Between the technological and the political. The risk discourse on the neoprens of Line 3 of the Guadalajara Light Train

Abstract

The construction of mass transit works are not only engineering technological constructions, but are also sociopolitical constructions. Trains and subway lines are a technological advance in terms of mobility and transport, but sometimes, they become works that are instrumentalized from the political strategy. In this article we intend to analyze the risk discourse for political purposes in transportation works, based on a case study, the political instrumentalization that was given to the issue of neoprene wear, an irregularity that occurred during the process of construction of Línea 3 del Tren Ligero de Guadalajara, a transport megaproject built from 2014 to 2020. A failure that transcended from the political to the social, and from a technological perspective it was not so serious, but it served for the social construction of the risk discourse.