Newest Mexican Railway - Tren Maya
- Mar 2
- 17 min read
New Mexican Railway – Tren Maya
Having worked and traveled in many countries, lived in South Africa and Central Asia during my international consulting career, I realized that I had never been to the closest foreign country to the south, Mexico. While Mexico has lost it once – vast passenger railway network it is the home to the world’s newest, and controversial railway – the Tren Maya. Clearly, this is something I had to see for myself. Immediately, I worked out an itinerary to visit Merida, Palenque and Mexico City.
A bit of history
1997 proved to be a sorry end to a rich history of passenger rail service in Mexico. As of that year, regular passenger trains ceased operating. But in recent years, there has been a rebirth of new railway construction and a glimmer of hope that this trend will continue, supported by a strong political will on the part of the Mexican government with the emergence of Tren Maya.
Let’s have a look at how it used to be, in Mexico. In my July 1958 edition of the nearly 1,500 page Official Guide of the Railways and Steam Navigation Lines of the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico and Cuba no fewer than eight full pages of passenger trains by the National Railways of Mexico (N de M) and for the Railway of Chihuahua and Pacific. The following are images of those pages in memory of what used to be in Mexico’s proud history of passenger rail transport.
July 1958 Official Guide of the Railways
A rich history of rail passenger services
While the National Railways of Mexico still exists, but only as a state – owned shell entity under liquidation and the Chihuahua and Pacific Railroad is now part of Ferromex (a private railway concession). Only the Copper Canyon Express remains of the Chihuahua and Pacific Railway and no former N de M passenger services remain. However, a new era may be dawning for Mexican passenger trains as during the past couple of years, two new rail services have surfaced, with strong government prodding and financial support; though time will be the judge of their long – term success.
Before he became infamous for clinging to power for 30 years (1876 – 1911), it was railways which President Porfirio Díaz was most famous. It was under his watch that the development of the railway network flourished, much of which was accomplished by American and British companies.
Mexico’s first railway was conceived in 1837, when the president granted a Mexican businessman a concession to build a line from the Gulf coast port of Veracruz to Mexico City. The first train to run between the two cities, however, was not until 40 years later, built by the British. The rail network expanded from 9,500 km (5,900 miles) in 1890 to more than 19,000 km (11,800 miles) by 1910. The Mexican railways were nationalized in 1937 by then-president Lázaro Cárdenas, a year before the expropriation of the oil industry, and run by the state for the next six decades.
There were some private railway concessions in the country but only for freight service. Excluding the new Tren Maya, the only conventional passenger train services are provided by the Copper Cayon rail line was part of the Chihuahua and Pacific Railway, first planned in the 1890s by US investors but not completed till 1961 and once connected the central US to the Gulf of California. The passenger service’s eastern terminus, Chihuahua, is the capital and largest city in the state (the city and state have the same name). The western terminus, Los Mochis, is the principal city in the northern part of the state of Sinaloa. The line continues to operate passenger service with the help of Mexican government subsidies, operated by Ferromex, a private railway concession, as a regularly scheduled intercity passenger train (between the end points, Los Mochis and Chihuahua) and a special tourist train which terminates about 100 km south of Chihuahua, at the mountain town of Creel.
Japanese heritage is a feature of the Copper Canyon Express (known as “El Chepe”) as its equipment consists entirely of 68-seat coaches and food service cars built in Japan by Kinkisharyo in the 1980s for the National Railways of Mexico. The N de M was soon broken up and sold off to private companies in the late 1990s. Their main unique aspects of the passenger equipment are the window blinds placed between two panes of glass, operated by control knobs at the top of each window, and the six air conditioning units mounted on the ceiling of each car. 1960s-built freight locomotives supply the motive power and as the locomotives lack head-end power capability, a generator beneath each car provides hotel power - making for a very loud train.
Passenger resurgence begins – bullet trains proposed but more modest goals realized
A bullet train concept was planned between Mexico City and Queretaro under the administration of President Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018) as well as a trans-peninsular passenger train joining the Yucatán state capital city of Mérida with the popular tourist region of Riviera Maya, and a train from Mexico City to Toluca.
From the outset the projects were criticized as being unprofitable (of course, what rail passenger services are?), but the plan was to reignite the rail industry and recreate a modern high-speed passenger train network capable of reducing travel times along what have become highly congested highways and give passengers more choice in travel.
However, these grand schemes were not to be (and turned out to be an expensive mistake) as the bullet train project was canceled for political reasons with allegations of corruption— and shortly after, the trans-peninsular line was postponed indefinitely for economic reasons. As the Chinese were already contractually on board to build the new high-speed line, the government had to pay over 1 million dollars to China in cancellation costs.
A few year’ later, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018-2024) went a step further, rekindling the idea of a trans-peninsular train and expanded into the Tren Maya, a tourist line running around the entire Yucatán peninsula. The Mayan Train opened in late 2023, although some sections have yet to be completed and those in operation, still in the “testing” mode.
Further passenger train initiatives then begin to pick up steam. President Claudia Sheinbaum, who took office on Oct. 1, 2024, took up the baton and intends to continue expanding passenger rail service. Her government has resumed plans for a Mexico City-to-Querétaro train —but not a bullet train— and others in different parts of the country. These plans include completion of the Tren Maya, the Mexico City-Querétaro project, the Interoceanic line crossing the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, several lines to the new Mexico City airport at Santa Lucía (including a stop on a new Mexico-to-Pachuca route), and others from Mexico City to Nuevo Laredo on the U.S. border, and Querétaro to Irapuato. A rather ambitious program – let’s see how it unfolds.
Sheinbaum’s efforts will likely be supported by the passage of a bill restoring government control of the railways. The railway bill was even supported by the opposition—an unusual occurrence in these days of political division. Private operators can make their own plans for offering passenger service, and have expressed interest in several projects, or they can allow third parties access to their lines. Government plans also involve developing new lines where necessary[1].
Government decree – more rail passenger services – operated by the military
On 1 May 2022, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced an investment of 30 billion pesos for the Tren Interoceanico, which involved the rehabilitation of the section from the city of Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, to the city of Palenque, Chiapas, in the southeast of the country. Freight operations on the Coatzacoalcos-Salina Cruz segment (on the Pacific Ocea) had begun by September 2023.
In November 2023, Mexico’s government issued a federal mandate this week forcing private railway companies operating in the country to offer passenger service over their normal daily freight runs. Published in the Mexican government’s official gazette, Monday’s decree gives the country’s two main private concessionary rail operators — Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) and Ferromex — until Jan. 15 to present proposals for offering the passenger service themselves. If the two rail operators decline, the government will put Mexico’s army or navy in charge of lines designated for passenger services. There has been no further information as to what transpired.
Mexico’s freight railway system is owned by the federal government and operated by CPKC and Ferromex under concessions. “We made this decision because train travel will be more economical, comfortable and less polluting, since the tracks can be electrified,” Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said during a news conference. “It is safer public transportation and the mobility of the population from the main cities of Mexico to the northern border will increase.”
The decree orders the use of more than 10,000 private rail lines in Mexico that primarily carry freight to establish four short intercity passenger routes, along with three long passenger routes from central Mexico to Mexican cities along the U.S.-Mexico border. The longer routes include passenger service from Mexico City to the border cities of Nuevo Laredo and Nogales, along with passenger service from Aguascalientes to the border city of Ciudad Juarez. Officials for Calgary, Canada-based CPKC in a news release said it is “reviewing the draft decree … regarding potential passenger rail service on certain existing freight rail corridors.” In May, CPKC reached an agreement with the Mexican government to carry out a study around passenger trains from Mexico City to destinations across the country. “As required by our concession, CPKC de Mexico will work closely with the Mexican federal government to evaluate passenger service on that corridor,” CPKC said in a statement. “The draft decree emphasizes that the public freight rail service will be respected and as such, we do not expect an adverse impact on our concession. CPKC has extensive experience hosting passenger rail services in multiple locations across its network in the U.S and Canada while efficiently managing freight service.”
But still, freight services dominate the Mexican rails. According to the International Trade Administration (ITA), Mexico has made improvements to its rail infrastructure in recent years. The ITA is an agency in the Department of Commerce that promotes U.S. exports of nonagricultural goods and services. The current top three product sectors using rail service in Mexico by volume are industrial (47%), agricultural (26%) and mineral (10%). “The rail cargo improvements coincide with the expansion of Mexico’s foreign trade,” ITA said. “One big driver of trade growth is the automotive industry (currently trains move seven out of 10 cars produced in the country, while a decade ago it was only three out of 10). Expansion of the oil and gas sector is a major emerging driver. Rail is already the main means of transporting fuels, cereals, minerals and metals.
Tren Maya – Mexico’s New Railway – Not a smooth beginning
Despite heated controversy over its damage to the environment of Yucatan, huge cost overruns and somewhat hidden funding by the Chinese government, the Tren Maya finally came to life at the end of 2023. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was the driving force behind the railway’s development.
Tren Maya has faced significant controversy due to its (some say) illegal construction and environmental damage. Some highlights of the project:
· The project was initially proposed in 2018 and has been criticized for its environmental impact, including the deforestation of over 6,600 hectares and the loss of more than seven million trees.
· The construction has been linked to over 60 workplace deaths and multiple route changes, raising concerns about the project's operational testing and quality.
· Indigenous communities have secured a judicial suspension for the construction of sections of the Tren Maya, citing violations of environmental principles.
· The project has been accused of destroying archaeological sites and artifacts, with reports of purposeful destruction by construction workers.
· Overall, the Tren Maya has been described as a controversial megaproject that has caused significant harm to the environment and indigenous territories.
As announced in September 2018 by Mexican president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador the Tren Maya construction began in earnest. Several earlier attempts to begin construction had fallen on hard times. What has finally resulted is a 1,554 km rail project in the provinces of Yucatan, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Campeche and Chiapas, serving the tourist zones of Cancun and Merida.
The Mexican Office of the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights criticized the vote project and the vote that the government engineered for its public approval. They pointed out that voters were provided with only the positive effects
Tren Maya Routes
of the project (improved attention to water supplies, health, education, housing, environmental protection, and culture) but were not informed of the negative effects. The Human Rights Commission also criticized the translations of the material used, the short period of time for the election, and low turnout, particularly among indigenous women. They noted that many potential voters did not have the financial resources to travel to the voting locations, and that the majority of voters were municipal employees. The government rejected the criticisms, stating the consultation met international standards – and the project went ahead.
Opponents of the project claim that there has not been enough engineering, procurement and commission time for adequate operational testing. Experts also worry that the accelerated construction could be hiding structural problems. So far, the project has been linked to more than 60 workplace deaths, multiple route changes, and allegations of purchasing faulty ballast from corrupt networks. Moreover, several individuals/contractors have been accused of overpricing faulty materials for the construction of the Tren Maya project.
Funding for the project came primarily from a tourism tax levied in the region, as well as funds diverted from other programs, including the Mexican Grand Prix.
Construction began in June 2020. The construction companies are Mota-Engil México SAPI and China Communications Construction Company LTD for section one (Palenque-Escárcega), Operadora CICSA and FCC Construcción for section two (Escárcega-Calkiní), Construcciones Urales and GAMI Ingeniería e Instalaciones for section three (Calkiní-Izamal), and Grupo ICA for section four (Izamal–Cancún). The participation of China in the partial funding of the railway is in dispute, as it is rumored that additional Chinese funding has been disguised and cannot be traced directly.
In 2019 a majority of the 21 construction companies involved in the project considered completion by 2024 (the end of the then-President’s term) as too fast, an unreasonable time to construct the extensive railway, there was also fear of a potential disaster caused by substandard work, such as the May 2021 Mexico City Metro overpass collapse. In January 2022, to speed up construction, the route was changed to no longer enter Playa del Carmen. As of June 2021, 10% of the project had been completed. This had increased to 25% by February 2022, and 67% by June 2023. Operations officially began on December 15, 2023.
Rolling stock – French Design
Original plans in 2019 called for the line to be electrified; however, in order to reduce costs, in June 2020 the government scrapped this idea. In another about face, then in August 2020 they announced that half the route, from Mérida to Chetumal via Cancún, would be electrified. Plans are currently underway to electrify most of the existing routes.
The rolling stock of the Tren Maya was designed by Alstom, and its 219 cars were being built in Ciudad Sahagun, under license from Alstom. Regular passenger service will be provided by the Xiinbal train, named for a Mayan term meaning "to walk", as the regular passenger service. They will have business class seats, standard seating, and a buffet car. The Janal trains (from a Mayan term meaning "to eat") will add a dining car to the previous services, which will have aquatic landscapes on the outside, and an interior inspired by the work of Luis Barragan. The P'atal trains (from a Mayan term meaning "to stay") will have reclining seats and sleeping cabins, designated especially for long-distance journeys. These have not yet been inaugurated.
In addition, several locomotives have been imported to Mexico to help construct the line, including eight ex-China Railway DF-4D locomotives owned by Chinese contractors, some Vossloh G2000 BB locomotives shunting locomotives, and "older locomotives imported secondhand from Europe".[2]
As usual with mega-projects, projected and actual costs varied widely. The project was estimated to cost 150 billion pesos (US$7.4 billion) and attract 8,000 daily riders. An alternative study by a public policy in 2019 estimated the cost of the project would be 480 billion pesos (US$25.3 billion), in October 2021 the construction estimate was revised to 200 billion pesos. In October 2020 the estimated total cost of the project, including 30 years of operating and maintenance but not including electrification, was about 321 billion pesos.
In December 2020 president López Obrador announced that the armed forces would operate three sections of the route, and that profits would be used to strengthen finances for pensioners and retirees of the armed forces. In March 2021 the General Director Rogelio Jiménez Pons said that the military would own the entire route, not just the three sections, and would receive all the profits.
Ticket prices are low for Mexican nationals, but quite high for foreign tourists. For example, the cost of a single trip for locals, for the section that goes from Cancún Airport to Playa de Carmen will be around 50 pesos. Tourists will be expected to pay between 800 and 1000 pesos for the same trip. When explaining the difference in price, it was stated that tourists will have additional services available, such as restaurants.
Environmental Consequences
Between 2019 and 2023, the construction of the Tren Maya resulted in the deforestation of more than 6,600 hectares, including the loss of over seven million trees. Additionally, it affected approximately 125 cenotes and natural caverns, critical components of the subterranean ecosystem and the hydrological system of southeastern Mexico. This has been highly criticized by many but the construction methods are typical of new railway projects worldwide.
The most severe impacts occurred in the southern Section 5, connecting Cancún to Tulum, where an estimated 3.6 million trees were lost. This segment also traverses ecologically sensitive areas, including the Ramsar site “Anillo de Cenotes” in Yucatán, the Catazajá Lagoon System in Chiapas and Tabasco, and the Los Petenes Biosphere Reserve in Campeche.
During a meeting with media and environmental experts, Alicia Bárcena acknowledged that the Tren Maya caused “significant harm” to regional biodiversity and ecological structures. In remarks obtained by El País, the secretary emphasized the need for extensive restoration.
Marina Robles García, Undersecretary of Biodiversity and Environmental Restoration, stated that the costs of the plan should be borne by those who carried out the construction. “Those responsible must pay,” she declared, without specifying funding mechanisms or identifying which entities would be held accountable.
Rumble through the Jungle
A Rescue Plan?
The proposed environmental rescue plan, still in the design phase, includes several measures. According to NotiPress, these include removing metal barriers obstructing wildlife movement, restoring degraded mangroves, and prohibiting secondary roads in jungle areas used for tourism.
Additionally, the government plans to designate Quintana Roo’s cenote and cavern system as a biosphere reserve in collaboration with the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas. If implemented, this would integrate the region into an international network of ecologically protected zones.
Sergio Graf Montero, Director of the National Forestry Commission (Conafor), highlighted efforts to involve local producers, such as chicleros (tree harvesters), in regenerating the forest through sustainable use of ecologically and economically valuable species.
“Today, environmental authorities admit we were right. They recognize that the so-called Tren Maya was built illegally, violated environmental laws, and caused massive damage. Now is the time to compensate, restore, and protect the remaining forest”.[3]
My Mexican friends, upset at the ecological damage caused, tell me “I will not spend a peso to ride the Tren Maya”. So, for sure, I had to take a ride on this destructive train and see for myself the disaster inflicted upon the Yucatan.
Railway supports piercing a cenote (national sink hole)
Riding Tren Maya from Merida
What are the first things you do when entering an airport or busy railway station as part of your travel in any country? Most people look at the departure board, and the clock; it should be noted that there are neither of these in Merida’s Teya Station of Tren Maya.
Merida Teya Station. Merida Teya (meaning “fruit tree, or flowers”) station provided the venue for my first Tren Maya experience. Initially on the high-speed line towards Cancun, then on the long westward extension to Palenque. The station’s design was modern and all areas inside were immaculate.
Some passenger conveniences were, however, lacking at Merida. There was no train information board nor working clocks. While there was a single video screen that showed images of Tren Maya, and a small corner of this screen showed the correct time, the large analog clocks in the terminal, all showed exactly twelve o’clock – all day. While there were boarding announcements, and many station attendants (actually soldiers, as the railway is a military operation) who were very helpful to travelers, a train information board showing the status of the many trains during the day served by this station, would certainly be of help to the traveling public.
The photo to the left shows the entrance to the Merida station – a spacious structure, with many conveniences, with the exceptions of the departure board and working clocks. Ticket and passport checks are made for each boarding passenger, as well as x-ray scanning of all baggage.
Adjacent to every Tren Maya station is an army barracks, housing the railway workers and security personnel.
Merida Station
High Speed Railway Line. I traveled over two sections of the Tren Maya – the high - speed line Merida to Izamal and the much longer route Merida to Palenque. While the ride was enjoyable, it was clear to me that this railway was constructed in a hurry and many features of a modern, high-speed railway, are lacking. Previous comments by the contractors that built the line in which they stated the construction timetable was too fast, turned out to be born out by the facts on the ground.
The double track Merida – Cancun line does indeed, have the makings of a high – speed railway line with maximum speeds up to 160 km/hr. and electrification infrastructure in place. The train sets are Alstom design, made in Mexico under license, are “hybrid”, that is dual equipped to operate using overhead electrical power, or using its diesel engines to generate its own electric power for traction motors.
While the line (Merida to Cancun) is electrified, it is doubtful that it is used at the present time as no pantographs were visible on the train sets (see photo above).
While I could not confirm, maximum speeds were likely close to 160 km/hr. but at every switch, the train slowed to about 80 km/hr., even when during a straight movement (not diverging to the adjacent track). This is likely because these were not “high speed switches” which are specially designed for trains to continue to operate at high speed over the switches. The ride was smooth, however, and this speed reduction over switches was the only negative operational feature I noticed. My train departed Merida and arrived at Izamal dead on time.
Tren Maya – Merida to Palenque
My longest Tren Maya ride was just over 7 hours for the 500 km westward from Merida to Palenque. This line is not high-speed and mostly single track – it is not electrified. There was plenty of evidence that this line was only recently completed, and operation was now in the testing phase. Slow running over many sections of newly-laid track, many rough sections of jointed rail compared with the mostly smooth sections of continuously welded rail, in several embankments, earth was protruding through the thin material covering the side slopes, rendering it dangerously susceptible to landslides during the rainy season.
In Conclusion
Much criticism has been levied at Tren Maya about its destruction of the environment. But, Tren Maya does not have a monopoly on the negative impacts of deforestation in the region. A recent study by McGill University in Montreal[4], the Mayam people began farming around 4,000 years ago, and the spread of agriculture and building of cities eventually led to widespread deforestation and soil erosion. Scientists also suspect that deforestation contributed to the mysterious collapse of Mayan civilization more than 1,000 years ago. A surprising feature of this study is that the soils in the region haven’t fully recovered as carbon sinks in over a millennium of reforestation, says McGill University geochemist Peter Douglas.
It is true, that in order to make way for the Tren Maya construction, millions of hectares of land and vegetation had to be cut in order to prepare the right of way for the new railway and the construction process was accelerated in order to make the completion before President Manuel Lopez Obrador’s term concluded. But this is not unusual in the case of most greenfield railway construction.
For example, the construction of the transcontinental railroad in the USA involved significant engineering feats and faced numerous challenges. One of the most notable instances of cutting corners occurred during the construction of the Central Pacific Railroad. Workers cut corners by building shoddy bridges or sections of track that would have to be rebuilt later. This practice was a result of the rush to complete the project and the lack of resources. The Central Pacific Railroad faced severe winters and the need to blast through hard granite, which made tunneling particularly difficult and dangerous. Despite these challenges, the railroad was completed, and the American West was transformed[5].
The Trans - Siberian railway, largely constructed under British supervision, initially laid poor quality tracks on permafrost as well as directly on the ice of Lake Baikal, knowing full well that these would have to be rectified on a more permanent basis if the line was to have long – term sustainability. While there were many derailments due to these shortcuts, the line was eventually improved and now carries hundreds of millions of tons of cargo annually.
So, while the cutting of many trees, the resulting environmental damage, a few locations of rough-riding jointed rail and some shortcuts during the construction of Tren Maya can be criticized, they likely will be rectified in time. The stations observed were well – constructed and staffed by helpful and sometimes cheerful Mexican military units, operation was on time over the high-speed line though about 40 minutes late into Palenque. I am certain that the minor inconveniences noted will be rectified in time and the result will be a smooth – running new railway line in Southern Mexico.
[2] Much of the background material was obtained from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tren_Maya
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