This is the major project of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The “Mayan Train” is, as its name suggests, a 1500 kilometer tourist train, which is being built in southeastern Mexico. It should start circulating in 2024 but the government has just suffered a major setback: the justice system suspended the construction site at the instigation of a group of environmentalists who denounce the devastating impact of this project.
At the heart of this project considered a priority by the government, the most important section of the “Mayan Train”: the one that connects the seaside resorts of Playa del Carmen and Tulum, in the state of Quintana Roo. The train will travel, as its name suggests, the Mayan region, that is to say the Yucatán peninsula and part of the state of Chiapas.
El @TrenMayaMX hará justicia al sureste. Para quien aún no conoce el proyecto: son 1,554 km de ruta, pasará por 5 estados, tendrá 34 escalas y lo construyen 5 consorcios y la @SEDENAmx. Y sí, will be inaugurated in December 2023 porque vamos a cumplirle al pueblo. #SúbeteAlTren pic.twitter.com/8XtG1v399j
— JAVIER MAY (@TabascoJavier) June 4, 2022
However, he is now paralyzed. Since its planning, it has indeed drawn the wrath of environmentalists because the site involves cutting in thousands of hectares of tropical forest. Afraid of seeing his major project threatened, the president issued a decree a few months ago classifying this construction as a national security project, which allows him to circumvent some legal obstacles.
But justice does not see things the same way: it agreed with a group of ecologists and divers who asked to be able to study the environmental impact report that the government was supposed to have drawn up before the construction of the route. rail between Playa del Carmen and Tulum. However, surprise, this report did not exist. The authorities considered until now that the presidential decree exempted them from this essential step in the planning of any infrastructure project.
“The scandal broke. Not only was the law violated, but the route of the Maya Train would also affect important and vulnerable natural sites from an ecological, historical and archaeological point of view.“, denounces Arturo Bayona, biologist, diver and specialist in the region’s ecosystems.
Como los más modernos del mundo, el Tren Maya estará en línea con los international estándares más altos en seguridad ferroviaria. #SúbeteAlTren pic.twitter.com/VjwEYmQNhl
— Tren Maya (@TrenMayaMX) June 11, 2022
The land on which the railway is built is particularly fragile because the subsoil of the entire Yucatán peninsula is traversed by an immense aquifer network which includes submerged caverns, among the longest in the world, and thousands of cenotes, natural pools and caves which are a natural jewel of the region. And that is the greatest fear of activists today: the vibrations caused by transport could cause landslides and the destruction of certain cenotes.
/2021/08/05/php8wwrDU.jpg)
There is also a serious problem of pollution of the aquifer system: the region of Cancún, Playa del Carmen and Tulum attracts more than 16 million tourists each year. There is no effective drainage system for wastewater and yet large urbanization projects are still gaining ground, as Arturo Bayona recalls: “In Tulum, the destruction is underway with the approval of the operational plan which involves new construction. And therefore much greater devastation than that caused by the Maya Train… And we don’t talk about it enough.“
In the meantime, the construction of the train is therefore paralyzed between Playa del Carmen and Tulum, until the government presents a report that guarantees the preservation of ecosystems, already undermined by mass tourism.