CANCÚN, Q. Roo.- The Maya Train project has been modified by FONATUR authorities, it will not run from Valladolid to Cancún as it was originally projected. Now it will run from Valladolid to Cobá connection, which will result in savings of 5.5 billion pesos and 55 kilometers of construction.
Alejandro Varela Arellano, legal director of the National Fund for Tourism Promotion (FONATUR), announced in the framework of the Bilateral Conference on Infrastructure Mexico-United States that it is only a slight change that will allow savings in terms of time and economic resources.
The Agency of Strategic Projects of the state of Quintana Roo (Agepro), approved the decision, since it will benefit the central part of the state, bringing more visitors the archaeological site of Cobá, which was not originally within the Maya Train route.
The 100-kilometer section that connects Valladolid, Cobá and Tulum, already has a federal highway.
The change in the Maya Train’s Yucatán connection was considered as a result of an observation made by an external consultant to FONATUR, justified by the fact that the Quintana Roo route will run between Tulum and Cancun.
The analysis is cost-effective and came up when the map on the Valladolid-Cancún route was reviewed. It was noted that there are no villages between these two destinations, it was just a direct and longer route that would cost 5.5 billion pesos.
It was in August 2018 when the Federal Government included two stations within the state of Yucatán as part of the Maya Train route, Merida and Valladolid.
The Maya Train, probably the most important infrastructure project of the AMLO administration, includes five states: Chiapas, Tabasco, Yucatan, Campeche and Quintana Roo, features 1,500 kilometers of railroad tracks across the Yucatán Peninsula and Southeast Mexico. However, 55 kilometers are now cut back.
Source: SIPSE