December 23, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador opened the Interoceanic Railroad, a 188-mile route connecting Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz on the Gulf of Mexico, with Salina Cruz, Oaxaca on the Pacific Coast.
The line runs on Mexico’s narrowest stretch of land between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, and has been rehabilitated from a route that closed down in the 1950s.
The rail line is an important component of the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, a huge $US3 billion infrastructure project that also includes the expansion of the ports at Coatzacoalcos and Salina Cruz, as well as the creation of industrial parks and an upgraded highway between the two locations. AMLO has touted the project as a real alternative to the Panama Canal, which is currently affected by water shortages. He says the generation of new employment opportunities will improve living conditions for people in Veracruz and Oaxaca.
Like the recently opened Maya Train project, the Mexican military (in this case the Navy) will manage and provide security for the corridor project.
Although primarily a freight line, a passenger service will also operate, and a website for purchasing tickets is already enabled at pasajerosinteroceanico.com.mx.
The name of the line comes from the Interoceanic Railway of Mexico (Ferrocarril Interoceánico de México), which was one of the primary pre-nationalization railways of Mexico with routes extending throughout the south of the country.