Maya Train Elevated Viaduct Sinks in Quintana Roo, Raising Collapse Risk

Cancún, Quintana Roo — Environmentalists have documented significant sinking of the elevated viaduct on the Maya Train’s Section 5 between Cancún and Tulum, raising serious concerns about potential structural collapse just two years after the railway’s inauguration.

Guillermo DChristy, an environmental activist and president of the Sélvame del Tren collective, shared photographs showing the viaduct’s progressive subsidence. The water quality consultant, diver, and speleologist warned that “subsidence”—the gradual vertical sinking of the earth’s surface supporting the railway—is already occurring.

“Limestone with slightly acidic rainwater dissolves slowly but constantly and irreversibly, forming cavities, caves, underground rivers, and cenotes,” DChristy wrote on social media platform X. “Today we’re already seeing the construction of footings to ‘reinforce’ the elevated viaduct. Let’s hope the engineers are aware that these dissolutions eventually cause collapse.”

He added: “In fact, this is how cenotes form. How much money continues to be spent trying to win a race against nature? Imagine a freight train carrying hydrocarbons in the middle of the jungle and over the most important aquifer on the Yucatan Peninsula.”

The sinking increases collapse risks in this section of the railway project. In January, specialists questioned the structure’s safety after releasing videos showing columns ruptured inside cenotes. Those pilings or columns penetrate the aquifer to support the viaduct crossing the Maya jungle.

At that time, experts exposed that the column fill consists of concrete material that dissolves poorly, and together with the oxidation of the metallic coating, represents damage to the aquifer and the region’s environment.

Diver José Urbina, known as Pepe Tiburón, recorded contamination of the water body from material corrosion deep in a cenote, in a risk zone for possible collapse due to soil fragility from karstic cavities.

“At least 8 more piles were driven and footings formed. As if beneath the piles and footings there were no cavities and they weren’t at risk of some collapse,” experts warned previously, noting that the viaduct’s sinking elevates danger and increases maintenance costs to prevent disaster.

The elevated viaduct on Section 5 was inaugurated in late February 2024 after then-President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced in March 2021 that this section would be elevated to avoid affecting constructions and roadways, utilize the right-of-way, and become a beautiful viewpoint for passengers.

Currently, the project reportedly loses 7.1 million pesos daily and moves just 30.17% of its daily target.