Mexico seizes rail line

MEXICO CITY – The Mexican government sent in Marines May 19 to take over part of a 75-mile private railway line in southern Mexico. The government said it would compensate the owners for what it called the “temporary occupation” of the railway run by a Mexican mining and rail company Grupo Mexico Transportes, the Associated Press reported.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador needs the rail line to fill out the rail-seaport network he is trying to build on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to connect Pacific coast ports with the Gulf of Mexico, the AP report said. He hopes to establish industrial parks and LNG terminals on the intercoastal route to spur development.

In a statement, the company said that “the surprising and unusual takeover of the installations by the armed forces is being analyzed by Grupo Mexico Transportes, its investors and advisers.” The company said it was continuing to offer service on a roughly 60-mile stretch of the line, formally known as Ferrosur SA de CV. It said trains were running “with surveillance of the armed forces.” The line runs between the railway junction of Medias Aguas to the Gulf coast port of Coatzacoalcos. The government cited “public interest” in the takeover, a term usually used for expropriations.

It marked the second time this year that López Obrador’s administration has seized ports or rail lines from private companies. In March, police and soldiers seized a Caribbean coast seaport owned by an Alabama company, Vulcan Materials.

López Obrador had been publicly sparring with Vulcan, the AP said. He needs the dock to get cement, crushed stone, and other materials into the area to finish his Train Maya project. The 950-mile Maya Train is meant to run in a rough loop around the Yucatan Peninsula, connecting beach resorts and archaeological sites.