Architectural and Archaeological Views on Railway Heritage Conservation in Mexico

Industrial heritage is well acknowledged in several countries. However in the specific case of Mexico, this kind of heritage still faces legal, conceptual and technical difficulties in order to be preserved. Railway heritage as a subset of industrial heritage is strongly linked to historic episodes in the country. In order to explore the potential of railway heritage in Mexico in terms of sociocultural values, a research strategy was applied implying both architectural and archaeological approaches. As a result, the social space of railway heritage starts to be understood in a specific case study located in the state of Morelos, as required by the current international trends in heritage conservation. It is expected that this work represents a contribution to the revalorization of this kind of heritage in Mexico and other countries with similar difficulties.