The Maya Train railroad, which connects cities and towns in the states of Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo, is now fully operational.
Exactly one year after passenger trains started running between Campeche and Cancún, President Claudia Sheinbaum on Sunday inaugurated sections 6 and 7 of the 1,554-kilometer-long railroad.
The railroad has stations in or near the cities of Palenque, Campeche, Mérida, Valladolid, Cancún, Playa del Carmen and Chetumal, among others, and passengers can access a variety of other tourist attractions including archaeological sites, cenotes (natural swimmable sinkholes) and beaches.
“The Maya Train is one of the great legacies of [former] president Andrés Manuel López Obrador,” Sheinbaum said at a section 6 and 7 inauguration ceremony in Chetumal that doubled as a celebration of the first anniversary of the beginning of operations of the multi-billion-dollar railroad.
“His tenacity, will, vision and love achieved this feat, to which we’re providing continuity with the same determination and dedication,” she said.
López Obrador inaugurated the construction of the Maya Train railroad in June 2020, promising at the time that the project would be finished in 28 months, or by October 2022.
However, the railroad — which was built by private companies and the Mexican Army — faced a range of challenges, including court rulings that temporarily halted work and ardent opposition from environmental groups, which have argued for years that the construction and operation of the railroad pose a threat to wildlife, subterranean rivers and the Maya jungle.
Accompanied by the governors of the five states through which the railroad runs and various federal officials, Sheinbaum on Sunday rejected claims that the construction of the Maya Train violated laws or had an adverse impact on the environment.
She, like López Obrador, asserts that the railroad will help spur much-needed economic and social development in Mexico’s southeast. The ambitious infrastructure project was carried out “with and for the communities of the southeast of Mexico,” Sheinbaum said in Chetumal.
“… Only here in Mexico can a railroad of more than 1,500 kilometers be built … in just four years. In other words, only here in our country can a feat the size of the glorious Maya Train be done,” she added.
“…The Maya Train tells the world that Mexico is a great nation that does great things every day.”
Sheinbaum traveled from Palenque to Chetumal on the Maya Train on Saturday, completing the journey across section 7 of the railroad between Escárcega and the state capital of Quintana Roo. She posted a 38-second clip of her experience to social media.
During the inauguration ceremony in Chetumal, Sheinbaum said that her government would “consolidate the Maya Train as the world’s greatest tourism destination.”
Hoy viajamos en el Tren Maya de la estación Palenque, Chiapas a Chetumal, Quintana Roo, donde encabezaremos mañana el primer aniversario de esta gran obra e inauguraremos al público su último tramo. pic.twitter.com/GK8d8n28AO
— Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo (@Claudiashein) December 15, 2024
That was apparently a reference to both the train and the culturally rich and beautiful region through which it runs. The president praised the Mexican military for its role in the construction and operation of the railroad.
Sheinbaum also highlighted that freight trains will soon run on the Maya Train railroad. In addition, she noted that the railroad will connect to the the new Interoceanic Train railroad, which includes tracks across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec between Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, and Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz.
Óscar Lozano, director of the state-owned Maya Train company, highlighted that the railroad and its 34 stations are complemented by Maya Train hotels built by the army. The railroad, he added, provides access to archaeological sites such as Chichén Itzá and Uxmal as well as natural protected areas (including newly-created ones) and pueblos mágicos, or magical towns.
How much did the Maya Train railroad cost to build?
Sheinbaum on Sunday didn’t say how much construction of the Maya Train railroad cost.
However, “independent calculations” have put the cost at over 500 billion pesos (US $24.8 billion), the newspaper Reforma reported. The figure of US $20 billion has been cited in various media reports.
The total cost is much higher than the original 140-billion-peso (US $6.9 billion) estimate.
How many jobs did construction of the project create?
Lozano, the Maya Train chief, said Sunday that the construction of the railroad created more than 600,000 jobs.
Other government projects in Mexico’s southeast, including the Tulum airport and the Olmeca Refinery on the Tabasco coast, also created significant numbers of jobs in recent years, many of which were filled by long-term residents of southeastern states.
How many passengers traveled on the Maya Train in its first year of operations?
Just over 603,000 passengers traveled on the train between mid-December 2023 and mid-December 2024, according to the Maya Train company. That figure represents just 20% of the government’s 3 million target.
Only 33,547 of the 603,000 passengers — about 5.5% — were foreign tourists.
The government hopes that passenger numbers will increase now that people will be able to use the train to access virtually the entire Caribbean coast of the state of Quintana Roo.
Millions of foreigners fly into Cancún on an annual basis, many of whom spend most of their time in Mexico in Cancún or other coastal destinations such as Playa del Carmen and Tulum.
The operation of the Maya Train in a loop around the Yucatán Peninsula could help lure some of them away from the clubs and white sand beaches of Cancún, Playa and Tulum to more traditional tourist destinations and attractions in inland areas of the Yucatán Peninsula.
Interested in riding the rails?
Tickets for trips on the Maya Train can be purchased online.
Earlier this year, Mexico News Daily published a Maya Train travel guide, as well as a personal account of a trip between Mérida and Campeche.
Some passengers have reported a range of frustrations with traveling on the Maya Train, including that there is a lack of transportation between stations and final destinations. Hopefully, travelers’ experiences will improve with time.
If you do decide to take a trip on the railroad: Bon voyage! ¡Buen viaje! Have a great trip!
With reports from El Economista, La Jornada, Reforma and EFE
I’m excited to plan a trip on the train. I hope it will be great for the region.
Built in twice the time at at four times the estimated costs. That’s quite an achievement.
This is typical “ready, fire, aim” mentality when it comes to engineering projects here. The most egregious example was the abrupt change in the Tramo 5 route from running along the Carretera 307 to clear-cutting huge swaths of pristine jungle 4km west of Carr. 307 — without even the pretense of environmental analysis.
yep. I live in Akumal. Watched it all happen. We still have 2 sections of 307 that collapsed into cenotes 3 years ago that have not been fixed. Wonder when Tren Maya will first collapse into a cenote? I won’t be on it when it happens!
Come to Canada, we can beat that any day hahaha
It is painfully obvious why ridership has been a disappointing 20% of goal and only 5.5% of passengers have been foreign tourists: poor and outrageously expensive transport options from the stations to the destination cities and main attractions, and the limited ability to purchase tickets online more than a few days before travel. There is an expectation among foreign tourists, especially those who do not speak Spanish, that a train system designed to promote tourism would tourist-friendly. Instead, we get a “ready, fire, aim” system that was rushed into production to satisfy political egos and timetables. I will ride the Tren Maya — someday — when the powers-that-be get these tourist-unfriendly glitches fixed.
I agree with your assessment 100%. I would add that many of the tourists to Cancun and Playa are looking for a certain type of elevated vacation experience. Trains are not a consideration in the US, and as such, don’t rise to the top of the list of things to for American tourists. It has been my experience with acquaintances in the US, that most aren’t seeking an authentic Mexican experience and ate in no hurry to hop on a train with everyday Mexican citizens. Obviously, I am not speaking for everyone. It’s only representative of the many professionals and clients I work with while discussing my choosing to live part time in Mexico. Especially with tourists to Cancun & Playa. I too am looking forward to experience the Maya Train – once it is more tourist friendly. Although, I don’t see a time in the near future, 5-10 yrs., where ridership numbers get to the level AMLO targeted.
Disaster Amlo dream ridershisp will never justify cost money could have more wisly on other Mexico projects like destroying CARTELS
The article fails to mention how much money per year the Maya Train will lose. 20% of ridership targets suggest that even after allowing for fantasy projections of riders to justify the expense, it will lose a lot of money. While trains are subsidized in many countries, which is good for the economy and the environment, the Maya train represents a vanity project by AMLO. For a fraction of the cost of the Maya Train, the new Mexico City Airport (a more important project) could have been finished. The Maya train looks like a get rich opportunity for construction companies supporting AMLO and Morena.
The number of naysayers in this comment forum is disturbing. It doesn’t look well on you Americans.
Agree
Most of the people in this group are conservative even though MND is attempting to be a more ligitimate news source these days, in the past they were hard right Americans complaining about how horrible Mexico is.
So, coming from that angle there’s no chance that commenters here will be favorable to public transportation and even if they are they won’t be knowledgeable in train transport as they’ve never experienced it having come from countries living 80 years in the past.
As for the article itself, it’s amazing how disingenuous it is but considering their leaning I shouldn’t be surprised. They fail to mention that the government estimate of 3 million people is the annual estimate for a mature, finished system. The 20% figure is not a measurement of that because they JUST finished the tracks and it’s not completely finished even in those areas nor are they running even half of the trainsets. We won’t be able to assess it’s success until it’s complete and people know about it which may be 2-3 years after it’s completly finished. So MND is either misreporting for nefarious reasons or they’re just not competent reporters. Maybe both.
Hi Grant,
Ridership will almost certainly increase now that the entire railroad is complete and passengers can use the Maya Train to travel up and down the Quintana Roo coast. I wrote as much in the report:
“The government hopes that passenger numbers will increase now that people will be able to use the train to access virtually the entire Caribbean coast of the state of Quintana Roo. … The operation of the Maya Train in a loop around the Yucatán Peninsula could help lure some of them away from the clubs and white sand beaches of Cancún, Playa and Tulum to more traditional tourist destinations and attractions in inland areas of the Yucatán Peninsula.”
With regard to the Maya Train, there are certainly a range of opinions about the project and we have reported extensively on those different views.
I can assure you there is no “nefarious” objective in my reporting or any of the reporting you read on MND. We definitely want Mexico to succeed and hope that the Maya Train brings a lot of benefits to the country’s southeast.
Peter Davies
MND chief staff writer
Alex, When a government builds a railroad that isn’t easy to get to or use and did a hatchet job on the environment you blame the people who would use it, if it was practical, but it isn’t most of the stations were built way out from the cities and the damage to the environment is only now being looked at.
Vanity projects are just that a waste to time and money. The money could have been used for other batter projects such as the Mexico City airport. Trains in the central highlands where most of Mexico’s population is located. Just, because you like kissing AMLO’s butt doesn’t mean everyone is going to give that socialist fraud a free ride. 500 billion pesos how much of that was stolen by the companies and politicians. Subsidizing transportation is another way of stealing tax money and also giving undeserving people political jobs.
I would say that the Mexican people have taken the bait hook line and sinker and no wonder the education system especially the public education system is a JOKE!! It is easy to pull the wool over the Mexican public’s eyes with such a low level of educational achievement here in Mexico!!
I disagree Alex. In general I see a good deal of positive reader comments on MND.
However, criticism is due where criticism is due. I’ve been a taxpayer in Mexico for 25 years and citizen for 10. I, along with anyone else who contributes to the federal coffers (citizen or not), have a right to be disgusted at the train “maya” pet project… 4 times over budget and hugely destructive. Apart from the massive deforestation, where I live people now deal with new flooding caused by poor planning of the raised train foundation. In other spots photos were shared of concrete pillars passing right through underground cenotes (many cases of this).
If the original project budget of 140 billion pesos would have been invested in upgrading the existing roads in the peninsula we could have German quality, safe, divided concrete arterial highways as well as upgrades to the secondary road system. This is what the peninsula needed… not a vanity train project for 500-600 billion pesos plus immeasurable costs in externalities.
I’ll be coming to the Yucatán in a few weeks and was hoping to try the train but was surprised to see that the ticket price is based on who you are and of course foreigners are charged much more for the same trip. I’m fine paying a fair price that reflects the cost of the system but don’t try to rip me off just because you think you can. You will make more $ per passenger but get a lot fewer passengers.
Once the “newest” wears off, the Train will run one-half (1/2) empty or less and start losing money for less riders. Operating the train is going to be very “expensive. Let’s see what happens one (1) year of operation. This whole Project could end up in the “red “every year for the government. Tourist MIGHT NOT COME TO TAKE A RIDE. Show us the “fair” it costs to make the complete circle? Time will tell if it is a success or a failure. Remember, every year, that area venerable “hurricanes” that can destroy the all the “tracks” and the entire operation. So don’t “count the chickens’ before they “hatch”, The Mayen train is very “venerable” to the weather in that area. Look at all the Hurrican damage done to Acapulco?
I don’t like its environmental impact or the way environment regulations were pushed aside. I hope these real risks are not all realized. But it is here and so I will ride it, out of respect for those who pushed it through and out of curiosity about the region that should be somewhat more accessible. Why not ?
At least it was built. Still waiting for the high speed bullet train in California to connect the Bay Area with Los Angeles. Agree with another commenter, I’ll wait to ride after a considerable grace period, don’t want to fall into a cenote. But I love the concept.
Now that there has been destruction to the pristine jungles, I wonder where the jaguars will go. I would like to know where the people that worked on this train came from. Seems to me if you have a plot of land you can grow your own food. Tourists looking into your backyard will only bring more plastic bottles, Starbucks, and monster hotels. All of which has destroyed Cancun, Tulum and surrounding areas. Not all tourists are binge drinking party seekers. Those that want to experience real Mexico aren’t afraid to drive to places that are not trying to be like Miami. I’d like to know the opinions of the local people and environmentalists about this project. How was AMLO able to push past all the obstacles? Oh yes, corporate corruption. Sad to witness the destruction of sacred land.
Sure glad this group of misfits, whiners, hopeless don’t try anything on a global scale bunch of judges aren’t involved in anything making a difference to those that don’t have their bougie lives. This is a world class project that has a potential to make an incredible difference in those left behind since the beginning in southeast Mexico. This will provide opportunity for untold masses and with some effort and persistence and faith this can be a very changing and momentous success for us. Nothing was ever achieved by whining. 🇨🇦🙏🇲🇽
You are right on one point: it is a ‘world class’ waste of public money and will continue to drain the Mexican treasury for decades to come.
Nomad Ash nothing was ever achieved by graft and corruption, bribery and bullying people not to mention ignoring the damage to the environment.
I’m planning the entire loop as we speak, maybe you should as well, so you can write from experience instead of from your couch🇨🇦🙏🇲🇽
Probably only China and Mexico, could construct such a project as the Maya Train in the short time frame and the cost. It’s a fantastic achievement.
It is a gigantic waste of taxpayer money.
A monumental waste of money to provide a service that isn’t as convenient, or affordable, as simply driving the Yucatan’s excellent highways, an option that allows visitors to go where they want when they want. Not to mention the environmental cost. Even stupider than cancelling the half-built new MEX airport.
Bottom line: If you think you are creating a passenger service, you must make the access points convenient and the destinations desirable. Placing the stations away from the desirable destinations is a death wish for the project.
The Maya train may eventually work as a freight transport system but it will take years before industries build up along the train route, destroying even more of the current environment.
If you want to make the current Maya Train successful as a passenger service, you must provide convenient and inexpensive (free?) transportation to the desired destinations from the distant stations. Taxi service in Mexico is notoriously corrupt. Taxi rates are made up on the spot. Perhaps Uber, Lyft or even a Maya Train Shuttle with easy service and low rates would work to increase passenger ridership. You could even include the fare in the price of a train ticket, so passengers would not feel like they are paying twice for the trip!
So much negativity from what appears to be a bunch of gringos! What is unbelievable, it coming from a group of people from Mexicos two northern neighbors who have completely failed rail systems! I am not standing up for any politician who has grand aspirations for his country knowing how important great infrastructure projects will eventually cost or how long they will take to complete. This is a great project that will benefit an impoverished part of Mexico that very little population and vast resourcesvery much like when the US and Canada were working themselves across the plains to the coasts. If have ever stood on any of the pyramids in the area and looked out, all you see is miles and miles of green nothing…somewhat like travelling across the great plains, just a different color! One of the reasons, the train lack of infrastructure up north is be cause the car/oil companies collaborated in killing trains at the beginning of the 20th century. Europe has a significantly better transportation as the government’s continually contribute to making it better. I applaud Mexico for moving through all the BS to to complete valuable achievement. Sure, it will take some time to work out all the bugs, but it is quite exciting getting easily to places few have been to. Also, the bitching by gringos about the cost of a ride…really? Though, I enjoy driving around Mexico, I am really looking forward in the next year or so jumping on the train to get to so many places easily. This will bring new opportunities to a large area where few have travelled…who knows what we will find?
Yeah, you’re right! Mass transportation in the United States has failed, because it has to be a profitable, which it will never be.
They have to look at mass transportation like Europe does.
The Maya train may never make money, but I think it remains to be seen if it will be successful in permanently stimulating the economy in the region. Give the Maya train 10 years to better acertain the benefits.
I was listening to Sobernia, The Mexican Political Podcast & they have a positive take on this project. The Maya train may never make money, & it doesn’t have to, as long as it’s a positive benefit to the region.
I’ve taken the train. THE sad fact is that is easier, cheaper and faster to take the bus from Merida Centro to Cancun Centro.