Politics
Cracks detected in Mexico City's subway system
Repair work on Line 12 is expected to be completed in October
January 21, 2022 4:14pm
Updated: January 21, 2022 6:21pm
Mexico City authorities reported on Friday the detection of new cracks in Line 12 of the local subway, which has been suspended since May 3 after the collapse of a wooden beam.
The Secretary of Works and Services, Jesús Esteva, claimed that a total of 258 cracks have been found, 115 of which are in 80 supervised inter-section points.
Javier Rodrigo González, a member of the Engineering department of the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, explained that so far, only 31 percent of the inspection has been carried out.
The review will be completed in five weeks, followed by reconstruction work, said Esteva. For now, the technical advisory committee for the evaluation of Line 12 is studying whether these faults can be repaired.
Repair work could end in October, and the subway could resume its operations for this route by the end of 2022, said Esteva.
"Once the work is completed, there will still be a testing period. The safety evaluation part is coming up, and we estimate that it will be in operation by the last third of this year," he added.
So far, 26.7% of the system’s columns have been reinforced. Of the 152 columns that have been rehabilitated so far, 66 were repaired by covering cracks and 30 with carbon fibers.
"With this procedure, the resistance of the concrete columns of the elevated section has increased by 40%," informed the official.
In December, Jesús Esteva reported that 21 cracks had been located in the structures of Line 12. The initial inspection of the reinforced beams had advanced 28.5%, according to Gonzalez.
"At the time, the inspection of the entire sections was made by the College of Civil Engineers and most of the issues were not detected. In a regular inspection, it is impossible to detect. It is a detailed inspection based on the results of the survey and the request of the technical advisory committee, so this will be taken into account for the reinforcement project," added Jesús Esteva.
The collapse of a beam in May caused the two subway cars to fall off the line. The incident left 26 people dead and more than 100 injured.
