Mayan Train will Provide State-of-the-Art Technology: FONATUR

The National Fund for Tourism Promotion (FONATUR) announced new technological details for the construction of the Mayan Train, as President Andrés Manuel López Obrador continues to pour efforts to make the train a historical project. 

The Mayan Train will be one of “the best in the world,” according to Javier May Rodríguez, Head, FONATUR. The train is estimated to be inaugurated in December 2023 in Tabasco, Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatan and Quintana Roo, explains FONATUR via a press release. 

The federal government has poured whopping investments in the construction of the train, which is one of the most emblematic infrastructure projects of President Lopez Obrador’s administration. The train will implement state-of-the-art technology for traffic control, signaling and radiolocation to guarantee safe journeys, explains Fonatur via a press release. 

May guaranteed that the train will offer safe trips and presented a report on its security and connectivity systems, as well as the archaeological route of the project. FONATUR highlighted that the train will provide connectivity in the southeast of Mexico, as the project is set to unite Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatan and Quintana Roo on a 1,554km stretch with 34 stations and stops in cities, towns, tourist destinations and archaeological sites. 

Airports will also benefit from the project, as the airports in Villahermosa, Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche, Merida, Cancun, Chetumal, Palenque and Tulum air terminals will be modernized. FONATUR explained that hotels will be built along the route and close to archaeological zones and natural areas.

Currently, 42 trains and 219 wagons are being manufactured in Ciudad Sahagun, Hidalgo, to comply with the expected inauguration of the train in December 2023. Blas Núñez, Head, Operations Coordination Center (CCO) of the Mayan Train, and Member, Directorate of Engineers of Mexico’s Ministry of Defense (SEDENA), explained that six hotels are being built near the archaeological zones of Palenque, Edzna, Nuevo Uxmal, Chichen Itza, Tulum and Calakmul. Núñez highlighted the construction of the ecological parks of La Plancha and the Nuevo Uxmal Park in a Protected Natural Area that has undergone a reforestation of 35 hectares with 17,500 endemic plants. 

“To guarantee safe and calm travel experiences, throughout the Mayan Train route there will be surveillance by land and air, with elements on board the wagons, patrols of tracks and overflights of drones and aircraft, in addition to surveillance at stations, archaeological zones and strategic facilities such as airports,” says May. 

Activists and environmentalists have criticized the project due to its environmental impact, arguing that various indigenous populations currently live in the area where the project is set to be constructed. The critics add that the region is one of the most biodiverse areas in the world, and that the railway will cross the second largest forest lung in Latin America, the Mayan jungle. The project will likely cause a fragmentation and irreversible impacts on the vegetation, soil, water and biodiversity of the area, according to the Mexican Center for Environmental Law (CEMDA) on its analysis of the project, as reported by MBN.