Mérida, Yucatán – By the end of the year, much of the train traffic running through the city will be but a memory.
The state government has started construction on a huge railway center in Umán, bringing freight more efficiently to the new Grupo Modelo brewery and other industrial-zone customers in Hunucmá.
The new 230-million-peso center should reduce transportation costs and relieve the busy capital city from the noise and disruption of ground-level trains passing through, officials said in a press release.
It is Yucatán’s first major rail project in 100 years.
The new 37-acre rail center replaces an old rail yard near the old Centro train station and will require 5.6 kilometers of auxiliary tracks to allow for loading and unloading as much as 4,000 tons of cargo daily.
The project will be integrated with the Chiapas-Mayab line and is expected to be operational sometime this year.
Gov. Rolanzo Zapata Bello and Chamber President Juan Manuel Ponce Díaz presided over a ceremonial groundbreaking on Thursday, both saying that this kind of infrastructure project is what is needed to keep world-class companies coming to the region.
