Mexico City mayor calls for contractors to foot metro rebuild costs

Reconstruction of the metro bridge that collapsed in Mexico City in May, which killed 26 people, should be paid for by the firms that built the project, according to the city’s mayor Claudia Sheinbaum.

Sheinbaum’s calls come after an independent investigation by the Civil Engineering Corps of Mexico presented its preliminary findings last week that showed the collapse of the bridge on Line 12 was caused by structural failure.

The line was built by a consortium of Mexico-based Grupo Carso and ICA with Alstom.

At a news conference, Sheibaum said: “We want them to participate in the rehabilitation in economic terms. That is part of what we are proposing.”
However, questions have been raised as to whether the financial support for the work will extend beyond the collapsed section as the Civil Engineering Corps of Mexico said that it had found “evidence of other deficiencies and vulnerabilities that require further analysis” on the 11.1km metro line. The report also questions whether the structural issues were the result of construction problems ro were caused by earthquake damage.

“Deficiencies and vulnerabilities were detected that require further study,” said Civil Engineering Corps of Mexico coordinator for the structural safety technical committee Bernardo Gomez.

According to Gomez, the analysis had revealed fissures in columns and beams, lack of adequate space between girders and other “questionable construction practices”. The report recommended prioritising repairs to the columns.

Gomez said that further analysis of the structural defects was needed to define whether they were the result of construction issues or were caused by the 7.1 magnitude earthquake that struck Mexico City in September 2017.

Source https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/mexico-city-mayor-calls-for-contractors-to-foot-metro-rebuild-costs-22-06-2021/

Department of Civil Engineering https://www.ibu.edu.ba/department-of-civil-engineering/