VALLADOLID, Mexico, Nov 29 (IPS) – Indigenous craftswoman Alicia Pech doesn’t know about the Mexican government’s most iconic large-scale project, the Maya Train(TM), which runs through five states in southern and southeastern Mexico.
“We don’t travel. There are not enough resources to travel by train here. Who wouldn’t want to ride somewhere? now… There are no visitors, no one is coming. “I think there will be more in December.” A 44-year-old Mayan woman told IPS.
She was born and lives in Dzitnup, from where she takes a daily bus 30 minutes to Valladolid, a city in the southeastern state of Yucatan, where she works in a clothing store she owns with 11 other Mayan women. They weave and embroider blouses, dresses and other fabrics just a few blocks from the city’s downtown.
The weaver, a mother of three children, complains that sales are low. “We can’t afford to pay for the store. “There are no people now,” she said.
Valladolid, with a population of about 85,500, is one of 26 railway stations already in operation, construction of which began in 2020 and five of the seven planned lines to be operational from December 2023.
TM was initially responsible for the National Fund for Tourism Development (Fonatur) and, since 2023, for the Ministry of Defense (Sedena). It covers approximately 1,500 km, passing through 78 municipalities in three states of the Yucatan Peninsula (Campeche, Quintana Roo and Yucatan) and two neighboring states (Chiapas and Tabasco).
Sedena is building two pending lines with seven stations between Quintana Roo and Campeche.
The route has sparked a polarized debate between supporters and critics over deforestation in Latin America’s second-largest jungle massif after the Amazon, an issue that has become a source of fatigue for local communities.
Pech, despite official promises, to travel from Calkiní (Campeche) to Izamal (Yucatán) and from there on route 4 to Cancún (Quintana Roo).
This, in addition to project delays and cost overruns, exceeded the original estimate by $15 billion, or 70% more.
The trains, which are aimed at tourists and curious users and generate little enthusiasm among locals, are empty at larger stations such as Mérida or Cancun, are short on passengers at smaller stations and, for now, do not contain cargo.
According to official data, between December and August 2023, TM transported 340,622 passengers in 10 trains currently operating on the route at the rate of 1,425 per day, as per official figures.
80% of passengers on the TM train, which has suffered more than 20 accidents since its opening, are tourist destinations such as Cancun, Mérida (the capital of Yucatan), Playa del Carmen, Valladolid, and Palenque, which has archaeological sites.
Although the number of international tourists arriving at tourist destinations such as Mérida Airport and Cozumel increased between January and September this year, it is difficult to link this to the effect of the new railway compared to the same period in 2023. On the other hand, the number of visitors to Cancun decreased by 1.5%.
Fares range from about $3 per stop to up to $156 for domestic visitors and $208 for foreign visitors, with the revenue going into county coffers.
The Yucatan Peninsula is home to the majority of the Mayan population, one of Mexico’s 71 indigenous groups and one of the country’s best cultural and historical representatives.
someday…
In the city of Maxcanu (“Place of the Four Monkeys” in Mayan, or “Canul’s Beard” by an indigenous chieftain) and about 65 kilometers from Mérida, Madelin Ortiz, a clothing store owner, believes the train is beneficial. Although she doesn’t use it and her business hasn’t flourished yet.
“The price is cheaper and there are more customers. There is a shortage of trains due to the low number of departures. There isn’t much fluidity in the timetable. I wanted to go to Cancun, but I couldn’t,” the 78-year-old shop owner, a married mother of four, told IPS.
But although many locals celebrate the jicama (Pachyrhizus erosus) fair, a tuber known as the Mexican turnip, the town is not overflowing with visitors.
Like other stations, Maxcanú has eight empty buildings waiting for shops, with signs like “food”, “local tourism” and “handicrafts”. The same is true in Valladolid, where at Mérida-Teja station on the outskirts of the capital there are only two grocery stores operating, one offering TM souvenirs and the other advertising a future bakery and a place for car rental.
Maxcanú station has just over 24,000 passengers and has more idle times than busy times. Four National Guard soldiers are spending time with three stray dogs seeking the cool of the station and runaways seeking refuge from the sun, while five workers are cleaning the place.
To avoid protests and urban chaos, Fonatur and Sedena built stations on the outskirts of cities and towns, which made access difficult due to disconnections and increased costs and travel times.
In pushing the project, then-President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who was in power from 2018 until October last year, said TM would support community tourism and have space for craftspeople. But people like Alicia Pech are still waiting.
The government claims the train will bring thousands of tourists, create jobs, boost tourism beyond traditional visitor centers and develop the local economy, but there is no evidence for this, especially since it does not carry freight.
permanent
There are wounds that never heal. The TM route has traces marking the Mayan jungle where there were trees, animals and plants. The project faces allegations of deforestation, pollution, environmental damage and human rights violations.
Miguel Anguas, co-founder of the non-governmental organization Kanan Derechos Humanos, said TM creates a new territorial order with detrimental effects that are in some cases irreversible.
“The balance is clear. Maya does not manage it or run it. As we can see, the government is trying to keep the project from being derailed. People feel that it is unfamiliar to them. It is the culmination of the process of deprivation,” he told IPS.
According to a study released in September by the government’s Yucatan Scientific Research Center, the project reduced at least 11,485 hectares of jungle and released 470,750 tons of carbon into the atmosphere.
In fact, the government paid its own costs to compensate for the logging.
The government’s forestry commission paid $4.11 million to 11 and 18 private landowners. ejidos 2,867 hectares (40 individuals, 15 individuals) 4.38 million people scheduled to be demolished in 2023 Ejidos This year it amounts to 2,827 hectares.
Compensation is a legal mechanism that allows one area to recover for damage caused to another.
To boost revenues and minimize losses, President Claudia Sheinbaum, who took office on October 1, plans to expand the route to Puerto Progreso on the Yucatan coast north of Mérida to transport cargo.
However, TM will continue to use its resources as the 2025 budget plans to allocate $2.173 billion to maintain the two lines under construction and those already in operation.
The Mexican government has known since 2022 that the initial budget would increase due to the mega-project.
A more recent cost-benefit analysis prepared that year by private Mexican consulting firm Transconsult and obtained by IPS through an information request concluded that costs would be two to four times higher than initial estimates.
“Stations are defined in terms of serving the greatest number of locations, thereby meeting the greatest demand in the area,” the document states.
This means losses for TM, which will generate profits in the medium term.
As TM struggles to move forward, Pech and Ortiz fantasize that one day they will wait on the platform, see it arrive, and board one of the vehicles.
© Interpress Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Interpress Service
