MEXICO’S COPPER CANYON TRAIN - All Aboard: The Complete North American Train Travel Guide - page 244

and all together their combined length is nearly 14 miles. One
tunnel makes a 180-degree turn and descends 100 feet inside a
mountain. Then there are the bridges, more than 220 of them. If
joined together, their combined length would be more than five
miles. One, the bridge in Chínipas, is 1,000 feet long and more
than 300 feet high.
Privatization Comes to Mexican Trains
From its beginnings in the late 1940s, Mexico's national railway
grew into a railroad of significant size and scope. Ferrocarriles
Nacionales de México (FNM) hauled grain, coal, a variety of
minerals, petroleum, fertilizers, automobiles, and auto parts in
some 50,000 freight cars, many of which were owned by the
companies that pumped the oil, dug the coal, built the cars, and
so on.
By the mid-1990s, Mexico's struggle to stabilize its economy
had taken a toll on a number of institutions, including the coun-
try's passenger rail service. FNM still ran passenger trains, but
equipment was run-down and service was generally unreliable.
Most of these problems were the result of budget cuts that led
to “deferred maintenance,” which, in turn, created a shortage
of equipment. These problems were exacerbated by uncertain-
ties coming in the wake of privatization. That was a shame too,
because in the same tradition of railroads in the United States
and Canada, the Mexican national railroad had a proud history
and had offered some first-rate rail experiences to visitors over
the years.
Privatization became official in 1997 when the Mexican gov-
ernment invited private companies to bid for the rights to operate
both freight and passenger services throughout the country. There
was a lot of interest, and consortiums were formed to bid on
various routes. The following decade saw a succession of merg-