Maya Train passengers end their trip in a van due to poor connection

MÉRIDA, Yuc. ( Proceso ).- Sometimes full, other times almost empty, the Maya Train advances between embedded tracks in the middle of a broken jungle without yet being part of the promise of the 4T: to unite communities and support tourist destinations, such as those in Quintana Roo, which now face what is being pointed out as one of the worst hotel occupancy crises in its history.

Between Cancún and Playa del Carmen, where the country's largest tourist corridor is located, the train runs punctually three times a day this summer, a holiday season when hoteliers aren't happy with the numbers, as occupancy rates are falling further every day.

This occurred precisely the weekend preceding the incident at the Izamal station on Tuesday, August 19, which General Óscar David Lozano Águila, director of the Maya Train, insists was not a derailment.

Thus, the whistle of the locomotive built by the Parisian company Alstom sounds upon arrival at each station and its lights also turn on, but these do not "illuminate" Playa del Carmen, the heart of the Riviera Maya, nor Cancún.

The train travels between the two in just under an hour, but it doesn't reach any tourist and business destinations, as there are no special schedules for workers as promised, nor is there enough affordable transportation to allow the majority of the population to travel in its carriages.

For example, on the Mayan Train, a sandwich of traditional cochinita pibil, one of the most affordable dishes for residents of the Yucatan Peninsula due to its cost, sells for 130 pesos, almost triple the price.

Cochinita pibil is the most consumed gastronomic dish throughout the Yucatan Peninsula, as in Nuevo Xcán, one of the Mayan communities surrounding Cancun and the Riviera Maya, where the federal government built a station, although this summer no one gets on or off.

The station in this community goes unnoticed, and its 5,782 residents prefer to use vans to travel to or from the district, the gateway to Holbox Island, one of the most popular tourist attractions in the state.

This summer, the Maya Train only offered one direct service from Playa del Carmen to Mérida, but at night, making it impossible to use given the lack of connectivity between the Yucatecan capital's station and the historic center. The journey, the train promises, takes four hours and 24 minutes.

However, during the day, the only option is to transfer in Cancún at five times, with the possibility of completing the trip in up to six hours. This was confirmed by the reporters writing this article on August 13, 16, and 17 when they boarded this mode of transportation, which takes almost twice as long as the ADO buses, the most popular in the region, and far faster than the Maya Train.

At Cancún Airport Station, as in Playa del Carmen, due to the slow flow of train departures caused by low ticket demand, the stations remain empty for several hours a day, practically abandoned amidst commercial spaces that, almost a year and a half after they were opened, no one is looking to rent them for a business.

They are ghost stations, where workers at establishments that have opened express concern that they must soon attract customers or their jobs will disappear.

Lack of connectivity

It's 9 p.m. on the 16th outside the Mérida Teya station, and passengers, having boarded the train at 2 p.m., 20 minutes away in Playa del Carmen, with a transfer in Cancún, realize that alternative transportation is almost nonexistent.

The IE-Tram service is looming, an electric bus that departs at 10 p.m., adding more than eight hours of travel time to passengers reaching Mérida's historic center.

Added to this is a light drizzle, and along with the unrelenting heat, Mérida feels like a veritable sauna on this night. Finally, the IE Tram starts moving, and after endless minutes, we reach the historic center of a city that's already asleep, unlike the tourist destinations in Quintana Roo, where activity extends into the early morning.

Chichén Itzá, total abandonment

The Maya Train departs punctually again at 9:18 a.m. from Mérida to Playa del Carmen, but not before stopping at the Chichén Itzá station and then transferring in Cancún.

It passes through the Izamal station, about 50 hours before the mishap, which is insisted was not a derailment, the third such incident to occur on the Maya Train: in March 2024, at the Tixkokob station, and in January of this year in Limones, when some ballast cars went off the tracks.

The incident is a reminder that when the train was traveling on that stretch, loud cracks could be heard, which, according to the staff, are normal due to the change of track.

At the Chichén Itzá station, upon disembarking, there is no sign of the 1,502,319 people who have boarded the Maya Train since its launch, as President Claudia Sheinbaum boasted about on August 15 during her visit to Chetumal.

The station is deserted. Its distance from the Chichén Itzá archaeological site, Mexico's most visited site with more than 2.2 million visitors last year, according to the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), makes it difficult to use, train workers complain.

The Chichén Itzá station is still in its raw state, with walls barely plastered, waiting area benches still unpacked, recently arrived ticket turnstiles, and a small store that sells only the bare necessities: souvenirs, Coca-Cola, and instant soups, far removed from the cultural and culinary richness that the Mayan community in this part of the country has to offer.

A worker shouts for passengers continuing their journey to Cancún. There is no drop-off area, as it is still under construction, and in groups, the few passengers hoping to board the train car, which on this occasion is delayed, are taken down via an elevator.

Shortly after 1:30 p.m., in the middle of the summer vacation season, the train begins its journey with the sound of thundering tracks.

A Maya Train worker asks about the people who will be transferring in Cancún to continue to Playa del Carmen. There are only a few. A man catches up with the worker, who, via WhatsApp message, informs Cancún that they must wait for passengers; otherwise, the train will depart without them on board.

The Mayan Train heading to Playa del Carmen crosses stretches of jungle where vegetation is beginning to re-emerge more than three years after the deforestation, which environmentalists from Sélvame del Tren described as "atrocious."

Although it has few passenger departures, the federal government has invested 470.428 billion pesos so far, as reported by Proceso last June, almost 100 times the budget spent by the municipality of Playa del Carmen in a year.

Poor hotel occupancy

Toni Chaves, president of the Riviera Maya Hotel Association, acknowledges that the project has not yet matured as expected and is confident that the military will carry out adequate promotion to achieve its goals.

"It's an issue handled by the military; they're doing certain promotions each time, but it's also difficult for a train to be a success in the first year," Toni acknowledges.

In northern Quintana Roo, where sections 4 and 5 of the Maya Train are located—the latter being the most controversial due to the devastation of the jungle pointed out by environmentalists—there are more than 125,000 hotel rooms, in the country's largest tourist corridor: Cancún-Riviera Maya.

However, in recent weeks, occupancy has been below 59% and is expected to continue to decline in the coming weeks, despite the multi-million-dollar investment in the Maya Train.

"We have to take advantage of it, not just criticize it (the train), but see how we can leverage it to help tourists travel around the state and get to know other regions," concludes Toni Chaves.

Derailments

The first officially recognized derailment of the Maya Train occurred in March 2024, when the fourth car of the Maya Train went off the track upon entering the station in the municipality of Tixkokob. No one was injured. Another incident occurred on August 19 in Izamal, Yucatán.

These incidents are in addition to some reported robberies, but they have not hindered the service, which is functional and accessible for some travelers, but expensive and time-consuming for others.

On Wednesday, August 13, during a tour conducted by Proceso between the Teya station in Mérida and the San Francisco station in Campeche, a National Guard officer who guards the Maya Train said he was happy to be assigned to the Teya station, while, between each train arrival, he kindly helped people unload their suitcases.

He recalled that during the construction of Section 5 in Quintana Roo, they constantly received reports of material theft.

"There were groups of armed men who would cut down the netting if they found it, or if not, they would come in anyway, threaten the workers, and steal the materials. Sometimes, it was just plain violence," he said. When asked if they were organized crime groups, the young guard replied yes, noting that there are no such problems in Yucatán.

The National Guard officer's words frame one of the few situations that managed to come to light, such as that of January 29, 2025, when a freight train transporting materials for the Mayan Train project derailed between the Limones and Bacalar stations in Quintana Roo.

The Ministry of National Defense (Sedeña) ruled out the possibility of an attempted robbery, although there were reports suggesting otherwise.

Only jungle

Some people who travel by train do so with the spectacular scenery in mind. Routes like the one from Mérida to San Francisco, Campeche, offer nothing but trees, some standing and others felled, cars, asphalt, and a fence that prevents the region's animals from reaching the tracks.

This was the case of a passenger in her early 50s, who commented that the first time she used the Maya Train, she did so with the idea of ​​seeing Mayan remains.

The woman was standing in line to get on the platform, blowing kisses goodbye to her grandson, her rolling suitcase in one hand, her purse across her body, and a stuffed animal blanket under her arm.

It was just after 11:30 a.m.; the woman was scheduled to board the 12:19 p.m. train bound for Escárcega (Campeche), where she is from.

That day, the station, located 14.7 kilometers from Mérida (about a 50-minute drive), appeared to be partially full.

But beyond a shop selling train souvenirs, the echoes of the empty corridors and closed shops could be heard. The only presence was that of a policewoman answering the good mornings of tourists, of the distracted ones who had come to explore the entire station.

There are three daily trips to San Francisco, Campeche, with schedules of 10:55 a.m. and 12:19 p.m., plus a final departure at 7:29 p.m. The route passes through five stations: Umán, Maxcanú, Calkiní, Hecelchakán, and Tenabo.

The passenger's trip to Escárcega coincides with the morning train that departed from the Teya station in Yucatán and arrives in Chiapas.

The woman would arrive home in approximately four and a half hours, tired, sleepless, and, as she put it, "burdened," she said between yawns.

He said he paid 150 pesos for an Uber ride to get to the Maya Train station. Although there are other options to get there in Mérida, none of them fit his schedule.

One of those options is the well-known IE-TRAM, inaugurated on December 15, 2023, by the former governor of Yucatán, Mauricio Vila Dosal, a member of the PAN, along with then-President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

It was launched as part of the restructuring of the state's transportation system. Because it would connect with the Maya Train, of the 2.8 billion euro project cost, 23% came from the federal government, 16% from the private sector, and the remaining 60% from the state government.

The IE-TRAM ticket costs 45 pesos for tourists and 14 pesos for locals with a general Va y Ven card, the public transportation system. Those with student discounts and senior citizens pay 5 pesos. The problem is the wait time: the first departure is at 5:30 a.m. and the last at 8:05 p.m., departing from Paseo 60.

The Yucatán Transportation Agency's website states that the journey time is 35 minutes to the Maya Train station, but that it takes two hours to board. The woman heading to Escárcega was aware of this situation, so she decided to pay triple the price for an Uber to get to the station.

He travels to visit his daughter and grandson, who have just moved to Mérida.

He decided to use the Maya Train because, although it's more complicated to get to the station, he claimed the ticket was cheaper and went faster than a bus. He paid 461.50 pesos for special economy class, using his voter ID.

In reality, the difference between an ADO ticket is only 8.50 pesos at the regular rate and 186.5 at the highest rate. One of the drawbacks, he confessed, is that once he arrives in Escárcega, he has to take a taxi or motorcycle taxi to get home.

However, for a young student in her fourth semester of biology at the Autonomous University of Campeche (UAC), things are a little easier.

Originally from the State of Mexico (Edomex), she decided to move to the south of the country to pursue her dreams. The Mayan Train hadn't been an option for her until she adopted a puppy. During the holiday season, she travels to visit her family and arrives at the Mérida Airport on her way back, where she must take a taxi to the Teya Mayan Train station and from there to San Francisco, Campeche.

He doesn't like it that much, but he has no other option, since on the ADO bus to Campeche, he was warned that he must anesthetize his pet to board. On the Maya Train, however, he only has to sign a waiver of responsibility in case his pet causes any damage to the infrastructure.

You spend more time getting from the airport, but your dog is safe.

Upon arrival at the Maya Train station in San Francisco Campeche, you can board the Light Rail, which began operating in July.

The fare is 18 pesos in cash or by card, and there's a 50% discount for students and seniors. The problem is that this transportation is coordinated with the Maya Train schedule, so if someone delays using the bathroom or exiting the train, they have to wait up to two hours for the next departure.

The implementation of the Light Rail took 15 months and involved an investment of 4.2 billion pesos. The 14 stops along its route are functional for the majority of the population, who criticized the Layda Sansores administration for creating a transportation project designed solely for the mobility of Maya Train passengers, not for the citizens of Campeche.