Monterrey Metro

Lines

The Monterrey Metro, officially known as Metrorrey has two lines with 31 stations.

Line 1, which opened on April 25, 1991, has 19 stations, runs through the center of the city from the north-west to the eastern part of the Monterrey Metropolitan Area. The line, which is 18.5 km long, runs parallel to the former 1887 Topo Chico tramline and is grade-separated as it runs on an elevated structure. A complete ride along this line takes about 27 minutes. Line 1 is linked to Line 2 at Cuauhtémoc station, located downtown.

Line 2 has 13 stations and is also fully grade-separated, partially on an aerial structure and partially subterranean. The first six-station segment, which opened on November 30, 1994, was 4.5 km long and runs underground. Construction on a US$ 200 million expansion of Line 2 began on August 8, 2005. The first segment of the expansion opened on October 31, 2007, and added another three stations to the line. The second segment of the expansion was inaugurated on October 9, 2008 by Nuevo León Governor Natividad González Parás and Mexican president Felipe Calderón, and added another four stations to the line. This last segment runs on an aerial structure in the center of Avenida Universidad. The completed 12.5-kilometer (7.8 mi) route runs from Sendero to the Macroplaza with a station at the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León.

Line 3 is currently under construction and expected to open in March 2016. Line 3 will have eight stations, with the line going both underground and elevated. As of February 2015, Line 3 is 50% completed.

Ridership

According to Mexico's National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Informatics, Metrorrey's two lines transported 170.6 million passengers in 2013, with a fourth quarter (Q4) 2013 monthly ridership average of 14,492,000, which corresponds to an average daily passenger load of 483,065 passengers in Q4 2013.

Fares

The following are the travel fares as of 2010:

Currently the entrance on Sunday is not free. Because according to Governor Jaime Rodriguez Calderon 5,000,000.00 MXN are lost annually.

Metrorrey also offers "Boletos Multiviaje" (multitrip tickets). These tickets are intended for recurrent users and they are sold in denominations ranging from 15 to 85 trips.

Since the opening of the extension of the Line 2, Metrorrey began offering the "Mia" Card, a rechargeable card that can be loaded with multiple trip credits. The "Mia" card can be initially purchased for MXN30 (including 8 trips) and can be recharged in increments ranging from MXN1 to MXN300.

From January 2010, the card has a cost of MXN20 and MXN100 top recharge.

On May 16, 2009, Nuevo León governor Natividad González Parás announced that Metrorrey would be free for the following 60 days, as part of a program to reduce the effects of the economic downturn on citizens.

Rolling stock

The Metrorrey system uses 84 high-floor articulated vehicles, used to form 2- or 3-car trainsets each, with the possibility of forming up to 4-car trainsets. Some train cars have an air conditioning system. The first 25 cars were manufactured by the Mexican company Concarril (National Construction Dealers Railway), the next 23 by the Canadian company Bombardier, followed by 22 that were built in Spain by CAF, with the remaining 14 vehicles built by Bombardier. Specifically, Metrorrey ordered 25 2-section MM-90 cabs in 1988, and 23 MM-90/2F cabs in 1990 from Bombardier; the latter type represents the second generation of the same vehicle equipped with high-tech components, including, among other things, asynchronous traction motors with the power supplied by catenary.

Transmetro

Metrorrey also has a bus system that uses exclusive and obligatory stops along its route. It has nine lines. On Metrorrey Line 1 there are four Transmetro lines, three in Talleres station and one in Exposición station. On Line 2 there are five more Transmetro lines, two at San Nicolas (Santo Domingo and Las Puentes) and three more at Sendero (Montreal, Fomerrey, and Apodaca). There is no additional fee, other than the standard Metro Ticket, to use Transmetro.

Future service

Although the Nuevo León Government performed studies to determine where a new Line 3 should be built, those plans were ultimately discarded when then 2012 presidential candidate, Enrique Peña Nieto promised to build new Lines 3 and 4 within his term. This plan shows that Line 3 will depart from current Line 2 terminal, General Anaya station, and will run underground through the Barrio Antiguo neighborhood. This line will then run in an elevated track outside the city center, with its terminus being the Metropolitan Hospital at the border between San Nicolás and Apodaca, and serving a total of nine stations. In July, 2014, a contract was signed with CAF for 26 trains to run on line 3.

As of October 2014, Line 3 is under construction and expected to open eight new metro stations in March 2016. As of February 2015, Line 3 was on schedule and 50% completed.