Mexico's Mayan train arrives ahead of schedule but has a lot of questions – The Guardian

Engineers said the Maya Train – Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's flagship infrastructure project – would take 15 years to build. But the first section is scheduled to open after five o'clock on Friday.

The government has portrayed the £16bn tourist and freight train, which it hopes will boost the southeast's economy, as an express delivery of social justice to one of the country's poorest regions.

Critics say the project was forced by military and national security orders, without proper environmental impact studies or consultation with the people who live there.

“The president has an idea of ​​development that dates back to the mid-20th century,” said Ana Esther Ceceña, an economist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. “There is no way to build a train like this without destroying the local way of life.”

But despite protests and court orders to stop construction, the project proved unstoppable. The first section of the route leads from Campeche to Cancún. The government says the entire circuit will be operational by the end of February 2024.

The tour takes in five states that contain many of Mexico's archaeological treasures – not only from the Mayans, but also from civilizations that preceded them, such as the Olmecs.

Route map of the Mayan Railway

The government argues the train will attract more tourists and investment to the region. The UN Development Office estimated that this could lift 1.1 million people out of poverty by 2030.

Communities in the region are divided: some welcome the investment, while others resent the imposition and question its benefits.

Although the government conducted consultations in affected states in 2019 and the project received an approval rating of almost 90%, the UN human rights office in Mexico said it did not meet international standards.

It cited low voter turnout, lack of translation of materials into indigenous languages ​​and partial or even false information about the possible negative impacts of the project.

Construction workers work to build an access crossing to the Maya Train's Cancún terminal. Photo: José Luis Gonzalez/Portal

“This is a project designed from a desk in Mexico City,” Ceceña said.

In a rush to complete the railway before the end of López Obrador's term in 2024, construction began before studies on its environmental impact were completed.

Studies published since then are limited and only consider the impact of the railways themselves and neither urbanization nor the large numbers of tourists they will attract.

Non-governmental organizations have highlighted the potential environmental impact, starting with the way the tracks will cut into pieces the Maya Forest – Latin America's second-largest rainforest.

“This [railway lines] are artificial boundaries for species like jaguars,” said Aarón Hernández Siller of Cemda, an environmental NGO. “And they are so wide – more than 60 meters – that they also represent a barrier for certain seeds and spores.”

Another impact affects the system of underground caves and rivers that run just below the surface in much of the peninsula and supply drinking water to the 5 million inhabitants.

The system is already under pressure. Last year, Conagua, the state water agency, predicted that the Yucatán Peninsula would be spared from a water crisis in 15 years – without taking the train into account.

A worker rests during construction of a section of the Mayan Train in Cancún. Photo: José Luis Gonzalez/Portal

There is also the risk of collapse and contamination as the soil consists largely of porous limestone and is structurally fragile. “We are talking about an underground that is like Swiss cheese,” said Hernández Siller. “Putting trains weighing hundreds if not thousands of tons on top of it – that could collapse the caves underneath.”

“In China they conducted studies for ten years before building a train in a zone like this,” Hernández Siller added. “Here it was express. How can we be sure there won’t be an accident?”

The government responded to the criticism by changing the route and building some sections on raised platforms.

But it has also imposed the project by decree and militarization, ignoring legal regulations and restricting public disclosure of information.

“They stigmatized everyone who took action against them,” Hernández Siller said. “I was at a protest when we suddenly found ourselves faced with armed soldiers.”

In addition to patrolling, protecting and monitoring part of the train's construction, the armed forces were now also given the task of operating the train.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador speaks during the groundbreaking ceremony of the Maya Train in El Ideal, Quintana Roo, June 1, 2020. Photo: Elizabeth Ruiz/AFP/Getty Images

This reflects a trend during López Obrador's administration that has seen the portfolio of assets under military control expand to include civilian airports, seaports, the national customs authority and another new railway line. Hotels, nature reserves and a passenger airline are to follow.

“This militarization is the biggest contradiction of this supposedly progressive government,” said Ivet Reyes Maturano of Articulación Yucatán, an association of academics.

The Maya Train is just one part of a plan to transform southeastern Mexico, along with a new airport in Tulum, the Dos Bocas oil refinery in Tabasco and the Interoceanic Corridor, a port and train system designed to compete with the Panama Canal in transportation of cargo between the Pacific and the Atlantic.

“[The Maya Train] “The train itself is not just a passenger train,” said Hernández Siller. “It’s a freight train. It is part of a broader strategy for the region to transform it into a logistics park.

Environmentalists have expressed concern that the tracks will tear the Maya Forest – the second largest rainforest in Latin America – to shreds. Photo: José Luis Gonzalez/Portal

“This is a vision that the people of the region have not heard about nor agreed to,” Hernández Siller added. “They were told it was about social justice, when in reality it was all about economic goals – and ones that had little to do with it.”

All of this public investment has accelerated GDP growth in certain states – but it remains to be seen whether this growth will continue after the projects are completed and how the economic benefits will be distributed.

“It’s good that they invested all these resources in the Southeast,” Ceceña said. “But if only they had done it in a way that respected the region: its history, its customs, its ways of life.”