Mexico’s Monterrey gets a new Eco guideway

Texas-based startup Green Corridors proposes constructing a 265-km elevated guideway linking Laredo, Texas, with Monterrey, Nuevo León (Mexico), featuring autonomous freight shuttles to transform North American supply chains.

US President Donald Trump issued a presidential permit for the $10 billion project this month. CEO Mitch Carlson stated to Freight Waves that securing construction permits and right-of-way approvals on both sides of the border is now critical.”We’re acquiring the concession agreement for Highway 1 right-of-way in Nuevo León State,” Carlson confirmed this pivotal legal process within Mexico’s industrial heartland

“We’re engaged in intensive collaboration with Mexican federal and state authorities,” Carlson underscored the substantive governmental coordination.The CEO projected completion of the elevated guideway by 2031, followed by the commencement of technical testing operations.

According to the Green Corridors website, the company intends to build a“groundbreaking, sustainable GC-IFTS,” or Green Corridors Intelligent Freight Transport System. The elevated guideway is slated to connect to two freight terminals in Laredo and two in Monterrey. The size of each of those terminals would be around 100 acres (40.4 hectares/404,000 square meters), according to Carlson.

Nuevo León Gov. Samuel García signed a memorandum of understanding with Green Corridors CEO Mitch Carlson, left, in March 2024. Now the project has support from officials on the U.S. side of the border as well. (Green Corridors/X)

It also states that the permit “shall expire 5 years from the date of its issuance if the Permittee has not commenced construction of the Border facilities by that date.”

Carlson told Freight Waves that the estimated cost of the GC-IFTS is $6-10 billion. However, he cited a price tag of $10 billion or more in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the project is backed by investors including the Swinbank family office in Houston, Druker Capital in New York and Chang Robotics Fund in Jacksonville, Florida.

Green Corridors appears to be seeking additional investment, saying on its website that it “offers an opportunity to invest in transformational infrastructure that fixes a visible problem at the U.S.’s largest [inland] port.”

Source: https://mexiconewsdaily.com/business/automated-freight-corridor-mexico-us/