Maya train receives US$3bn budget boost for next year

Next year’s budget for Mexico’s 1,500km Maya train has increased 68% over 2021 expected spending on the project to 63.2bn pesos (US$3.06bn). The figure is 74% over the 2021 approved budget, and investment on the Mayan train may exceed the approved capex once again in 2022.

"We're working on the Maya train, and there is no Plan B. We are going to finish at the end of 2023, when the entire Maya train has to start operating,” President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) said at his morning press conference on Wednesday.

AMLO added that construction is advancing on stretch 1 between Palenque in Chiapas state to Escárcega in Campeche state, stretch 2 between Escárcega and Calkiní in Campeche, stretch 3 between Calkiní and Izamal in Yucatán, stretch 4 between Izamal and Cancún in Quintana Roo state, and the first half of stretch 5 between Cancún and Playa del Carmen.

An elevated viaduct for the latter stretch, built by Grupo México under supervision of the defense ministry (Sedena), is being mulled, AMLO said.  

“In this section, although there is less distance, there is more complexity because it is more difficult to obtain the rights-of-way.”

Federal highway 307 has been the main link between Quintana Roo’s tourist hubs, Tulum, and Chetumal on the border with Belize.

Besides geohazards, constant traffic on the route is posing challenges.

“Two options are being analyzed: one, that the train goes at ground level, inland from the Riviera Maya highway [307], rather than closer to the Caribbean, not near the beach, that's one possibility,” said AMLO. “The other would be to erect a viaduct, a second floor on the highway, right above he current road.” 

BUDGET BOON 

The budget increase for next year, 74% higher than this year’s approved spending, could rise even further. 

AMLO promoted the train Tuesday at the largest tourism sector gathering since the start of the pandemic. It took place in Mérida near the planned route of the passenger and freight train.

TRIPLE TOURIST FLOW 

According to the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the Maya train will triple the flow of visitors in the short term in an area that attracted 17mn tourists per year before the pandemic.

AMLO hailed the train’s potential to boost development in rural areas. He said the train should help bridge the gaps between the region’s new cities and its ancient ones. 

Federal tourism board Fonatur, which oversees the project, also released new conceptual art images for the train stations in Nuevo Xcán, Quintana Roo, and Valladolid, Yucatán.

Valladolid

Source: Fonatur 

Nuevo Xcán

Source: Fonatur 

TRAIN DESIGNS 

Fonatur added details and images about the train’s service classes. 

The first 42 passenger units will be divided into three services:

Xiinbal will be 32 regular service trains with Maya architecture-inspired design. P’atal involves three trains whose design is based on Maya art and science, while the Janal service has eight restaurant service trains.

First-class car of the P’atal long-haul trains

Source: Fonatur 

Second-class car on the Xiimbal service

Source: Fonatur  

A  Janal service restaurant car

Source: Fonatur