Lines of Care: Reclaiming the Mexican Rail Network

Abstract

Across Mexico, the journey of Central and South American migrants moving north is marked by uncertainty, endurance, and brief moments of rest. As migration flows increase and policies fluctuate, Mexico has become both a country of transit and a place of destination and refuge. Migrants travel along a series of freight train routes that cross the country from south to north, jumping onto moving trains and riding atop them for hundreds of miles in dangerous conditions. Along these routes, they pass through towns and cities with little infrastructure to support them. Meanwhile, more than 500 abandoned train stations remain scattered across Mexico: remnants of a once-national passenger system now overtaken by private freight operations. This thesis asks whether these forgotten structures can be reimagined to meet the humanitarian and social needs of both migrants and local communities. How can architecture provide safety and shelter while also creating pathways toward integration, dignity, and coexistence? The project is grounded in the belief that architecture can act as a civic framework rather than a finished object, one that negotiates between the permanence of fixed programs and the openness of collective use. It draws from models of community-driven urbanism, where informal construction and social collaboration become agents of design. While the larger thesis envisions a network of reactivated train stations across Mexico, this research focuses on a single site, the abandoned freight station in San Luis Potosí, as a prototype for how these structures might begin to host integration, learning, and coexistence.