MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said on Friday that she would like the firms that built the metro railway that collapsed and killed 26 people last month to help pay for its reconstruction, though she did not specify how much money was at stake.
Preliminary findings of an independent investigation presented on Wednesday showed the collapse of a section of the Metro 12 Line was caused by a structural failure.
The line was built by a consortium of Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim’s Grupo Carso, Mexico’s ICA, and French trainmaker Alstom SA.
“We want them to participate in the rehabilitation in economic terms. That is part of what we are proposing,” Sheinbaum said at a news conference, without giving details of whether the firms would be asked to only rebuild the collapsed section or the whole line.
The Civil Engineering Corps of Mexico said on Thursday that after a physical inspection of the metro line it found evidence of other deficiencies and vulnerabilities that require further analysis.
Sheinbaum said she had spoken by phone this week with representatives of ICA and Grupo Carso and would be talking shortly with Alstom. She plans on meeting with company representatives in person next week.
ICA and Grupo Carso did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Raul Cortes; Additional reporting by Daina Beth Solomon; Writing by Anthony Esposito; Editing by Leslie Adler)
