All aboard! Mexico’s Yucatan Train Maya now complete for tourists

The ambitious and often criticized train project on Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula has done just that finally completed.

A total of 1,554 kilometers of railway tracks have been constructed in the Train Maya project, started by former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and completed four years later by current President Claudia Sheinbaum.

President Sheinbaum was recently in Chetumal with Quintana Roo Governor Mara Lezama to officially declare the project complete.

“The Mayan Train tells the world, so that it can be heard clearly and far away, that Mexicans come from far away, but we also go far with hope in our hearts and the pride of the cultural greatness that gives us the identity that is Mexican humanism,” she said.

Everyone on board for tourism

The Train Maya was designed in part to bridge the transportation gaps between some of the Yucatan Peninsula’s urban tourist centers and many of the more rural areas.

For example, it made it easier for tourists visiting Mexican Caribbean destinations such as Cancun, Tulum, Cozumel and Playa del Carmen to visit more remote popular tourist destinations such as the Mayan ruins in and around Chichén Itza.

Train Maya has also made it easier for tourists to add the Mexican Caribbean destinations to a vacation to the emerging Yucatan tourist destination, Merida, and vice versa. Merida has been considered a top Mexican travel destination by many travel magazines and writers in recent years.

With the completion of Chetumal, travelers can now access the popular tourist lagoon destination of Bacalar or continue their Mexican Caribbean journey across the border to Belize.

Beyond the controversies

There are still a number of controversies surrounding the Train Maya service in Mexico.

One of these was the fact that the train suffered a number of delays and disruptions early on, leaving tourists and other travelers stranded. In one case, the train even jumped the tracks near a station. However, most of these issues have been resolved over time.

Another controversy concerns the cement pillars that environmentalists claimed were driven into ancient caves and cenotes. Also clearing rainforest to build the tracks. Many of these claims have yet to be resolved.

Recently, controversies have emerged over a lack of tourists on more remote tracks of the Train Maya. Obviously this will have to be addressed. However, it would have been a mistake to build the train just for tourism.

Future tourist train plans in Mexico

According to President Sheinbaum, the Mexican government is already planning to build the second phase.

“We will extend it with the freight train and we will connect it with the interoceanic train,” she said.

Although it is not expected to carry tourists and other passengers.

Former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador once called for the construction of a tourist train in Baja California from San Diego, California, all the way to Los Cabos. However, nothing new has been released about that proposed project and no plans have been put forward by the Sheinbaum administration.

The success of the Train Maya project may still be evaluated before moving forward with additional train tourism projects.