Subway snafu sparks anger in Mexico City

[unhappycamper]

http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-subway-snafu-mexico-20140314,0,1376375.story



Mexico City's subway patrons aren't smiling now, after the highly touted new Line 12 was shut down due to design flaws.

Subway snafu sparks anger in Mexico City
By Tracy Wilkinson
March 14, 2014, 11:49 a.m.

MEXICO CITY — Mexican commuters are furious over a disastrous design failure that has forced the closure of one of this huge city’s busiest and newest subway lines.

Nearly half a million passengers have had to find alternative transportation after officials shut down most of Line 12, which runs about 15 miles from south of the capital toward its heart. It could take six months or more to repair all of the damage, said officials, who attributed most of the problems to train wheels that are incompatible with the rails.

This is only the latest scandal in an aging, notoriously rundown subway system plagued by crime, overcrowding and poor service.

Line 12 opened with much fanfare in 2012 by then-Mayor Marcelo Ebrard (albeit over budget and past deadline). Ebrard dubbed it the “Golden Line,” and it was praised at the time as cleaner, more comfortable and something nearing efficient.