Even in 1978, Paul Theroux struggled to join up trains from Boston all the way down to Patagonia for his book, The Old Patagonian Express. He had more luck in Mexico than in other countries though.
Since then, as The Man in Seat 61 puts it:
“Mexico used to have a good train service linking all major cities, using restaurant cars, sleeping-cars and observation cars, many inherited from the USA. Sadly, the Mexican government pulled the plug on almost all long-distance passenger train service some years ago, and buses and planes are now the only way to get around Mexico. A couple of very minor service exist in certain areas, including the famous scenic 'Copper Canyon' service.”
Which is why today’s news story from National Geographic gave me caliente fuzzies:
“The sun has yet to rise as Algeria Aguilar Peña boards the bus for the 42-mile journey from her home in Toluca to Mexico City, where she operates a street food stand. “Right now, while the buses aren’t yet running completely, sometimes it takes me three [hours],” she says of the commute she has traveled daily for the last 40 years.
“Aguilar Peña is one of the thousands of vendors, hairdressers, and other professionals who make their way into Mexico City from the surrounding state. They spend an average of 2.5 hours each day in traffic, or about 45 days out of the year (pre-pandemic), according to a 2017 report by Mexico’s Universal newspaper.
“But a handful of passenger train projects are poised to bring big changes to the lives of locals and travelers alike. Four are under way, with about a dozen more planned. The biggest—and most controversial—is President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s Tren Maya, which would connect the five southern states of the Yucatán Peninsula.”
Here’s the upside:
“All told, López Obrador promises to add 1,200 miles of track to the country’s 16,600 by the end of his term in 2024. If completed, these new trains would mean life-changing shorter commutes and faster transportation for the millions of post-pandemic tourists who are expected to travel throughout the country each year. The environment, too, could benefit from the thousands of polluting cars and buses that trains would pull off the roads for decades to come.”
There are however real downsides to some of the more extreme plans. For instance, the proposed Tren Maya would go through forested areas like the one shown below on the Yucatan Peninsula:
I get it. One idea perhaps would be to put the train line next to the road most of the way. At least then there wouldn’t be much cutting through remote forest. I understand the opposition to it though.
At a minimum, maybe they should simply renovate and bring back all the lines that existed before. That would be a great start!
[Photo: AGENCIA EL UNIVERSAL, AP IMAGES]