Belize Explores Collaboration with Mexico’s Tren Maya Railway Project

A delegation including Ambassadors Jaime Briceño and Haisam Diab, along with Belize’s Ambassador to Mexico, Oscar Arnold, met with representatives of Mexico’s Tren Maya Railway Project. The meeting was held at the Teya Tren Maya Station in Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico, on March 25.  Discussions centered around the possibility of establishing one of the stations at Belize’s Northern Border with Mexico, thereby providing passenger and freight service for Belize to all of southern Mexico. This will also provide access to the Interoceanic Railway in Mexico, a key route that links important port cities on both its Pacific and Atlantic coasts.  The Government of Mexico tasked its military with the construction and administration of the Tren Maya routes. This also ensures that the pricing remains competitive and that security is provided for the project. To date, the army core of engineers has been performing well and meeting key objectives and targets for completion, with five of seven routes completed. The route linking Chetumal and Cancún is scheduled for completion between June and July 2024. This will open access to an additional estimated four million travelers yearly as well as provide an alternative route for Belizean products to penetrate Mexican markets.  The delegation met with Carlos Imanol Belausteguigoitia, Mexico’s Director General for Central America and Caribbean, and officials from Mexico’s Secretary of National Defense (SEDENA), including Brigadier General Germán Redondo Suárez, Head of Corporate and Commercial Strategy Development for Tren Maya, and Lieutenant Colonel Jair Garcia Pineda, Director of Social Communication of Tren Maya. Tren Maya, Inaugurated in December 2023, is the largest project of its kind in the Western Hemisphere. The 966.27 miles of new railway will link five states ─ Campeche, Chiapas, Tabasco, Yucatán, and Quintana Roo ─ in Mexico’s southeastern region, linking its main cities to tourist hotspots and archaeological sites. The locomotives will use both diesel and electricity and represent the latest in railway technology.