Lack of functional studs and poor welds that led to fatigue in the collapse point
Statistics
Trains
1
Vehicles
1
Crew
1[2]
Deaths
26[1]
Injured
98[1]
On 3 May 2021, at 22:22 CDT (UTC−5), a girder overpass in the borough of Tláhuac carrying Line 12 of the Mexico City Metro collapsed beneath a passing train. The overpass and the last two cars of the train fell onto Tláhuac Avenue near Olivos station, killing 26 people and injuring 98 others. It was the Metro's deadliest accident in almost fifty years.
The line experienced technical and structural problems that led to a partial closure of the elevated section where the accident occurred between 2014 and 2015. An earthquake in 2017 further damaged the span; although it was repaired within a few months, residents reported problems still existed years later. The line was announced in 2007 as an underground line with the possibility of operating rubber-tired trains because of the instability of the city's soil. The line was scheduled to be opened by 2010 but due to the budget and time constraints, the project was modified to operate both underground and overground with steel-wheeled trains, which researchers have named as one of the causes of track instabilities and damage since the beginning of the line's operations. Empresas ICA, the company that built the system's other lines, constructed it with Alstom Mexicana and Grupo Carso—the latter owned by Carlos Slim.
Claudia Sheinbaum, mayor of the city, hired the Norwegian risk management firm Det Norske Veritas (DNV) to investigate the causes of the collapse; preliminary investigations found it was related to deficiencies in the construction of the bridge, and a lack of functional studs and poor-quality welds that led to fatigue in the collapsed beam. Further investigations led them to conclude the bridge was designed and built without quality standards, that the construction and the line's design changes had been inadequately supervised, that there was a lack of fixing and safety elements, and that periodic maintenance checks that would have detected the girder buckling had not been done—the last statement being contested by the city government.
Carso, the company responsible for the construction of the collapsed section, denied any wrongdoing but Slim agreed with the government of Mexico to repair the section free of charge. In December 2021, the office of the city's attorney general filed charges against ten former officials—including the project director—who were involved in the construction and supervision of the project in December 2021; as of April 2024, these are awaiting trial for manslaughter, injury, and property damage.
^ abCite error: The named reference lede was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Olvera, Dulce (4 May 2021). "El conductor del tren de la L12 está hospitalizado. Trabajadores exigen revisar todo el Metro" [The driver of the L12 train is hospitalized. Workers demand to overhaul the entire Metro]. SinEmbargo (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 5 May 2021. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
and 25 Related for: Mexico City Metro overpass collapse information
(UTC−5), a girder overpass in the borough of Tláhuac carrying Line 12 of the MexicoCityMetrocollapsed beneath a passing train. The overpass and the last...
The MexicoCityMetro (Spanish: Metro de la Ciudad de México) is a rapid transit system that serves the metropolitan area of MexicoCity, including some...
about its maintenance, which increased after Line 12's overpasscollapse in southern MexicoCity, which resulted in the deaths of 26 people in 2021. Previous...
India overpasscollapse". CBS News. 31 March 2016. Retrieved 15 March 2018. Cheng, Kris; Cheung, Karen (20 May 2016). "Roof collapses at City University...
from its color on the system map, is a rapid transit line of the MexicoCityMetro network. It travels 25.1 kilometers (15.6 mi) along the boroughs of...
MexicoCityMetro Line 9 is one of the 12 metro lines built in MexicoCity, Mexico. Line 9 was the 8th metro line to be built in the network, built between...
Nopalera metro station is a station of the MexicoCityMetro in the colonia (neighborhood) of Miguel Hidalgo and the barrio of Santa Ana Zapotitlán, in...
Olivos metro station is a station of the MexicoCityMetro in the colonias (neighborhoods) of Ampliación Los Olivos and Granjas San Jerónimo, in Tláhuac...
cinema in Mexico started as a combination of telenovelas (soap operas) and Mexican cinema during the 1960s, when the "golden age" of cinema collapsed due to...
Tlaltenco metro station is a MexicoCityMetro station in Tláhuac, MexicoCity. It is an at-grade station with one island platform, served by Line 12 (the...
makeshift staircase at the Maracanã Stadium, a monorail collapse, and the collapse of an unfinished overpass in Belo Horizonte. The most notable disciplinary...
overpass crossing the South Luzon Expressway near Eton City Exit, claimed to be part of Cabuyao. The branch, if active, could have linked Eton City and...
exceeding $10 million. The accident caused a Missouri Route M overpass to partially collapse and caused a fire. The investigation concluded the engineer...
that as well. Widening that segment of the freeway will require several overpass demolitions, as well a major widening through the area, as the freeway...
earth, and topsoil, built 36 bridges and arches, and constructed 11 overpasses over the transverse roads. They also planted 500,000 trees, shrubs, and...
Retrieved 4 July 2014. Cawthorne, Andrew (3 July 2014). "Overpasscollapses in World Cup city, crushes vehicles". Reuters. Archived from the original on...
During the 1980s, several avenues, traffic overpasses, and large buildings were erected, a relative novelty to a city characterized until then by two-story...
railway or other passageway passing under another road or railway, under an overpass. This is not strictly a tunnel. Owing to the enclosed space of a tunnel...
as part of the Metro ExpressLanes project. On July 19, 2015, a bridge carrying the eastbound lanes of I-10 near Desert Center collapsed from floodwater...