Will the Maya Train railroad eventually become a popular mode of travel between beach resorts, colonial cities and archaeological sites in Mexico’s southeast? Only time will tell, but passenger numbers so far are well below the federal government’s targets. Óscar David Lozano Águila, an army general and general director of the Maya Train, reported on Monday that 246,929 passengers traveled on the railroad between Dec. 16, 2023 — when services between Campeche city and Cancún commenced — and July 11.
The average daily number of passengers during the railroad’s first 205 days of partial operation was 1,204. The government has stated that it is targeting daily ridership of between 22,000 and 37,000 passengers at some point in the future. Average daily passenger numbers in the seven months since the railroad opened represented just 3-5% of those figures.
Nevertheless, Lozano was upbeat during a presentation he gave on the railroad at President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s morning press conference. “We’ve managed to transport almost a quarter of a million people since Dec. 16 when we began operations,” he said, adding that those passengers could fill Mexico City’s cavernous Estadio Azteca 2.
6 times over. Only 4 1/2 sections of the seven-section 1,554-kilometer-long railroad are currently open. Those sections — 1,2,3,4 and the northern part of section 5 — link Palenque, Chiapas, to Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, via the states of Tabasco, Campech.