news and that as citizens we must also support, for example, leaving home earlier to avoid arriving late to the destinations.
He works for the Del Valle neighborhood, in the Benito Juárez mayor’s office, so he is prepared to leave his house earlier and not be late for his work.
“It seems good to me, because you see what Line 12 fell a piece and has had many problems … To me it seems good because for many years they have not given maintenance to Line 1 and it is already needed… As I learned, they are going to change the tracks and even the trains,” Gregorio said.
“I’m going to leave earlier, I create an hour before to avoid problems,” he said.
Chaos in the Sonora Market, San Lázaro and Candelaria
During a tour of the emerging route that the trucks will follow between Balderas and Pantitlán —round trip—, it was possible to notice that one of the most conflictive points that the units will have to overcome is in the vicinity of the Sonora Market, due to the work of loading and unloading goods, as well as the permanent presence of pedestrians on the vehicular stream.
Although in others points of the route followed by the trucks, for example, Dr. Río de la Loza, Fray Servando Teresa de Mier or the vicinity of Zaragoza and Pantitlán, the presence of traffic agents was observed speeding up mobility to allow the passage of the units, in the area of the Sonora Market no presence of any authority was observed.
Also, to speed up the journey users were confirmed that there will be different transport routes:
From Pantitlán to Balderas (making all the stops corresponding to the closed Metro stations).
From Pantitlán to Balderas (without stopping at San Lázaro and Candelaria).
From Pantitlán to Pino Suárez (making all the stops corresponding to the closed Metro stations).
From Pantitlán to Pino Suárez (without stopping at San Lázaro and Candelaria).
This, explained mobility personnel located in Pantitlán, with the aim of offering more direct and faster trips to users because the entrance to Pantitlán and Candelaria is complex and delays trips.
In the opposite direction, the options for users will be:
From Balderas to Pantitlán (making all the stops corresponding to the closed Metro stations).
From Balderas to Pantitlán (without stopping at San Lázaro and Candelaria).
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