CANCÚN, Mexico — Long delays and unfinished facilities marked the first day of regular operations of Mexico’s Maya Train Saturday, a day after President Andrés Manuel López Obrador inaugurated the service with a trip on the 298-mile initial segment between Campeche and Cancun.
The Associated Press reports departure delays of up to 5 hours for the two round trips that make up the inaugural schedule, and that the newly opened segment represents the least controversial portion of what eventually will be a 950-mile system. The first portion has opened just five years after the project’s inception, but its debut has come with ballooning costs — from an original estimate of $7.5 billion, estimates now run as high as $30 billion — and a long list of environmental concerns [see “First portion of Mexico’s Maya Train set to begin operation,” Trains News Wire, Dec. 15, 2023]. López Obrador said Friday he did not know the actual cost.
But initial operations underlined the unfinished nature of the project, which López Obrador has pushed to open before he leaves office.
The newspaper El Diario describes “bored and desperate” passengers on a train from Campeche to Cancun that sold out of food early in the trip, had malfunctioning restrooms, and offered little to see or do, with the train skipping the 12 planned intermediate stops because the stations are not yet finished. Other news reports mention malfunctioning air conditioning and electrical outlets. Trains are eventually supposed to be capable of 160 kilometers per hour (99 mph), but El Diario said trains usually operated at 89 kilometers per hour (55 mph) with segments as slow as 29 kph (18 mph). With two long delays to meet trains traveling in the opposite direction — only one track of a planned double-track route is finished — the trip, expected to take about 5½ hours, lasted 9 hours, 28 minutes.
López Obrador admitted to reporters on Friday that “things are lacking, of course,” and said it would take three to four years for the system to begin covering his operating costs.
General Oscar David Lozano, director of the Maya Train operation, told the Yucatan Times that reported issues were to be expected.
“It is normal,” Lozano said. “… It is ‘pre-opening,’ we are not operating with all the functionalities at 100%, so what it’s about here is living the experience. … You get on a plane, you press something and it fails, and no one says anything. I think it’s a matter of getting used to it.”
The Yucatan Times also reported that the security for the rail line will include permanent deployment of more than 2,800 National Guard soldiers, as well as five helicopters and drones. Mexico’s army, which was part of the line’s construction, will also operate the system.
Another government rail operation. Another total screw-up.
Rupert. That figures. What if Brightline expertise were inleashed to operate Amtrak. Of course, all corridors don’t make a profit.
But that would would be secondary. Brightlinbe sure knows how to run passenger rail.
Whatever! Even Amtrak could do a better job.
Lawrence, Are you sure? It appears that they HIRED Amtrak to bring their service expertise to this operation.
Ran out of food. Malfunctioning Restrooms. Skipped stops. 4-5 hours of delays because there’s only one track. Massive speed reductions. And…only two round trips per day?
I seem to recall Brightline had a couple minor hiccups when they started their Orlando service, but nothing of that magnitude. They spent a LOT of time making sure everything worked first. Mexico had better figure out how to fix this, and fast, because otherwise I suspect public support for other passenger rail plans is going to vanish if this is what they have to look forward to.
So, how many persons at Alstom worked on both the AX-2s and the Maya train? Didn’t Alstom say that the Maya train sets were fine examples? All those breakdowns say otherwise.