The Tren Maya (Mayan Train) in the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico

[Rover]

The $10BN Railway in the Jungle

Mexico is going big with Tren Maya (Mayan Train) being built in the Yucatán Peninsula

 

[BlackDiamond]

Strange that they would pick this area to build their first high speed rail rather than a more useful one e.g. Mexico City to Monterrey or Guadalajara, connecting major population centers.

 

[Rover]

Strange that they would pick this area to build their first high speed rail rather than a more useful one e.g. Mexico City to Monterrey or Guadalajara, connecting major population centers.

https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkx848LbqHDt6fmZXS4vlPQwpFJQgqQOBam

 

[Metra Electric Rider]

Strange that they would pick this area to build their first high speed rail rather than a more useful one e.g. Mexico City to Monterrey or Guadalajara, connecting major population centers.

I'm not if it's actually under construction but there is definitely a plan to build inter-city rail in the populated highlands. When I went to Mexico City pre-Covid there were big billboards with illustrations of the planned HSR in the walkways at CDMX. There's also conventional rail under construction (my Spanish isn't good enough to provide accurate info unfortunately).

 

[cirdan]

Strange that they would pick this area to build their first high speed rail rather than a more useful one e.g. Mexico City to Monterrey or Guadalajara, connecting major population centers.

I don't think its actually a high speed line. More a conventional rail line with both passenger and freight. Some of the stations on the map are relatively small places and the distances between stops also smaller than what you would expect on a HS line.

I also understand that although some of the ROW is built from scratch, there are also significant sections re-using abandoned railroad ROW.

 

[west point]

I also understand that although some of the ROW is built from scratch, there are also significant sections re-using abandoned railroad ROW.

Correct. The old ROW was easily seen from the air. Here the construction maps show it joining existing track at west end but unknown if difffeent track But further on will join rickety present track.

https://www.openrailwaymap.org/

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Strange that they would pick this area to build their first high speed rail rather than a more useful one e.g. Mexico City to Monterrey or Guadalajara, connecting major population centers.

The train is being funded by tourist fees, to promote more tourism, through the National Fund for Tourism Development. This route seems reasonable in that context. I guess they're calling it "high speed" in the sense that anything faster than a bus is considered high speed in the Western Hemisphere.

 

[Rover]

Like how they used to call 5MB "High Speed" internet...

 

[jis]

Its planned speeds are passenger 160kph, freight 100kph. Passenger speeds are faster than on typical rickety US trunk lines and hopefully their freight trains will not keep falling off track like ours seem to do of late.

Wikipedia has an article on it...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tren_Maya

 

[Willbridge]

Its planned speeds are passenger 160kph, freight 100kph. Passenger speeds are faster than on typical rickety US trunk lines and hopefully their freight trains will not keep falling off track like ours seem to do of late.

Wikipedia has an article on it...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tren_Maya

NPR carried a combined COVID/Mayan Train story. As usual there are a lot of aspects to this.

https://www.npr.org/sections/corona...ith-the-country-mostly-in-coronavirus-red-zon
BBC explains the politics and concludes that it is a pet project of the Mexican president and that there is overwhelming local opposition to it.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-56975966

 

[Anderson]

The train is being funded by tourist fees, to promote more tourism, through the National Fund for Tourism Development. This route seems reasonable in that context. I guess they're calling it "high speed" in the sense that anything faster than a bus is considered high speed in the Western Hemisphere.

In their defense, I think 100 MPH or so is the fastest train in all of Mexico (so maybe they should call it the "Speedy Tren-zoles"?).

(It might be the fastest scheduled train south of the US.)

Edit: By the way, what's behind the local opposition? I've seen that there is opposition, but I haven't really grasped the whys/wherefores and my best interpretation is that it's largely down to historical issues/mistrust of the central government alongside dubious government engagement more than the project itself in at least some respects.

 

[cirdan]

Edit: By the way, what's behind the local opposition? I've seen that there is opposition, but I haven't really grasped the whys/wherefores and my best interpretation is that it's largely down to historical issues/mistrust of the central government alongside dubious government engagement more than the project itself in at least some respects.

Me neither. Without wishing to get into a discussion about Mexican politics, from what I've heard the opposition is being overstated and is to some extent motivated and organized by the political enemies of the present government.

There are also some issues with indigenous peoples (and also NIMBYs) protesting infringement of their land. Because of this the courts stopped some sections of the project, but I don't know whether these issues were resolved or are still before the courts.

But these are all issues that can be resolved with proper processes.