The flagship Mayan tourist trains in Mexico leaves a trail of broken promises

In the Maya jungle of Mexico, a series of brilliant white lights are blazing in the darkness. It is a depot for a multi-billion dollar train line.

Just beyond the perimeter fence, a village off-grid is in complete darkness.

Mexico's Mayan train, a rail project of approximately 1,500 km (1,000 miles) in length, was designed to improve infrastructure and increase tourism to the impoverished southern part of the country.

Two years after its launch, the project is still struggling. Tickets sales only cover a small fraction of the operating costs, and most hotels along the route are empty.

Local communities say that despite government promises they have not seen any benefits. Census data and interviews with residents of towns near the line revealed that poverty is entrenched, and good-paying employment is hard to come by.

Residents in Vida y Esperanza – "Life and Hope", as it is known in English – just steps away from a railway maintenance depot had hoped that the train would bring about change.

Mary Sandra Peraza is a 30-year old mother of four.

The power lines for the train are almost directly above her home. She relies on a solar panel and generator that she rents to meet her family's needs.

She said, "There is no real benefit to us."

Peraza prepares breakfast in the small outdoor kitchen on a propane-powered hotplate before dawn. The village's only primary school is located a few meters from the depot, but it lacks grid electricity to power fans, computers, or even stable light.

Lidia Patricia Chan US, known to her 35 students simply as "Maestra Pati", has been trying for years to connect power.

The authorities have informed her that electricity cannot be installed before the land under the school has official titles. Red tape is common for rural plots such as this one, but the woman had hoped it would change with the arrival a mega-project that was supposed to spur progress and development.

Chan Us stated that "at first, when the project was introduced, we were very happy." She said that some residents sold food for construction workers. This was beneficial to the community. "But as soon as the construction was over, the food disappeared."

According to official statistics, in the state of Quintana Roo where Vida y Esperanza resides, the number of homes with electricity fell slightly over the construction period of the railway line, despite the fact that new substations to power the line were constructed.

The Mexican public education ministry and the defense ministry that oversee the operation of the state-owned company via which the train is operated did not respond when asked for comments.

MAYA HAS LONG LIVED WITH POVERTY

Former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador pushed the Mayan Train route, which connects cities and archeological sites in the Yucatan Peninsula. This was a way for him to help indigenous Maya communities develop and to spread tourism outside of?beach resorts such as Cancun.

Government data indicates that this development has yet to take place.

Quintana-Roo's economic growth grew by 13.2% in 2023 as a result of federal spending on the Mayan Train. However, this was a temporary boost due to construction. According to the latest statistics from the INEGI, the state's economy contracted by 9.7% in the first nine month of 2025.

Quintana Roo has reduced unemployment and increased formal hiring. However, about 60% of Yucatan workers are still in informal employment without any legal or social protection.

Mayas in Mexico's south-east have been marginalized for centuries. They face high poverty rates, and they are unable to access services.

Many community activists claim that while governments have for decades promised development, their forests have been fragmented. Their communal lands have also been eroded.

The government has pushed forward the project under the national security exemptions, despite legal challenges from environmental groups and Indigenous Communities.

The land is a sacred inheritance for many Maya. It is central to their identities and links them with their ancestors.

"I am outraged at the way they acted, because they did not take us into consideration," said Eliseo ek, 45, a Quintana Roo Indigenous activist who lives in the community of Nicolas Bravo.

EMPTY WORDS AND EMPTY TAPS

Nicolas Moreno Jimenez is a 50 year old beekeeper/farmer who lives in a modest concrete house near a train line. The tap in his modest concrete home does not work.

Lopez Obrador said that the chronic water shortages in the town would be addressed by the Adolfo Lopez Mateos Xpujil aqueduct he will inaugurate in January 2024.

How can we build such a large project as the Mayan Train without bringing in water? Lopez Obrador spoke at the event.

Moreno stated that the taps were still dry.

Moreno called the promises of the former President "empty words".

He brings water from another community by car every week so that his son, an university student, may bathe, wash the dishes, and flush toilets.

Data shows that 70% of Campeche's population has access to running water.

EMPTY SEATS and EMPTY Rooms

The train has also struggled to draw the desired interest.

Legal challenges, environmental rerouting, and land restrictions forced key segments to the interior and many stations were far from airports and city centers, making this a less viable option for tourists.

In November 2025 I visited three stations, all of which were largely empty. On a weekday trip between Bacalar and Chetumal, fewer than 40 seats out of 230 were occupied.

Lopez Obrador had projected that the train would carry 3 million passengers a year when it was finished. That number has since been reduced to 1.2 millions. The project budget has risen from $7 billion to over $25 billion. Revenue last year covered less than 13% operating costs.

Six Tren Maya Hotels have also been built along the train route. The Calakmul Reserve, which is surrounded by jungle and has two pools, offers modern amenities. One night in November the hotel was only 20% full, according to a staff member at the reception.

According to government data, these properties had an average monthly occupancy rate of between 5% and 24 % for most of the last year.

The agency of the defense ministry that operates the hotels did not respond to a comment request.

Claudia Sheinbaum, the current Mexican president, has refuted claims of a problem with 'the train' and called it a successful project. She regularly highlighted tourist packages in her daily press conferences and suggested that railway lines could be used to transport freight.

The hotels have been a particular blow to Moreno.

His family was displaced by the government decades ago, when it created the Calakmul Reserve. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is intended to protect the ruins and biodiversity of the once mighty Mayan Empire.

Moreno said, "We've been here since 1980." "They removed us 1993." Now they are building hotels in places where we cannot even stay.

Moreno said, "In press conferences, they always say that the poor are first." "But they take our rights." Reporting by Cassandra Garrison, Additional reporting by Daniel Becerril, Paola Chiomante and Daniel Wallis; Editing by Rosalba Brien and Daniel Wallis

(source: Reuters)