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🇲🇽 Mexico /Energy & Infrastructure

Sheinbaum blames Maya Train incidents on human error, rejects maintenance problems

From El Universal · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • President Claudia Sheinbaum said accidents and incidents involving Mexico’s Maya Train were mainly caused by human error, not maintenance, infrastructure or low-quality materials.
  • Sheinbaum acknowledged that equipment problems affected two trains and said Alstom was working on a solution while the system continued operating normally.
  • The project reported 5.013 billion pesos in losses during the first half of 2026, compared with 1.06 billion pesos in revenue from passenger transport and services.

President Claudia Sheinbaum rejected claims that recent accidents and incidents on Mexico’s Maya Train stemmed from poor maintenance, infrastructure problems or low-quality materials. She said human error had been the main cause.

During her morning news conference, Sheinbaum said the railway receives continuous maintenance and supervision from the Railway Transport Agency. “You are saying that there are maintenance problems on the Maya Train because of the hiring of a company, and that is absolutely false. The Maya Train has the maintenance that any train in the world should have,” she said.

She added that authorities had taken measures after each incident to prevent a repeat. “In the cases where these problems have occurred, unfortunately they have involved one person’s error. Measures are also taken so that a situation like this does not happen again, but there are no maintenance problems,” she said.

You are saying that there are maintenance problems on the Maya Train because of the hiring of a company, and that is absolutely false. The Maya Train has the maintenance that any train in the world should have.

· Claudia SheinbaumThe Mexican president rejected allegations that contracting arrangements caused maintenance failures.

Sheinbaum nevertheless acknowledged that two trains had experienced equipment problems. Alstom addressed the issue, and some units were temporarily taken out of service. She said the problem was being resolved and that the Maya Train continued to operate normally. The train’s director may issue a report on maintenance work, while officials from the companies managing the system are expected to brief authorities at the National Palace in early October.

The project’s finances have also come under scrutiny. Its losses reached 5.013 billion pesos in the first six months of 2026, exceeding the 4.81 billion pesos reported for all of 2025. Revenue from ticket sales and services stood at 1.06 billion pesos, equivalent to about 7.5% of the amount spent on operations during the period.

In the cases where these problems have occurred, unfortunately they have involved one person’s error. Measures are also taken so that a situation like this does not happen again, but there are no maintenance problems.

· Claudia SheinbaumSheinbaum attributed the incidents mainly to human error while acknowledging corrective measures.
About this summary

Originally published by El Universal in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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