Cancun, Q.R. — The National Fund for Tourism Promotion (Fonatur) reports that the Maya Train will have 19 stations along its route. The routes will pass through Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatan and Quintana Roo.
Fonatur details that the stations will include Palenque, Boca del Cerro, El Triunfo, Escárcega, Campeche, Mérida, Izamal, Chichen Itzá, Valladolid, Nuevo Xcan, Cancún downtown, Cancún airport, Puerto Morelos, Playa del Carmen, Tulum, Felipe Carrillo Puerto, Bacalar, Chetumal and Xpujil.
The train will provide cargo transportation services for local passengers to national and international tourists. The maximum speed of the train will be 160 kilometres per hour for passengers and 120 kilometres per hour for cargo transportation.
According to information released by the National Tourism Development Fund, the train will include four routes to connect Cancun with 18 destinations in southeastern Mexico and will have a circulation schedule depending on demand.
The Cancun-Tulum route, which is expected to be the route with the largest influx of passengers, will have a schedule from 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. with departures every hour. For the Cancun-Chichen Itza-Mérida route, the hours of operation will be from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., with 30-minute intervals between each train.
A third route from Cancun to Chichén-Itzá will operate in the same way from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. with 60-minute intervals. For the entire stretch from Cancun to Bacalar and Chetumal, a schedule is being considered from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., but with departures every 30 minutes.
The project also foresees three other routes that will not pass through Cancun. One will run from Mérida to Campeche also from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., but with a time of 180 minutes between one train and another. The section will run from Mérida to Palenque, which will end at 7:00 p.m. , with spaces of 150 minutes, while for the Mérida-Escárcega-Bacalar route, operations will end at 6:00 p.m.
For the transportation of cargo, five routes are planned for the entire region. The first route departs from Palenque to Mérida and the second from Mérida to Cancún, with 12 weekly services.
The second goes from Cancun to Chetumal and the third from Chetumal to Palenque. Here four services a week are being contemplated, while the last route will run from Palenque to Cancun passing through Mérida with only one service per week.
