THE LIFE-CYCLE OF THE RAILROAD AND THE SOCIO-TECHNICAL IMPASSE OF TRANSPORTATION IN MEXICO: AN HISTORICAL INQUIRY

Authors

  • Guillermo GUAJARDO CEIICH-UNAM

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35305/eishir.v2i3.161

Keywords:

Mexico, technology, transportation, railroad, roads

Abstract

This essay offers an examination of the life-cycle of therailroad in Mexico, its introduction, growth, maturation, and decline, and considersits interaction with other means of transportation, the institutionalenvironment, and public policy. In particular, emphasis is given to thelong-term impact of the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920), which produced asocio-technical impasse with regard to land transportation until approximately1960. During these years various modes of transportation coexisted althoughnone was capable of displacing the railway or emerging as the dominant mode oftransport. The reasons for this situation may be located in the material,institutional, and social damages produced by the Revolution, low levels ofurbanization, rural underdevelopment, as well as institutional uncertainty withregard new forms of mobility.

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Published

2012-07-30

How to Cite

GUAJARDO, G. (2012). THE LIFE-CYCLE OF THE RAILROAD AND THE SOCIO-TECHNICAL IMPASSE OF TRANSPORTATION IN MEXICO: AN HISTORICAL INQUIRY. Estudios Del ISHiR, 2(3), 5–16. https://doi.org/10.35305/eishir.v2i3.161