For Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a railway his government is building will bring connectivity to areas deprived of economic benefits. But the railway and its hasty construction also endanger pristine wilderness and ancient cave systems
Parts of Mexico’s remote southern jungles have barely changed since the time of the ancient Maya.
A bulldozer clears jungle for the construction of section 4 of the new Mayan Train route, near Nuevo Xcan, Chemax, Yucatan, March 3, 2022. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez The 1,470 km of rail are set to carry diesel and electric trains through the Yucatan Peninsula and connect Mexico's top tourist destination Cancun to the ancient Mayan temples of Chichen Itza and Palenque.
Gumersindo Martinez, 68, walks next to an unfinished house after his house was demolished to build section 2 of the new Mayan Train route, in Tenabo, Campeche, Mexico, May 14, 2022. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez It will pass above a system of thousands of subterranean caves carved out from the region’s soft limestone bedrock by water over millions of years.
Diesel, he adds, could also leak into the network of subterranean pools and rivers, the main source of fresh water on the peninsula. The government’s environmental impact study for Section 5, the most controversial stretch, says environmental impacts are “insignificant” and have been adequately mitigated. The study says the risk of collapse was taken into account in the engineering of the tracks, and that the area will be observed through a prevention program.
The names of the 70 experts who participated in the government study were redacted from the publication. A section of cleared jungle during the construction of the new Mayan Train route close to the town of Buena Vista, Bacalar, Quintana Roo, November 8, 2022. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez FONATUR said the project would have resources and follow-up care in the future, including programs established for environmental protection.
In Xkuncheil, a small dusty town of about 140 people on Section 2 of the train that runs through Campeche state, Luz Elba Damas Jimenez, 69, owns a small store selling soda and snacks near the tracks. Many of her neighbors, especially the young men, are working on the project, she said. She also has more customers now.
Martha Rosa Rosado, who was offered a government payout to move when an earlier plan for the tracks was set to go through her home in Campeche’s Camino Real neighborhood, echoed those sentiments. Roberto Rojo, a biologist in the group, says the train will put the entire ecosystem above and below ground at risk.
Behind him, tree roots descend from the ceiling of the cave like coarse rope, stretching down to be quenched by the water pooled at his feet.The Mayan ruins of Calakmul are seen above the trees at the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, close to where section 7 of the new Mayan Train route is being built, in Calakmul, February 28, 2022. REUTERS/Raquel Cunha
A beekeeper collects honey at the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, close to where section 7 of the new Mayan Train route is being built, in Calakmul, February 28, 2022. REUTERS/Raquel Cunha
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