Mexico City, Mexico — The Mexican government says 157 billion pesos will be spent for the first stage construction of its mega train project. The money will be spent on the first 774 kilometers of passenger trains and 240 kilometers of freight trains.
The country-wide mega construction project is set to begin on the Mexico City-Pachuca, Mexico City-Querétaro, Querétaro-Irapuato, and Saltillo-Nuevo Laredo sections later this month.
Part of that mega project includes the construction of the Maya Train’s freight line. The commander of the Felipe Ángeles Engineering Group, Gustavo Ricardo Vallejo Suárez, says the first phase of the Tren Maya freight will be the construction of 10 freight complexes, starting with four multimodal complexes in Palenque, Poxilá, Progreso and Cancun.
In addition, 70 kilometers of railway tracks will be built in the Mérida metropolitan area to allow the train to reach the Port of Progreso. He says work on this project will begin in the second half of April and is scheduled to last a year and a half.
He also reported that the Maya Train will connect to the Interoceanic Corridor. To this end, an additional 370 meters of track will be built from Palenque to allow cargo coming from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and the rest of the National Railway Network to enter the Maya Train.
The mega project is in conjunction with the Mexican government through the Railway Transport Regulatory Agency (ARTF) and the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SICT).
According to the Government of Mexico, the 157 billion pesos will be invested this year to build the first 774 kilometers of passenger train tracks, 70 kilometers of freight tracks for the Maya Train and 170 kilometers of freight tracks for the Isthmus of Tehuantepec Interoceanic Corridor.
In August of 2024, then President-elect Sheinbaum announced the intention for the Tren Maya freight project that would connect its tracks with the Port of Progreso in the neighboring state of Yucatan.
