Riviera Maya, Q.R. — Mexico’s Tren Maya will be ready to begin operations as of December 15, 2023, confirmed General Director, Óscar David Lozano Águila.
“We are 53 days away and everyone in the Tren Maya team is excited about the possibility of opening on that date,” he stated Monday during a progress report on sections 5, 6 and 7.
On Monday, he reported that section 5 will have three stations, one at Puerto Morelos, Playa del Carmen and Tulum, in addition to two maintenance bases, one at Puerto Morelos and the other in Chemuyil.
Section 6 will have five stations that will include the Tulum Airport, Felipe Carrillo Puerto, Limones-Chacchobén, Bacalar and Chetumal Airport. The section will also include a shelter and maintenance depot in Tulum and another in Chetumal, as well as a maintenance base in Felipe Carrillo Puerto.
He specified that in Chetumal the construction of a multimodal cargo transportation terminal is also planned that will boost the economy of the south of the state along with other strategic works being built in the area.
He reported that in section 7, four stations are being built in Kohunlich, Xpujil, Calakmul and Centenario in addition to a maintenance base in Xpujil, where they are also considering the construciton of a cargo operations yard.
Across sections 5, 6 and 7 there will be 840 complementary projects that include railway bridges, pedestrian, vehicular and wildlife crossings, as well as drainage and electrical projects.
Together, sections 5, 6 and 7 will cover 621 kilometers of 11 municipalities of Quintana Roo and Campeche. Sections 5 and 6 consist of 366 kilometers of electrified double track from the Cancun Aeropuerto station to the Chetumal station.
Meanwhile, section 7 runs on a single track for 254 kilometers that connects the Chetumal station with the Escárcega station.
He specified that the construction of the new Tulum Airport and the rehabilitation and modernization of the Cancun and Chetumal airports will allow automatic connectivity from the air terminals to the Maya Train stations and will increase the capacities for passenger transportation.
Along sections 5, 6 and 7 are 12 archaeological zones that include:
Section 5: El Meco, Tulum Coba, Muyil, Xel-Há and Paamul II.
Section 6: Chacchobén, Ichkabal and Oxtankah.
Section 7: Dzibanché-Kinichná, Kohunlich and Calakmul.
Two Tren Maya hotels are also being built, one in Tulum and another in Calakmul where a Visitor Service Center (Catvi) is also being developed.
The commander of the Felipe Ángeles Group of Engineers assigned to the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena), Gustavo Ricardo Vallejo Suárez, reported all sections are being constructed without setbacks.
He says section 5 north, which includes 43 kilometes from Cancun to Playa del Carmen is 47 percent complete with a double electrified track. Section 6 is at 53 percent, which includes 255 kilometers of double eletrified track from Tulum to Chetumal.
In section 7 the progress is 51 percent and connsists of 254 kilometers of single track between Chetumal and Escárcega. The new Tulum airport is around 80 percent complete.
The head of the Tren Maya Operations Coordinating Center of Sedena, Blas Andrés Núñez Jordán, reported a 29 percent progress in the Hotel Tren Maya Tulum, which will have 352 rooms and will be the largest of the six hotels being built along Maya Train route.
