The train line that was dead last week? Alive again.
The design for the construction of transpeninsular rapid-transit line linking to Yucatán with Quintana Roo will be published by January 2015, and construction, which is now said to reach Cancun, is to be completed before the end of 2018, said Gerardo Ruiz Esparza, federal secretary of communications and transportation.
The official estimated a cost of somewhere between $30-32 billion pesos.
Although its exact route has been in flux, Ruiz Esparza said that high-speed train is intended to reach Cancun and Playa del Carmen, links urged by the business community. Various rail lines around the country — including the old Yucatán-Chiapas freight line — are due to be revived under the current administration, and road projects have also been given high priority.
Explaining why the project appeared delayed, Ruiz Esparza compared the project with plans to build the vast new airport in Mexico City, saying it was just as complicated to happen at once, according to El Financiero.
Yucatán this day became the seventh state in the nation to join the national strategy to Mexico Connected Project , which promotes universal access to broadband internet sites and public spaces such as schools, health centers, libraries and parks in each state.
Plans are also afoot to connect Yucatán to the rest of the nation by electronic means.
Ruiz Esparza joined Gov. Rolando Zapata Bello to announce that Yucatán was the seventh state to join the national Mexico Connected project, which promotes universal access to broadband internet.
“A connected Mexico contributes to reducing the digital divide and inequality in the country,” said Ruiz Esparza. “With access to broadband Internet, citizens can better exercise their rights to freedom of expression, health and education. The Internet expands the horizon of access to training, culture and entertainment.”
