Collapse, contamination: Mexican scientists sound alarm at Mayan Train
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[January 04, 2023]
By Cassandra Garrison and Jose Luis Gonzalez
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Parts of Mexico's remote southern jungles have
barely changed since the time of the ancient Maya.
In the eyes of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a railway his
government is building - known as the Tren Maya - will bring modern
connectivity to areas for generations deprived of significant economic
benefits.
But the railway and its hasty construction also critically endanger
pristine wilderness and ancient cave systems beneath the jungle floor,
droves of scientists and environmental activists say.
The railway "is splitting the jungle in half," said Ismael Lara, a guide
who takes tourists to a cave that shelters millions of bats near the
Calakmul Biosphere Reserve. Lara fears the train, due to pass close by,
will disrupt wildlife routes and attract too much development to fragile
ecosystems.
Over almost a year, Reuters photographed construction at points along
the full length of the planned rail track, documenting the evolution of
the flagship project which Lopez Obrador has pledged to finish by the
end of 2023.
The 1,470 km (910 miles) 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.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Jan/04/images/ads/current/coppercreek_sda_LUAL_2022.png)
The railway has deeply divided Mexicans and the controversies
surrounding the construction exemplify struggles developing countries
across the globe face to balance economic progress with environmental
responsibility.
FONATUR, Mexico's tourism agency charged with the project, has said the
railway will lift more than a million people out of poverty and could
create up to 715,000 new jobs by 2030. Construction costs are seen at up
to $20 billion, Lopez Obrador said in July.
But with the project already billions of dollars over budget and behind
schedule, scientists and activists say the government cut corners in its
environmental risk assessments in a bid to complete it while Lopez
Obrador is still in office.
In December, United Nations experts warned the railway's status as a
national security project allowed the government to side-step usual
environmental safeguards, and called on the government to protect the
environment in line with global standards.
FONATUR defended the speed with which the studies were produced. "Years
are not required, expertise, knowledge and integration capacity are
required," it said in response to questions from Reuters. It declined to
comment on the U.N. statement.
CENOTES
The Tren Maya route cuts a swathe up to 14 meters (46 ft) wide through
some of the world's most unique ecosystems, bringing the modern world
closer to vulnerable species such as jaguars - and bats.
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.
Crystalline pools known as cenotes punctuate the Yucatan peninsula,
where the limestone surface has fallen in to expose the groundwater. The
world's longest known underground river passes through the caves, which
have also been the site of discoveries such as ancient human fossils and
Maya artifacts like a canoe estimated to be more than 1,000 years old.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Jan/04/images/ads/current/charrons_bch_2022.png)
If built badly, the railway risks breaking through the fragile ground,
including into yet-to-be explored caves below, says Emiliano Monroy-Rios,
a Mexican geochemist with Northwestern University who has extensively
studied the area's caves and cenotes.
Diesel, he adds, could also leak into the network of subterranean pools
and rivers, the main source of fresh water on the peninsula.
With less than 20% of the subterranean system believed to have been
mapped, according to several scientists interviewed by Reuters, such
damage could limit important geological discoveries.
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.
Dozens of scientists disagree, writing in open letters that the
assessments are riddled with problems, including outdated data, the
omission of recently discovered caves and a lack of input from local
hydrology experts.
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![](../images/010423PIX/news_d11.jpg)
Train tracks are stacked close to where
section 3 of the new Mayan Train route is being built, in Maxcanu,
Yucatan, Mexico, May 16, 2022. In the eyes of President Andres
Manuel Lopez Obrador, the railway his government is building - known
as the Tren Maya - will bring modern connectivity to areas for
generations deprived of significant economic benefits. But pristine
wilderness and ancient cave systems beneath the jungle floor are
critically endangered by the railway and its hasty construction,
droves of scientists and environmental activists say. Photo taken
with a drone. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Jan/04/images/ads/current/rohlfs_quarter_LUAL_2022.png)
"They don't want to recognize the fragility of the land," said
Fernanda Lases, a Merida-based scientist with the National
Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), calling the problems
identified "highly worrisome."
The names of the 70 experts who participated in the government study
were redacted from the publication.
One piece of research used by the government to support its
conclusions was taken from a blog by Monroy-Rios, who says he was
never contacted by the authors of the report. His research
highlights the need for extensive surveillance and monitoring for
any infrastructure project in the region. He says this has not
happened.
"I guess their conclusions were pre-formatted," Monroy-Rios said.
"They want to do it fast and that's part of the problem. There’s no
time for the proper exploration.”
An expert who participated in the reports and spoke to Reuters on
condition of anonymity, said the work had been done quickly.
"There was pressure, especially due to delivery times," the expert
said.
The expert expressed concern the government would not properly
mitigate risks experts had highlighted in the government's impact
studies or dedicate the necessary resources to the train's
maintenance.
FONATUR said the project would have resources and follow-up care in
the future, including programs established for environmental
protection.
"The Mayan Train project is of course safe, monitored and regulated
by the environmental authorities as has happened up to now," the
agency told Reuters.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Jan/04/images/ads/current/maskeauction_sda_LUAL_2022.png)
Inecol, Mexico’s ecology institute which produced the reports, did
not respond to repeated requests for comment. A spokesman for Lopez
Obrador did not respond to a request for comment.
FORGOTTEN SOUTHEAST
Despite the concerns about the railway, it has the support of many
in villages that for decades have felt largely forgotten in national
development plans.
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.
"The government is working on good things for the country...
Sometimes there just isn't work in these small towns, but now they
have jobs," she said. "The truth is that we have benefited."
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.
"No government ever remembers the southeast. Everything goes to the
north, and the southeast is forgotten," she said as she grilled pork
outside her home of 40 years.
Some 450 kilometers (280 miles) away, in Playa del Carmen, near the
beach resorts bustling with tourists, a group of volunteers - clad
in helmets and head lamps - descend into the caves at weekends to
monitor their condition.
Roberto Rojo, a biologist in the group, says the train will put the
entire ecosystem above and below ground at risk.
"They are doing studies now that needed to be done at least four
years ago," Rojo said inside one cave directly below where the train
is due to pass.
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.
"This is our life. We are putting in risk and in danger the
stability of this ecosystem," he said.
($1 = 19.2527 Mexican pesos)
(Reporting by Cassandra Garrison and Jose Luis Gonzalez; Editing by
Frank Jack Daniel)
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