After the start of the construction of the Mayan Train on Sunday Dec. 16, tourists and visitors will be able to travel from Cancun to Palenque in 9 hours, at a maximum speed of 160 kilometers per hour.
With the “consent of our Mother Earth” but also with environmental, economic and social protests, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador started the construction of the Maya Train Project in Palenque, Chiapas, which is expected to be ready in four years, with a 1.500 kilometers log railway.
The work began with the rehabilitation of 800 kilometers of railways that were previously used to transport products in the region.
On the grounds of the old airport of Palenque, which will be a Civic Plaza and the main Maya Train station in Chiapas, before members of 12 indigenous ethnic groups who previously made a ritual, AMLO added: “the southeast has been the most abandoned region. Now it’s time to do something about it. ”
Accompanied by Yucatecan Governor Mauricio Vila Dosal, he explained that the passenger train will provide services to native peoples at a cheaper cost per passenger.
The first stage of the construction of the Mayan train, corresponding to the Yucatan section, will start in 2019 with works in 93 kilometers, from the stateline of Calkiní, Campeche, all the way to Mérida.
At the start-up ceremony, the President called on the private sector to participate in the construction and announced that there will be subsidies or support for companies that comply satisfactorily, since most of the investment, he said, will be private. The bids for the first four stretches will be published in two months.
TYT Newsroom with information from SIPSE
