MEXICO’s Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) earlier this month approved plans by Mayan Train for a 261ha freight terminal in Cancún. The Pesos 7.76bn ($US 414m) project, to the south of the city’s international airport and east of the Mayan Train station, is part of a scheme to introduce freight services on the recently completed 1554km state-owned network.
The first freight trains are expected to start running next year, although the Cancún Multimodal Terminal, which according to local news outlet Mexico News Daily, is to be built by the Secretariat of National Defence (Sedena), is only likely to be completed in 2027.
The new terminal will comprise 28 buildings, including warehouses, a hazardous waste storage site, housing for National Guard officers and train crew and a customs inspection area.
The project has faced opposition from environmental groups, including Greenpeace, who have objected to the clearance of Mayan rainforest for the freight terminal, where according to Semarnat’s own assessment, 12 at-risk wildlife species are present. The Mexican government and environmental groups have previously clashed over sections of the Mayan Train network being built in environmentally-sensitive areas.
Earlier this month Greenpeace issued a statement saying that development of the freight terminal “threatens to consolidate an extractive model that seriously endangers biodiversity, indigenous territories, and the ecological balance of the entire region.” The statement concludes: “Semarnat is once again acting as an environmental guarantor for ecocide, instead of stopping the devastation.”
While Semarnat has approved the environmental impact statement for the terminal submitted in March, it says that an additional permit will be required from the Safety, Energy and Environment Agency (Asea) for the installation of two diesel storage tanks, with a combined capacity of 240,000 litres, for locomotive refuelling.
