by Lacey Pfalz
Last updated: 9:10 AM ET, Tue December 17, 2024
The nearly 1,000-mile Maya Train railroad is finished after millions in investment and four years of construction, with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum inaugurating the last sections of the tourist railway on December 15.
The railroad connects destinations and attractions across five Mexican states: Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo
According to Mexico News Daily, the train system, which began construction in June 2020, was expected to be finished by October 2022 under previous president López Obrador’s term, but issues, including court rulings and opposition from environmental groups, slowed the construction.
The Maya Train was constructed by private companies and the Mexican Army.
President Sheinbaum denied any negative impact the train might have created on the environment during the inauguration, in which she herself rode the train.
The Maya Train has 34 stations and provides access to archaeological sites and specially designated pueblos mágicos, or magical towns, to benefit tourism. There are seven segments that connect sites and towns from Cancun to Palenque.
Yet so far, the train’s passenger numbers have only hit 20 percent of its three million target, though many of its routes have been operating for years. In July, only 1,200 people used the train system each day, far below the estimated 22,000 to 37,000 daily passengers the government had hoped for. The completion is no doubt expected to boost ridership.
Today, the total number of passengers that rode the Maya Train in the past year was 603,000. Only 5.5 percent, or 33,547 passengers, were foreign tourists. While the Mexican government hasn’t announced how much the Maya Train cost to build, independent estimates suggest USD$20-$25 billion, far above the $7 billion estimate.
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