The Maya Train project is averaging about 1,200 passengers per day since the first segment opened in December, the operation’s general director, Óscar David Lozano, said during the Monday press conference of Mexican President Andrés Manual López Obrador.
In 205 days as of July 11, the train has carried 246,926 passengers. Lozano compared this to filling Mexico City’s famed Azteca Stadium 2.6 times. However, as the Associated Press reports, this is far below the original projections of 22,000 to 37,000 passengers per day. While the segment along the eastern portion of the Yucatan Peninsula is not yet running, limiting or preventing service to resorts in Playa del Carmen and Tulum, most of the key stations — Cancun, Mereda, Palenque, and Campeche — are already in service.
The Rivera Maya News reports Lozano also said 17 of the Alstom-built Maya Train trainsets have now been delivered — 10 diesel-powered trainsets and seven dual-mode diesel and electric trains, each with four cars. Three trainsets specifically for long-distance travel on the full, looping 1,554-kilometer (965-mile) route are still to be delivered. These seven-car trainsets will include full dining and sleeping cars. The first of those is due for delivery in September.
Meanwhile, La Jornada Hidalgo reports President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum announced that her administration would extend the Maya Train to Puerto Progreso, a branch sought by the governor-elect of Yucatan state. She also promised to extend the Interoceanic line between the Pacific Ocean and Gulf of Mexico on the Isthums of Tehuantepec to serve a refinery in Dos Bocas. Sheinbaum had previously said she was considering the Puerto Progreso proposal, which would require about a 25-mile branch line [see “Mexican president again says Maya Train will be completed …,” Trains News Wire, July 2, 2024]. An extension to the refinery — which Sheinbaum said woud be primarily for freight, but would also have passenger service — would require the Interoceanic line to reach about 85 miles east along the Bay of Campeche from its Gulf terminus of Coatzacoalcos [see “Mexico launches Interoceanic train service,” News Wire, Dec. 23, 2023].
