MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim’s Grupo Carso said Wednesday it had signed a formal agreement with Mexico City authorities to rebuild a metro line that collapsed in May, killing 26 people came.
Earlier this month, Mexico City officials said they would open criminal proceedings against the people and companies involved in the construction of Subway Line 12 and urged the companies to quickly reach settlement agreements.
Grupo Carso denied responsibility for the accident. It said that despite disagreement over the cause of the incident and in order not to further delay the rehabilitation and reinforcement work, it “agreed to advance legal procedures related to this unfortunate event” by signing Wednesday’s agreement.
The company informed the Attorney General that it was interested in participating in a compensation fund for the victims of the accident.
The accident occurred in May when an overpass and train car crashed into a stream of cars on the route in the southeast of the city.
An independent auditor found that missing bolts and poor welds contributed to the crash, which was confirmed in a separate investigation by the Mexico City Attorney General.
Slim said his construction company, Grupo Carso, which helped build the collapsed section, will repair the line at no cost to the government. The Mexican Grupo ICA and the French Alstom were part of the consortium that built the entire line.
(Reporting by Anthony Esposito and Miguel Angel Gutierrez; Editing by Sam Holmes and Leslie Adler)
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