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traveler24, 8/14/18:
 

PICS: Mexico's proposed Cancun-Palenque train makes us want to hop aboard

 

 

Mexico's president-elect announced an even more ambitious proposal for a train on the Yucatan peninsula Monday that would link nearly all the region's main tourist draws and cost double or more than the previously announced figure.

 

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had campaigned on building the tourist train from the beach resort city of Cancun down through Tulum and to the Mayan ruins of Palenque, 830 kilometres to the southwest.

 

The new plan adds a western spur that could stop in the cities of Campeche, Merida and Valladolid — the latter near the famed ruins of Chichen Itza — and ultimately complete the circuit in Cancun.

 

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IRJ, 5/11/21

 

Bidders emerge for Mayan Train rolling stock contract

 

Alstom and CAF compete for estimated $US 2bn deal.

 

 

CONSORTIA led by Alstom and CAF have submitted bids of just under the $US 2bn limit set by Mexico’s Fonatur, the state tourism authority, for the rolling stock contract for the 1452km Mayan Train project on the Yucatan peninsula.

 

The tender, which was announced in November, is split into four elements and comprises the supply of a mixed fleet of up to 42 electric and diesel-electric trains as well as signalling, train protection, telecommunications and radio systems and control centres for the project. The winning bidder will also be required to design, construct and equip maintenance depots as well as maintain the fleet and provide after sales services. Alstom’s bid is Pesos 36.6bn ($US 1.84bn) while CAF has offered Pesos 37.5bn.

 

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Railway Technology, 4/6/23

 

Tren Maya Railway Project, Mexico

 

The railway project, which is led by Mexico’s National Fund for the Promotion of Tourism (Fonatur), will include seven separate sections.

 

 

 

The Tren Maya is a 1,554km railway project that will interconnect the major cities and tourist regions of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico.

 

Also known as the Mayan Train Project, it will significantly improve transportation and economic growth in the country.

The railway project, which is led by Mexico’s National Fund for the Promotion of Tourism (Fonatur), will include seven separate sections.

 

Construction works started in 2020, with the first section of the intercity railway project scheduled to commence operations in December 2023. The project is expected to generate 4,500 direct and 7,500 indirect jobs.

 

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The project aims to significantly cut passenger and freight transportation costs in the region while supporting industrial development.

 

 

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Railway Gazette International, 7/11/23

 

First Tren Maya coach delivered

 

 

 

MEXICO: The first four passenger vehicles for the Tren Maya project have arrived by road in Cancún, Quintana Roo state, from Alstom’s assembly plant in Ciudad Sahagún, Hidalgo.

 

Announcing the development on July 10, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said that the event held at the Tren Maya depot and workshop site near Cancún’s international airport was an ‘historic milestone’.

 

The President expected dynamic testing of the first rolling stock to commence on September 1, ahead of the project’s inauguration planned for December.

 

 

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Associated Press, 12/15/23

 

Mexico’s president inaugurates first part of $20 billion tourist train project on Yucatan peninsula

 

 

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president on Friday inaugurated the first part of the pet project of his administration, a tourist train that runs in a rough loop around the Yucatan peninsula.

 

The $20 billion, 950-mile line, called the Maya Train, is meant to connect beach resorts and archaeological sites. However, it is not finished yet. Officials pledged the rest of the line would be ready by the end of February. But it was clear from the unfinished earthworks and the existence of just a single lane of a planned double-lane track, even the first section has not been completed yet.

 

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador opened a 290-mile (473-kilometer) stretch Friday between the colonial Gulf coast city of Campeche and the Caribbean coast resort of Cancun. That is about one-third of the entire project, and covers the least controversial stretch.

 

 

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[CNJRoss]

Associated Press, 12/16/23

 

Mexico’s Maya tourist train opens for partial service amid delays and cost overruns

 

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s Maya Train rail project opened partially to the general public Saturday, amid hours-long delays and huge cost overruns.

 

Passengers waiting for the twice-daily train to leave the resort of Cancun were left waiting on the platform for about five hours before being able to board. Officials apologized for the delayed and said it was due to trains being “reconfigured.”

 

Some passengers napped on the floor of the concrete platform. Some — many self-declared supporters of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador — cheered when the train finally appeared in Cancun. 

 

The train running in the other direction from the Gulf coast colonial city of Campeche was also delayed for hours, because only one side of the planned double rail line is finished.  . . .

 

 

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Reuters, 12/15/23

Mexico's flagship train inauguration masks delay, cost concerns

 

MEXICO CITY, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Mexico is set to inaugurate a tourist train that is a flagship infrastructure project of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, though experts say it is still a long way from being fully operational, with the opening rushed.

 

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Another section from Palenque to Cancun is expected to be inaugurated by the end of December, and the remaining routes will be up and running in February, the government says.

 

But experts cast doubt on the timeline. The project is far from complete, according to an aide to Lopez Obrador and a person involved in the construction, who spoke on condition of anonymity. When exactly it will be is unclear, they said.

 

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Riding Tren Maya, Mexico’s Controversial New Train (youtube.com)

 

Trains Are Awesome

 

Dec 23, 2023

 

On December 15th, 2023, the brand new intercity railway in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula opened. First announced by President Lopez Obrador in 2018, this new railway is now partially open - but it has been anything but smooth. Tren Maya is a source of much controversy, because it neglects and even destroys ancient burial grounds, archaeological sites, the rainforest, and important water sources. Find out what it is like to ride this new train, why some people are happy with it, and why some are not.

 

[CNJRoss]

Travel + Leisure, 1/3/24

 

Mexico Debuted the First Section of a New 950-mile Train — and It Takes Passengers to Some of the Nation's Most Beautiful Places

 

El Tren Maya is not without controversy, though.

 

Mexico finally cut the ribbon on one of its most ambitious tourism projects yet with the unveiling of El Tren Maya, aka The Maya Train, a new 290-mile track connecting famed archeological sites across the Yucatán peninsula. And it plans to open an additional 600 miles of track in the future. 

 

Once complete, Tren Maya will include more than 40 trains stopping at 34 stations across southeast Mexico, including in the states of Campeche, Chiapas, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, and Yucatán, and will connect passengers to interior landscapes that are otherwise impossible to access. 

 

“There is a large section of the interior of the peninsula that doesn’t have highways or roads,” Marilyn Masson, professor of anthropology at the University at Albany SUNY, told The Washington Post. “In the more remote sections, the train could potentially help these communities be better connected to the outside world.”

 

 

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Travel Noire, 1/11/24

 

Mexico's Controversial 'El Tren Maya'

Allows Travelers To Experience The

Mayan Ruins

 

Mexico’s latest major endeavor, El Tren Maya, is officially partially running. Billed “the greatest construction project in the world,” is causing a stir, and rightly so. Though it will boost the tourism sector and create new jobs, the Tren Maya project will also bring some problems.

 

Mexico is a country full of history, culture, and natural beauty. Its ancient Maya civilization left behind stunning structures, temples, and cities, attracting millions of tourists yearly. However, many of these sites are in remote and inaccessible locations, making them impossible to visit. To address this issue, the Mexican government has launched an ambitious and controversial project, the Tren Maya. This 932-mile train route will connect some of the most significant Maya monuments on the Yucatán Peninsula and beyond.

 

 

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