Nopalera metro station

Nopalera metro station^[a] is a station of the Mexico City Metro in the colonia (neighborhood) of Miguel Hidalgo and the barrio of Santa Ana Zapotitlán, in Tláhuac, Mexico City. It is an elevated station with two side platforms, served by Line 12 (the Golden Line), between Olivos and Zapotitlán metro stations. The name of the station alludes to the numerous pig and poultry farms that used to occupy the area, and to the nopal cactuses that used to grow on their fields. Similarly, the pictogram for the station depicts the outline of a flowering nopal. The station was opened on 30 October 2012, on the first day of service between Tláhuac and Mixcoac metro stations.

Nopalera
STC rapid transit
Station platform, 2012
General information
Location	Tláhuac Avenue Tláhuac, Mexico City Mexico
Coordinates	19.299970°N 99.046049°W / 19.299970; -99.046049
Owned by	Government of Mexico City
Operated by	Sistema de Transporte Colectivo (STC)
Line(s)	(Observatorio – Tláhuac)
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	2
Connections	Route: 162
Construction
Structure type	Elevated
Bicycle facilities	Bicycle parking-only
Accessible	Yes
Other information
Status	In service
History
Opened	30 October 2012 (2012-10-30)
Previous names	Francisco Villa (planned)
Key dates
12 March 2014 (2014-03-12)	Temporarily closed
29 November 2015 (2015-11-29)	Reopened
19 September 2017 (2017-09-19)	Temporarily closed
30 October 2017 (2017-10-30)	Reopened
3 May 2021 (2021-05-03)	Temporarily closed
30 January 2024 (2024-01-30)	Reopened[1]
Passengers
2023	0[2]  0%
Rank	188/195[2]
Services
Preceding station Mexico City Metro Following station Olivos toward Observatorio Line 12 Zapotitlán toward Tláhuac
Route map Legend Tláhuac yard Tláhuac Tlaltenco Zapotitlán Nopalera Olivos Tezonco Periférico Oriente Calle 11 Lomas Estrella San Andrés Tomatlán Culhuacán Atlalilco Mexicaltzingo Ermita Eje Central Parque de los Venados Zapata Hospital 20 de Noviembre Insurgentes Sur Mixcoac Operational Under construction Valentín Campa Álvaro Obregón Observatorio This diagram: view talk edit
Location Nopalera Location within Mexico City Area map

The facilities are accessible to people with disabilities as there are elevators, tactile pavings and braille signage plates and there is a bicycle parking station. In 2019, the station had an average daily ridership of 22,491 passengers, making it the 5th busiest station on the line. Since it was opened, Nopalera metro station has had multiple incidents, including a 20-month closure in 2014 due to structural faults found in the elevated section of the line, a closure caused by the 19 September 2017 earthquake that affected the station's track columns, and the subsequent collapse of the track near Olivos station in 2021.

Location

The station in 2012

Nopalera is a metro station along Tláhuac Avenue, located in the colonia (Mexican Spanish for "neighborhood") of Miguel Hidalgo and the barrio of Santa Ana Zapotitlán, in the Tláhuac borough, in southeastern Mexico City. Within the system, the station lies between Olivos and Zapotitlán metro stations.^[3] The area is serviced by Route 162 of the Red de Transporte de Pasajeros network.^[4]

Exits

There are two exits:^[3]

• North: Tláhuac Avenue and General Manuel M. López Avenue, Santa Ana Zapotitlán.
• South: Tláhuac Avenue and Las Bodas de Fígaro Street, Miguel Hidalgo.

History and construction

Line 12 of the Mexico City Metro was built by Empresas ICA, in association with Alstom Mexicana and Grupo Carso.^[5] Nopalera is an elevated station;^[6] the Nopalera–Zapotitlán interstation is 1,276 meters (4,186 ft) long, while the Nopalera–Olivos section measures 1,360 meters (4,460 ft).^[7] The station was opened on 30 October 2012, on the first day of the Mixcoac–Tláhuac service.^[8] The facilities are accessible to people with disabilities as there are elevators, tactile pavings and braille signage plates and there is a bicycle parking station.^[3]

The pictogram depicts the close-up of a prickly pear plant with two buds and a flower. According to the Metro system, the species is a Opuntia matudae plant (or xoconostle) and they decided to use a single pad to differentiate it from the Bondojito metro station pictogram, a Line 4 metro station whose signage depicts a complete prickly pear plant.^[3]

Originally, the station was projected to be named "Francisco Villa", after the Mexican revolutionary of the same name.^[9] Instead, the chosen name and pictogram allude to the pig and poultry farms that existed in the area which were surrounded by prickly pear plants.^[3]

Incidents

Since 2010, the Superior Auditor of the Federation has audited Line 12 several times and has reported several faults, like cracks and detachments along the line, including some at the Nopalera–Zapotitlán–Tlaltenco overpass.^[10][11] From 12 March 2014 to 29 November 2015,^[12][13] Nopalera was closed due to technical and structural faults in the stretch Atlalilco–Tláhuac.^[14][15] After the 19 September 2017 earthquake damaged Line 12 tracks, Nopalera remained closed until 30 October 2017.^[16][17] According to the official report provided by the Metro system, the Olivos–Nopalera overpass was secured^[18] as Column 69 had a flexo-compression failure at the lower end. To repair it, weight was released, epoxy resins were injected, additional reinforcement was placed, and the column was enlarged to its maximum stress zone.^[19] On 3 May 2021, the station was closed after a portion of Line 12's elevated railway collapsed between Olivos and Tezonco stations.^[20]

The system identified Curves 11 and 12 along Tláhuac Avenue as a railroad wear zone.

Between Nopalera and Zapotitlán metro stations, there are two sharp curves close to each other; the system marks them as Curves 11 and 12. Curve 11 has a radius of 200 m (660 ft) while Curve 12 has a radius of 201.9 m (662 ft)—both are the tightest of the overpass.^[21] According to the Metro union leader, the trains wear out the rails and wheels when there are sharp curves and cause them to clatter. This damage structures such as girders and columns.^[22] After the 2017 earthquake, a girder in the section was reinforced with a diagonally-reinforced beam^[23] because a seismic top on Column 41 was damaged during the incident.^[24] The line uses FE-10 steel-wheeled trains by Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles. They have a length of 140 m (460 ft) and a width of 280 cm (110 in).^[25][26] According to the former director of the system, Joel Ortega, trains do not exit a curve when they are already on the next one, and the maximum speed for taking them was adjusted to 25 km/h (16 mph) for safe train travel but the speed wears and tears on the tracks and wheels. He also said that damage to the tracks had been reported since 2012 and that 900 m (3,000 ft) of track had been replaced within a month of its inauguration.^[27]

Ridership

According to the data provided by the authorities, except for the years when Nopalera metro station was closed for several months, commuters averaged between 13,900 and 22,500 daily entrances. In 2019, before the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on public transport, the station's ridership totaled 8,209,571 passengers,^[28] which was an increase of 842,644 passengers compared to 2018.^[29] In the same year, Nopalera was the 71st busiest station of the system's 195 stations, and it was the line's fifth busiest.^[28]

Annual passenger ridership
Year	Ridership	Average daily	Rank	% change	Ref.
2023	0	0	188/195	NA	[2]
2022	0	0	176/195	−100.00%	[30]
2021	1,619,653	4,437	152/195	−70.12%	[31]
2020	5,420,824	14,810	52/195	−33.97%	[32]
2019	8,209,571	22,491	71/195	+11.44%	[28]
2018	7,366,927	20,183	89/195	+20.80%	[29]
2017	6,098,309	16,707	109/195	+3.56%	[33]
2016	5,888,690	16,089	112/195	+1,295.16%	[34]
2015	422,079	1,156	191/195	−59.59%	[35]
2014	1,044,607	2,861	187/195	−92.43%	[36]

Notes

1. Estación del Metro Nopalera. Spanish pronunciation: [no.pa'leɾa] '"`UNIQ--phonos-00000032-QINU`"'. The name of the station literally means "Prickly pear plant" in Spanish.