Leitner: Two New Lifts Set New Standards For Modern Urban Mobility In Mexico
Investments in urban ropeways continue to advance globally. In Mexico, the ropeway manufacturer LEITNER has been inextricably linked to the expansion of sustainable mobility systems since the beginning of its success story there in 2016. The company is currently responsible for the construction of two new systems in the cities of Morelia and Naucalpan. This will increase the ropeway network constructed by LEITNER in Mexico by a further 15 kilometers to a total of 40 kilometers by 2026. The boom in ropeways in key urban centers is making a significant contribution to sustainably improving the quality of public transport and the local quality of life.
Work on a six-station cable car in Morelia began in autumn 2024. The UNESCO World Heritage city, with a population of one million, is located 250 kilometers west of Mexico City in the state of Michoacán. The two lines of the "Teleferico Morelia" branch off from the main train station near the city center. The first line, with two intermediate stations, runs northwest to the bus station near the stadium. The second line runs south, with an intermediate station connecting the university campus and the zoo. The €90 million project is scheduled for completion by autumn 2026 and will be used by around 20,000 people per day. A further extension of Morelia's cable car, with a distance of 1.6 kilometers, has already been announced.
A second, 9.6-kilometer-long cable car will be built in Naucalpan, in the greater Mexico City area, by fall 2026. The €200 million investment will consist of three lines with ten stations and will sustainably complement public transport in this part of the city. Around 380 cabins will transport millions of people here every year, elevating the importance of cable cars in Mexico's urban mobility to a new level. The new "Mexicable Linea 3" will serve a catchment area of around 700,000 people as a daily means of transport and reduce travel time from currently more than an hour to 27 minutes. Forecasts assume approximately 40,000 passengers per day.
"The two new projects in Mexico represent another milestone for LEITNER and the expansion of urban ropeway mobility. With the new systems, we can offer the people of Morelia and Naucalpan a modern and environmentally friendly mobility solution that will make daily life easier and sustainably strengthen the regions. It is an investment in the future of both cities," said Giacomo Trattenero, the responsible project manager at LEITNER.
Urban cable cars in Mexico: A unique success story since 2016
The success story of urban cable cars in Mexico began in 2016, when LEITNER's first system began operating in the Mexico City metropolitan region. The nearly five-kilometer-long "Mexicable 1 – Línea Roja" in the municipality of Ecatepec de Morelos consists of two gondola lifts in the northeast and marked the start of a comprehensive expansion program. Five years later, Cablebus 2 opened. The nearly eleven-kilometer-long cable car system in the Iztapalapa district, in the southeast of the Mexico City metropolitan region, has since offered commuters a better, and above all, safer, and faster, connection to public transport. The next project was the "Mexicable 2 - Línea Verde," which starts at the second station of the GD10, "Mexicable 1 - Línea Roja," and transports passengers via three interconnected cable cars in approximately 300 cabins over a length of 8.5 kilometers and seven stations to the Indios Verdes metro station. Together, the Mexicable systems 1 and 2 currently serve over 65 million passengers. By the end of 2022, a total of seven LEITNER systems with a total length of 24 kilometers were already in operation. This rapid development continues with the current two major projects.
