The jewel in the crown of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s mega-projects is the Tren Maya, a 1,500-kilometer train loop round the Yucatán peninsula, passing through the states of Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo.
The line connects well-known tourist spots such as Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Merida, Palenque and Tulum, but also opens up less popular destinations in the southeast of Mexico, such as Campeche and Izamal.
A significant part of the line uses the abandoned Ferrocarril del Sureste, running from Palenque, Chiapas, to Valladolid, Yucatán, built in the 1930s by President Lázaro Cárdenas. AMLO says he is confident the new line will be a massive economic stimulus to a depressed region of Mexico, and while being a major tourist attraction, will also serve as an alternative to road and air transport for both goods and locals.
The project is expected to cost around $US7.5 billion and be finished by the end of 2023. Once complete, it will remain in state hands, administered by the Ministry of Defense (Sedena), along with another AMLO mega-project, the new Felipe Angeles Airport in Mexico City.
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