Tickets for the first trip on the Maya Train sold out in under an hour on Friday.
The first service on the new railroad will depart Campeche city for Cancún at 7 a.m. on Dec. 16.
Tickets went on sale at 11 a.m., and 50 minutes later the official Tren Maya account on the X social media platform announced they had all been sold. Some media outlets reported that the tickets sold out in a matter of minutes.
“Thank you for being part of history. … We invite you to board the Maya Train on the next trips,” the Tren Maya post on X said.
Tourist class and first class tickets for the Campeche-Cancún trip were up for grabs on Friday. The former cost 1,166 pesos (about US $68), while the latter cost 1,862 pesos (about US $108).
Purchasers had to join a “virtual line” to buy the tickets on the eticket website. It is unclear when tickets for other trips will go on sale.
President López Obrador announced last month that the Campeche-Cancún stretch of the 1,554-kilometer-long railroad would begin operations on Dec. 15.
The section between Cancún and Palenque, Chiapas, will open on Dec. 31, while the entire railroad and its 34 stations will be operational on Feb. 29, he said.
The multi-billion-dollar project will connect cities and towns in five states: Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán, Quintana Roo and Chiapas.
The railroad is considered the signature infrastructure project of the current government, and López Obrador – who is aiming to revive Mexico’s once vast passenger train network – believes it will spur much-needed economic development in Mexico’s disadvantaged south and southeast.
The project has faced a range of challenges since construction began in 2020. They include court rulings that have temporarily halted work and ardent opposition from environmental groups, which say that the construction and operation of the railroad pose a threat to wildlife, subterranean rivers and the Maya jungle.
