The operator of Mexico’s largest rail network, Ferromex, said on Tuesday it had suspended the service of 60 freight trains due to the influx of thousands of migrants using them to reach the border with the United States.
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In the cities of Torreon, Irapuato, San Francisco de los Romo and Chihuahua, where fatal accidents have occurred in recent days, around 4,300 people are still on trains or at Ferromex operating sites, the company said in a press release.
“Given the significant increase in the number of migrants concentrated in different regions of the country and the serious risk that the use of freight trains for transportation poses to their safety, Ferromex has temporarily shut down 60 trains,” Ferromex says.
The company has not indicated what proportion of its activities will be affected by this measure, but states that the 60 trains have a loading capacity equivalent to that of 1,800 trucks.
For years, thousands of migrants from South and Central America have used Mexican freight trains – one of them nicknamed “The Beast” or “Death Train” – to cross the country towards the border with the United States in the north of the country.
Many of them died or had to be amputated after accidentally falling from the roof of the train.
The network operated by Ferromex covers 10,000 km of tracks in Mexico and connects “eight ports and six border crossings” internationally, according to its website.
Ferromex said it was awaiting action from authorities to resolve the situation, which it warned was likely to impact production or supply chains.
Mexico is a corridor through which thousands of migrants pass on their way to the northern border to seek asylum in the United States or enter without a visa.
Many of them travel secretly, crammed into trains or trucks in inhumane conditions and are mistreated by smugglers.
On Monday, several people were injured when thousands of migrants, most of them Haitians, attempted to force their way into immigration offices in Tapachula, South, to demand transit permits.