Mayan Train Begins Locomotive Tests for Freight Operations

The Mayan Train is moving into its freight phase, reporting its first locomotive tests and nighttime maneuvers as it prepares to launch cargo operations across Southeast Mexico. The milestone aligns with SEDENA’s 2025–2030 plan, which targets scaling passenger and freight volumes by 2030, while key infrastructure nodes, such as the Cancun multimodal cargo terminal, advance through environmental approvals, and project development.

The Mayan Train is preparing for cargo operations by kicking off trials using the newly acquired Wabtec ES44AC locomotives and the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) safety platform, which would allow freight movements to integrate with the infrastructure already used for passenger services. Through these trials, Mexico’s Ministry of National Defense (SEDENA) advances a broader 2025–2030 roadmap that links the rail project to regional logistics, industry, and intermodal connectivity.

The test runs, according to a press release, are being carried out at night on routes toward Tenosique and include coupling maneuvers involving locomotives identified as TMY 2004, 2005, and 2006. Mayan Train representatives say the freight system is intended to strengthen southeastern Mexico’s transport capacity and support a larger, national logistics network.

The freight tests come as SEDENA’s Institutional Program of the Mayan Train 2025–2030 sets quantitative targets for the project by the end of the decade. The document, published Oct. 14, 2025, in Mexico’s Official Gazette (DOF), projects that by 2030 the Mayan Train will mobilize 4 million passengers per year and transport 4.7 million metric t of cargo annually.

The program positions the Mayan Train as a strategic link that goes beyond tourism, describing it as a mechanism to strengthen intermodal connectivity, diversify regional economies, and reduce historic development gaps across the southeast.

SEDENA’s roadmap lays out three core objectives: achieving profitability and operational sustainability across passenger, cargo, and commercial lines, ensuring a reliable and safe railway system with full intermodal integration, and aligning the project with environmental and social responsibility commitments.

The plan also points to an expanded set of cargo nodes and yards. The institutional program highlights planned intermodal terminals in Progreso, Cancun, Palenque, Chetumal, and Poxila, alongside logistics yards in Escarcega, Xpujil, and Valladolid, designed to broaden regional trade capacity, including for agroindustrial flows.

Proyectos México, describes the Mayan Train as a 1,554km rail system across Tabasco, Campeche, Chiapas, Yucatan, and Quintana Roo. The public profile, last revised in October 2025, lists 20 stations and 14 stops, a fleet of 42 trains, and passenger service operating at speeds of up to 160 km/h.

For freight, Proyectos México states that Phase One will include four multimodal freight terminals: Palenque, Poxila, Progreso and Cancun. Palenque is framed as a transfer terminal that can connect to the National Railway System and the Interoceanic Corridor, while Poxila, south of Merida, is described as a logistics complex supported by a branch connection to Puerto Progreso.

The same profile describes Progreso as a new terminal south of Puerto Progreso focused on fuel supply and distribution across the peninsula. Cancun is described as the largest terminal in the system, including a fuel storage and distribution facility intended to supply jet fuel via pipeline to Cancun International Airport.

Proyectos México also lists three rail branches totaling 66.7km: Hunucma–Progreso (35.2km), Poxila–Mérida (18km), and Poxila–Hunucma (13.5km). It reports a construction start date of April 26, 2025, for freight works and notes advanced progress in basic engineering studies.

SEMARNAT Approval Clears Major Hurdle for Cancun Terminal

In September 2025, the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) authorized clearing 261ha of jungle on the outskirts of Cancun for the Terminal Multimodal Cancun cargo facility, following review of an Environmental Impact Statement (MIA) submitted in March by Mayan Train, the state-owned company under SEDENA.

MBN reports that the terminal will be located south of Cancun International Airport and east of the passenger station of the same name, with SEMARNAT granting an 18-month timeline to execute works. The reported public investment is MX$7.76 billion, which the article notes is comparable to the annual budget of the municipality of Benito Juarez, where Cancun is located.

SEMARNAT’s ruling identified 12 at-risk wildlife species inhabiting the site, double the number recorded in the original MIA. Among them is the ocellated turkey, an endemic bird species with cultural significance in the Yucatan Peninsula.

The report adds that while Mayan Train proposed using wildlife crossings from Section 4 as mitigation, the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP) flagged a lack of sufficient evidence regarding the effectiveness of those crossings. Despite those concerns, the environmental permit was granted.

The terminal will include 28 facilities, such as warehouses, a hazardous waste storage site, housing for National Guard officers and train crews, a customs inspection area, and supporting cargo-service infrastructure, reports MBN. The terminal is expected to connect with Section 5 and Section 4 of the Mayan Train network.

SEMARNAT also indicated that an additional authorization from the Agency for Safety, Energy, and Environment (ASEA) is still required to install two diesel storage tanks with a combined capacity of 240,000 liters for locomotive fueling.

The Cancun approval has intensified pushback from environmental groups, with Greenpeace México arguing that the project shows that the Mayan Train is evolving into a cargo-focused infrastructure platform with broader territorial and ecological impacts. Greenpeace says that clearing 261ha threatens biodiversity, indigenous territories, and ecosystem stability in the region.