According to the Tren Maya's activity reports, at the end of last year, the railway managed by the Defense Ministry lost 9.9 million pesos daily. Its financial statements show that, despite having a higher flow of income related to providing transportation services, the balance with the train's operational costs has not been able to be offset. In total, Tren Maya had an operational loss of just over 3,649 million pesos, not counting the subsidies the company still receives to compensate for the insufficiency of resources generated by its transportation services. Its losses expanded last year. Among the entities cited for environmental damage and non-compliance are Grupo México, México Proyectos y Desarrollos, ICA Constructora de Infraestructura, Acciona Infraestructuras México, BANJERCITO, GAFSACOMM, and the state-owned company Tren Maya itself. The great tourist project of the Fourth Transformation operates in the red, and it has expanded its losses in its second full year of operation. Furthermore, its income has not grown at the same pace as its operational costs. According to the general director of Tren Maya, Óscar David Lozano Águila, the railway still has opportunities to increase the flow of international passengers, who are the least to use this mode of transport despite being budgeted as an international tourist project. "The reality is that locals are increasingly using the train as a means of transport. While the southeast railway project lost 7 million pesos daily in 2024, this loss of public funds expanded to reach 9.9 million pesos daily in the last year. The main cause of Tren Maya's losses is motivated by the increase in general services paid as part of the railway's own operational costs, which doubled in 2025. Our main component is national tourists. Our area of opportunity is in international tourists," stated Lozano Águila at a recent morning conference. Although Tren Maya also aimed to be used as a public transport for the inhabitants of the southeast, this component provides it with lower income compared to national travelers from outside the southeast or international tourists, who pay more expensive tickets.
The 572 million peso environmental demand facing Tren Maya
During its construction and even during its operation, Tren Maya has caused irreversible environmental damage, documented by activists and civil associations that demand the government restore the cenotes, jungle, and ecological systems destroyed by the project. In parallel, the National Organization of State Responsibility (ONRE) filed a collective lawsuit against Grupo México, México Proyectos y Desarrollos, ICA Constructora de Infraestructura, Acciona Infraestructuras México, BANJERCITO, GAFSACOMM, and Tren Maya for the ecological damage caused by the construction of the Tren Maya Project. The estimated amount of the lawsuit is 572 million pesos. "This lawsuit has not been admitted, and to date, various actions have been taken to repair the environmental damage, so if a guilty sentence is issued, it would be for an amount less than claimed," indicates the Tren Maya company. In October of last year, the irreversible damages caused by Tren Maya were verified, where the International Tribunal for the Rights of Nature ratified the ruling that considers the project committed ecocide and ethnocide. The ruling issued at the end of September, and which has been directed at President Claudia Sheinbaum and Alicia Bárcena, Secretary of the Environment and Natural Resources, unequivocally recognizes the violation of the rights of nature and the rights of the Mayan peoples. However, the environmental remediation plan has not been published, nor has it been specified what damages the federal administration has identified, which is supposedly remediating the impacts. Although Bárcena admitted that the damages occurred, it has not been specified to what extent they were caused and where they are located, since the most documented section has been section 5, but it is unknown if more environmental and cultural damages were accounted for in the rest of Tren Maya. The operation of Tren Maya faces a double critical front: the financial and the judicial. While the financial statements reveal a growing gap between income and operational costs, the National Organization of State Responsibility (ONRE) maintains a collective lawsuit for 572 million pesos.
