Full story
Broken promises near the line
Mexico’s Mayan Train, described as an approximately 1,500-km (1,000-mile) rail project, was meant to bring development to the country’s impoverished south through improved infrastructure and increased tourism, but Reuters found that two years after it was inaugurated it is “struggling.”
“Mexico’s Mayan Train, an approximately 1,500-km (1,000-mile) rail project”
In Vida y Esperanza, a community in Mexico’s Maya jungle just steps from a railway maintenance depot, brilliant white lights blaze inside the depot while “an off-grid village lies in darkness,” according to Reuters’ review of census data and interviews with dozens of residents.
Reuters reported that “Ticket sales cover only a fraction of operating costs and hotels built along the route sit mostly empty,” and that local communities near the line say they have seen “little benefit.”
Mary Sandra Peraza, a 30-year-old mother of four, said, “It’s not like we’re asking for much,” while describing how power lines installed for the train run almost directly above her house but she depends on “a rented solar panel and generator for her family’s energy needs.”
She added, “There’s no real benefit for us,” and Reuters reported that before dawn she cooks breakfast on a propane hot plate in a small outdoor kitchen.
The village’s lone primary school sits a stone’s throw from the depot, but Reuters said it has no grid electricity for fans, computers or even stable lighting, leaving the teacher, Lidia Patricia Chan Us—known by her 35 students as “Maestra Pati”—to keep pushing for power connection.
Reuters also reported that authorities told Chan Us electricity cannot be installed until “the land beneath the school has formal titles,” a red tape issue that she had hoped would change with the arrival of the mega project.
How the project was sold
Reuters tied the current complaints to the Mayan Train’s original political pitch, saying Former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador promoted the route as a way to bring development to Indigenous Maya communities and spread tourism beyond beach resorts like Cancun.
The Reuters report described the train as a loop route connecting cities and archaeological sites through the Yucatan Peninsula, and it said the development promised by the project has not materialized for many communities along the line.
Reuters reported that while federal spending on the Mayan Train triggered a historic 13.2% spike in economic growth in Quintana Roo in 2023, the boost proved temporary and the state later “plummeted” into a 9.7% contraction in the first nine months of 2025, citing INEGI data.
Reuters also said Quintana Roo did cut unemployment and expanded formal hiring, but that about 60% of workers in the Yucatan remain in informal jobs without legal or social security protections.
The Straits Times version of the Reuters story described how Maya populations in Mexico’s southeast have historically faced high poverty rates and limited access to services, and it said many community activists argue that forests have been fragmented, communal lands eroded and traditions strained.
Reuters added that legal challenges to the train from environmental groups and Indigenous communities ultimately failed as the government pushed the project forward under national security exemptions.
For many Maya, Reuters said, the land over which the train runs is their “sacred inheritance,” central to identity and linking them to ancestors.
Reuters also included a direct reaction from Eliseo Ek, 45, an Indigenous activist from the Quintana Roo community of Nicolas Bravo, who said, “I feel outraged by the way they behaved, because they didn’t take us into account.”
Voices: residents, officials, activists
The Reuters reporting and the associated photo caption from Reuters Connect centered the story on specific people describing daily life beside the line, while other outlets added additional activist voices and institutional responses.
“There’s no real benefit for us”
In Vida y Esperanza, Reuters quoted Mary Sandra Peraza saying, “There’s no real benefit for us,” and it described how she cooks breakfast on a propane hot plate before dawn.
Reuters also quoted teacher Lidia Patricia Chan Us, who told Reuters, “At the beginning, when the project came along, we were happy about it,” and she said, “But when the construction ended, just as quickly as it arrived, it was gone.”
The Reuters Connect caption for a photo of Chan Us teaching in a classroom without electricity repeated that authorities told her electricity cannot be installed until “the land beneath the school has formal titles.”
Reuters reported that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum defended the line as a success at her regular morning press conference, saying the project had helped regional development but adding, “it’s not something that happens overnight.”
Reuters also quoted Labour and development framing from the political history of the project, while the Straits Times version included a direct statement from Eliseo Ek, 45, saying, “I feel outraged by the way they behaved, because they didn’t take us into account.”
Diario de Yucatán added a different activist voice through Rommel González Díaz, a member of the Regional Indigenous and Popular Council of Ixpujil (CRIPX) and of the Chaac Lol Cooperative Society, who said, “Disappointment because there was supposed to be a large economic push, a strong influx of tourists, higher incomes; it was believed we would be partners in the project and that the community economy would grow.”
González Díaz said, “None of that happened,” and he described regret that “It was expropriated irregularly and compensated, but today people regret having handed over lands at a low price…,” while also arguing that “Indigenous communities were not consulted as required by law.”
Different outlets, different emphasis
While Reuters’ reporting and the Straits Times and Investing republish it, other coverage in the provided sources shifts the emphasis from electricity and jobs to legal disputes, compensation, and local impacts on services and security.
The Straits Times and Investing versions focus on the contrast between “brilliant white lights” at a maintenance depot and the darkness of an off-grid village, and they foreground specific quotes from Mary Sandra Peraza and Lidia Patricia Chan Us about the lack of grid electricity and the requirement that land beneath the school has formal titles.
In contrast, Diario de Yucatán frames the two-year period since operations began as “disappointment and regret” and attributes those feelings to “numerous promises that were not kept” to members of Maya communities.
Diario de Yucatán says Rommel González Díaz described a legal and consultation dispute, stating that “Indigenous communities were not consulted as required by law,” and it adds that a scheme called Fibra was “always promised” so Indigenous units could be associated as partners through a fund whose shares would be listed on the stock exchange.
The same Diario de Yucatán report also includes a statement that “Economically, at the outset only temporary or provisional jobs were generated,” and it says there was “no significant generation of specialized jobs related to the handling of technologies or equipment.”
It further describes electricity failures, saying “there are more and more failures in the electricity supply” and that “There are communities that go three, four days and even a week without electricity,” while also describing water issues and insecurity.
Reuters’ story, by comparison, reports that Mexico’s public education ministry and its defense ministry, which oversees the operation of the train via a state company, “did not respond to requests for comment,” and it reports that President Claudia Sheinbaum defended the line as a success.
The divergence is visible in how each source treats the project’s outcomes: Reuters emphasizes macroeconomic spikes and then contractions in Quintana Roo, while Diario de Yucatán emphasizes day-to-day service disruptions and the status of lawsuits and expropriations.
What comes next for communities
The sources also describe what is at stake for communities along the Mayan Train route, including ongoing legal action, service reliability, and the practical ability to benefit from infrastructure.
“they have two ongoing cases: 1519/20 and 2878/21”
Diario de Yucatán says Rommel González Díaz and organizations have promoted lawsuits to defend their right to self-determination, and it reports that they have two ongoing cases: 1519/20 and 2878/21, corresponding to segments five and seven.
The report says those cases have faced “chicanery” that has lengthened the processes, and it describes a procedural complaint that “about a month ago they were asked to ratify expert reports, which were presented four years ago.”
Diario de Yucatán also says the activist described a broader pattern of unequal land treatment, stating that “Indigenous communities located more than 30 or 40 kilometers from the archaeological zone were relocated without legal certainty,” while “the Armed Forces were granted deeds to land at a shorter distance” through expropriation for a hotel.
It adds that “There is also a serious problem of social insecurity,” and it claims that “kidnappings, murders and extortion” have generated “a climate of fear in the communities.”
The same outlet links these concerns to service failures, saying communities are “left without power because demand concentrates at the project facilities,” and it states that “The most serious thing is that it was said Calakmul would be an example in the region with the López Mateos aqueduct,” but that the promised increase in flow “remains unfinished.”
Reuters’ story, meanwhile, reports that the teacher at the school in Vida y Esperanza has been told electricity cannot be installed until formal land titles are in place, leaving the immediate next step tied to documentation and permitting.
Reuters also reports that President Claudia Sheinbaum defended the line as a success while saying “it’s not something that happens overnight,” which frames expectations for future benefits.
Taken together, the sources portray a project whose next phase depends on whether promised development, compensation, and services materialize for communities and whether legal challenges continue to shape implementation.
