New Subway Line Re-Draws Mexico City’s Map

Mexico City’s new Gold Line doesn’t open for at least another year, but it already appears on maps posted in stations inside the system, with the tag, “Under Construction.” The new line, officially Line 12, will finally offer lateral connections on the south side of the city’s dense middle (see the gold dotted line at UrbanRail), and will offer service all the way to the center of Tlahuac, a relatively rural borough in the southeast.

Residents who are being displaced by the new line have offered resistance during the construction process. And the capital government confirmed it was seeking private investment to help complete the project in time for the bicenntenial. Yet it looks like it’s really happening. Line 12 redraws the map of the system and by extension will redraw the map of the city.

This is the first new Mexico City metro line built since Line B connected the center into the suburb of Ecatepec in 1999. Above, a map at the current Line 12 site depicting the growth of estimated passenger volumes, densest in the middle-class Coyoacan and Narvarte region. Metro analysts predict the new line will start out carrying 367,000 passengers on weekdays, which will automatically make it the fourth busiest line in the system.