CANCÚN, Mexico — Ticket sales for the Maya Train passenger rail operation have been halted barely three weeks after service was inaugurated between Cancun and Palenque on Jan. 1, the Cancún Sun reports, following “significant technical issues” on Friday, Jan. 19.
Operations have been stopped indefinitely while workers perform inspections to determine the cause of ‘technical faults’ that led to delays of over six hours. Passengers were left inside cars without air conditioning and did not receive updates on the situation, but were finally bused to a nearby station.
The news site Tribuna de Mexico reports two trains departed Cancun at 7 a.m. and 9 a.m., but it is unknown if any passengers were on board. No official statement has been issued on the situation. Neither the Maya Train website or feed on social media site X currently offer any acknowledgement of or information on the suspension of service.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has led the development of the Maya Train project and sought to have it opened by the end of 2023, took part in the inaugural runs on the Cancún-Campeche and Cancún-Palenque segments, and said during an earlier suspension of operations that the service should be considered a “soft opening” until the entire route is completed [see “Maya Train suspension is for equipment testing …,” Trains News Wire, Dec. 30, 2023]. But the unfinished nature of much of the route has been the subject of criticism from early customers.
This is the difference between a political deadline and an engineering milestone.
Maybe Amtrak secretly acting as a consultant?
Bingo.