AMBIENTALISTAS documentan COLUMNAS DESGASTADAS del TREN MAYA | EL PAÍS

Through a grotto, two divers kick their legs through the water and make their way through the narrow passages. Their flashlights illuminate their path, casting the shadows of stalactites. Rounding a bend, they encounter a dozen pillars, covered by a layer of rusted metal. One is open, revealing an iron framework filled with spilled concrete, as if the pour hadn't set properly. Running a finger along the structures, they crumble like Play-Doh. A layer of cement dust covers part of the cave. Above these pillars runs the elevated section of the Maya Train's fifth phase, an 80-kilometer viaduct over the Mayan jungle. The exact number of these columns traversing the Quintana Roo aquifer's cave system is not public knowledge, but it is estimated to exceed 15,000. Environmentalists and opponents of the train warn of a risk of collapse and contamination. “This cracked column has been like this since at least 2024, when we reported it to the authorities and they said they were going to fix it,” laments José Urbina, from the Sélvame del Tren collective, a cave diver nicknamed Pepe Tiburón (Shark Pepe). He asserts that there are specific cylinders for this type of underwater pillar, but that in the construction of the Maya Train, a different system of metal plates, patched together, was used. This led to some columns being poured with spilled cement that never properly solidified, and also distributed this waste throughout the aquifer. The Maya Train was the flagship project for the southeast of the previous administration. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador promised that the megaproject would be carried out with full respect for environmental legislation, going so far as to promise that “not a single tree” would be cut down. When public complaints about the environmental impacts began to accumulate, the government labeled any critic a “pseudo-environmentalist.” EL PAÍS revealed that, since the López Obrador administration, environmental authorities have been prohibited from inspecting and shutting down the Maya Train project, with unprecedented government protection for its numerous and repeated violations, according to internal documents from the Federal Attorney General's Office for Environmental Protection. Divided into seven sections, Section 5 South, which initially seemed like it would be one of the least problematic since its original route ran parallel to the highway connecting Cancún and Tulum in Quintana Roo, became one of the most damaging when it was moved several kilometers deeper into the jungle due to pressure from business owners who didn't want the construction to obstruct access to their hotels. This led to the construction of 15,000 metal and concrete pillars in 125 cenotes, which the government at the time touted as a way to protect the karst soil and the cenotes, caverns, and underground rivers of the area. Activists warn that, given the intended role of transporting hydrocarbons for the Maya Train, a derailment could be a disaster of unknown proportions if it occurs directly over the aquifer. “In 2024, they committed to repairing it, and what we see now is that, instead of removing the damaged columns, they added more,” Urbina continues. The question, he says, is how many more are in the same state and whether this could affect train safety. “This is a tragedy from both an ecological and a structural point of view,” he says. “The columns will deteriorate, like everything else, especially underwater, and we don't know how they're going to maintain them.” Mexico, which just two years ago reinstated passenger trains after a 30-year hiatus, is also witnessing, with the Interoceanic Train tragedy that left 14 dead and hundreds injured, that train accidents are a reality. With Claudia Sheinbaum's government continuing López Obrador's policy of building thousands of kilometers of railway lines, the deadly derailment of December 28th serves as a wake-up call for a train construction system where political deadlines have taken precedence over construction timelines. Subscribe to our channel:    / @elpais   Visit http://elpais.com More videos from EL PAÍS: youtube.com/@elpais/videos Follow us on Facebook:   / elpais   Twitter:   / el_pais   Instagram:   / el_pais   #trenmaya #mexico #quintanaroo