halocline
Contributor
Yep, disaster. AMLO really screwed the pooch on this one.
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I have seen the damage, but what I'd like to know more about now is whether the train is having the intended economic effect on the rural residents that AMLO touted. The train is not a good thing for people like me, who don't mind driving and enjoy the still relatively unspoiled remoteness of it all, but I also recognize I am not the intended recipient of the main benefits. When I was last in the region six months or so ago, dive industry folks I asked seemed in agreement that local rural residents generally favored the project. So, is it working out for them?Two years later it is an ecological disaster. It is also way overdue and overbudget at this point.
They generally favor it. That does not mean it is working out for them. It will not, IMO.I have seen the damage, but what I'd like to know more about now is whether the train is having the intended economic effect on the rural residents that AMLO touted. The train is not a good thing for people like me, who don't mind driving and enjoy the still relatively unspoiled remoteness of it all, but I also recognize I am not the intended recipient of the main benefits. When I was last in the region six months or so ago, dive industry folks I asked seemed in agreement that local rural residents generally favored the project. So, is it working out for them?
This is very subjective. Also people in the area are very cautious about challenging the government. Environmental activists end up dead in Mexico. The construction is ongoing with lots of employment resulting. So the "sugar high" is still being felt. Once that wears off I fear the people will find that for convenience, they have traded away forever their fragile environment and indigenous cultures. You have to see it, to believe how bad the devastation is. They are driving pilings through the limestone into the cave systems. In other places they simply fill in the caves with cement. All in the name of progress.I have seen the damage, but what I'd like to know more about now is whether the train is having the intended economic effect on the rural residents that AMLO touted. The train is not a good thing for people like me, who don't mind driving and enjoy the still relatively unspoiled remoteness of it all, but I also recognize I am not the intended recipient of the main benefits. When I was last in the region six months or so ago, dive industry folks I asked seemed in agreement that local rural residents generally favored the project. So, is it working out for them?
I agree we may never see reliable data on what it's done economically for the rural residents or how they feel about it, even years from now. The caves are invisible to them, though, and for all I know some would rather live in a concrete jungle.This is very subjective. Also people in the area are very cautious about challenging the government. Environmental activists end up dead in Mexico. The construction is ongoing with lots of employment resulting. So the "sugar high" is still being felt. Once that wears off I fear the people will find that for convenience, they have traded away forever their fragile environment and indigenous cultures. You have to see it, to believe how bad the devastation is. They are driving pilings through the limestone into the cave systems. In other places they simply fill in the caves with cement. All in the name of progress.
This one is less important as concerns the Tren Maya. While there is certainly a history of kidnapping and violence in certain areas over certain conflicts, the train isn't one of them.Environmental activists end up dead in Mexico.
The construction is ongoing with lots of employment resulting.
Have they finally completed the electric overhead lines? When I was last there, the news was touting the inaugural run, which, I supposed, must have been pulled by a diesel locomotive because they were still working on rigging the catenaries.The train is going to be nearly useless, even when the loop through Section 5 is complete. They're running almost completely empty... almost never on time... breakdowns, delays, and derailments... which certainly doesn't speak well for expansion. And not a single station along its entire route is anywhere remotely usefull.
The overhead electric lines will be connected to a natural gas generator anyway.Have they finally completed the electric overhead lines? When I was last there, the news was touting the inaugural run, which, I supposed, must have been pulled by a diesel locomotive because they were still working on rigging the catenaries.
And of course those shuttle buses will run on time and frequently enough. Sure. The problem of the stations being located some distance from the archaeological sites and from the centers of towns (think Merida and Campeche) is a bit like the problem we in the US have in some of our smaller cities outside of the East Coast corridor; you still have to drive a car to/from the train stations or take some kind of shuttle bus, so many people just forgo the train option and drive end to end. I suspect a substantial number of tourists will still opt for private vans and buses that whisk them directly between their origin and destination.But we discussed it when we were there: would it be possible to visit 1 of the big archeological sites by train? Then maybe it is an option, but it isn't if you still need to take a bus from the station to the sites.