MEXICO CITY — Officials have acknowledged the environmental damage caused by Tren Maya, and say they’re exploring ways to restore cenotes and rainforests disrupted by the railway’s construction through the Yucatán peninsula.
During a press event earlier this month, Environment Minister Alicia Bárcena said the government was looking at correcting some of the damage done by the train like deforestation of protected areas and breaking through cave walls.
“The restoration required for a project like Tren Maya is so comprehensive that reforestation is essential,” Bárcena said during the meeting. “The communities themselves can be the ones to help us restore the forest ecosystem, instead of hiring the consortiums involved in Tren Maya — companies that come, plant a tree, and it dies the next day.”
The multi-million-dollar train project stretching 1,554 kilometers (966 miles) across five states became a national controversy when it relocated local communities, drove pillars through sensitive cave ecosystems and cut into the protected rainforest of the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve — often without permits.
The project caused an estimated 6,659 hectares (16,455 acres) of forest loss, one research group found.
Now that construction is largely finished, officials with the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) reportedly want to remove fencing along the tracks, which prevents wildlife crossings. They also want to ban the construction of additional roads that would connect the train with harder-to-reach tourism activities in rainforests.