Maya Train Costs 108x More Than It Earns

Mexico City — In its first full year of operation, the Maya Train, one of the flagship projects of Mexico’s Fourth Transformation (4T) administration, required 108 pesos in federal subsidies for every peso it earned in revenue—a staggering 10,700% subsidy.

According to the 2024 Public Account report, the state-run military enterprise Tren Maya received 29.912 billion pesos in government funds while generating only 276 million pesos in revenue from ticket sales, retail leases, and station concessions.

Financial Shortfall and Operational Costs

The project’s revenue fell far short of covering even basic operational expenses. Salaries for the 1,700 employees of Tren Maya alone amounted to 498.2 million pesos in 2024. For 2025, the company anticipates spending 827 million pesos on salaries and an additional 680 million pesos on operations, while projecting revenue of just 680 million pesos.

The total authorized subsidy so far stands at 40.827 billion pesos, equivalent to 60 pesos per peso of revenue, though this figure may still fluctuate.

Passenger and Cargo Projections

As of April 7, 2025, Tren Maya reported transporting one million passengers over approximately 15 months since late 2023—an average of 2,000 daily. However, David Lozano Águila, the company’s director general, acknowledged on May 16 that passenger revenue alone would not achieve financial sustainability. He stated that freight transport, which has yet to be implemented, would be necessary to balance the books.

Unclear Total Construction Costs

The largest portion of the 2024 subsidy—13.203 billion pesos—was allocated to pending construction work. The total cost of the project remains undisclosed, as the government has classified it as reserved information. No detailed expenditure reports have been submitted to Congress by the Ministry of Finance.

Asset Transfer and Valuation

On February 28, 2025, Fonatur (the National Fund for Tourism Development) officially transferred the Maya Train’s assets to Gafsacomm, another military-run state enterprise, and the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH). The total value of the transferred assets was 470.428 billion pesos, according to external audit reports and transfer documents.

Of this amount, 396.843 billion pesos were attributed to construction costs. The transfer was initially ordered by former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in August 2023, with a deadline of December 31 that year. However, the timeline was extended twice—first to September 12, 2024, and later by an additional six months due to unresolved administrative procedures.