Mexico City’s metro tragedy was caused by construction failures

Mexico City metro crash that left 26 dead in May It was caused by structural failures associated with the construction of the railway line, the newspaper reported. The financier, citing a report commissioned by the city government.

The tragic collapse that happened overnight, which caused a train to fall from an elevated section onto traffic passing below, was due to missing or poorly executed welds, missing bolts in some beams and a mixture of different types of concrete in the structure, according to the report by the Norwegian company DNV. The report is preliminary, according to El Financiero, who said they have access to a copy.

The focus of the report on construction failures puts billionaire Carlos Slim’s Grupo Carso SAB in the spotlight as the company that built the collapsed section of metro line 12, raising concerns. doubts about the future of the company’s agreements with the government.

Slim’s family spokesperson and son-in-law Arturo Elías Ayub declined to comment.

The country’s Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, who was mayor when the metro line opened in 2012, and the current mayor, Claudia Sheinbaum, have also come under scrutiny as media reported that construction was rushed or maintenance was poor. Maintenance issues are not raised in the government-commissioned report, according to El Financiero.

Sheinbaum is expected to release the official report later Wednesday.

Some of the report’s findings are similar to those mentioned in a New York Times investigation, for example that some bolts were not removed from the ceramic protection for the execution of the joint between the bolt and the beam.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, at his daily press conference on Wednesday, criticized the New York Times report, which noted that construction of the subway could have been rushed because Ebrard tried to inaugurate the subway before it was finished. of his tenure as mayor in 2012. López Obrador said the report was “unethical”. Ebrard and Sheinbaum are both considered pre-candidates for the 2024 presidential elections.

The president spoke of “the punishment of those responsible, who are responsible,” the president said.