Mexico - February 2026

The expansion of passenger rail services has been a focus of President Claudia Sheinbaum’s government. This follows in the footsteps of her predecessor and mentor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018-2024), who oversaw the construction of the Tren Maya tourist railway on the Yucatán peninsula and the interoceanic railway of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, which connects the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. An accident on the interoceanic railway on 28 December that killed at least 14 people has called the safety of these rail projects into question. While the federal attorney general’s office (FGR) announced on 27 January that the accident was caused by excessive speed, rather than any structural, operational, or mechanical flaws, it has nevertheless raised scrutiny on the health and safety standards of new passenger rail services in Mexico, as well as potential irregularities surrounding their construction.

The train was passing through a winding, mountainous section of track near the town of Nizanda in Oaxaca state when it came off the rails, causing one passenger carriage to fall down a ravine and another to be suspended in mid-air. Thirteen people were killed in the incident, with another succumbing to their injuries in hospital days later. A further 97 people were injured with 35 of these needing hospital attention. The accident happened on the main line of the railway, which connects the port city of Coatzacoalcos in Veracruz state with the port of Salina Cruz on Oaxaca’s Pacific coast. A total of 241 passengers and nine crew members were on the train at the time of the derailment.

On 27 January the head of the FGR, Ernestina Godoy, stated that initial investigations had pointed to excessive speed as the cause of the crash. She said the train had been travelling at 65km per hour at the time of its derailment, while the speed limit for curved sections of track was 50km per hour. She added that investigations had also shown no issues in terms of the train’s components, its physical state, or the operation of its machinery. She stated that those responsible for the train’s operations had not complied with the regulations and that the FGR would be taking legal action. The following day, the local press reported the arrests of the driver of the train, identified as Felipe de Jesús Díaz Gómez, and the chief dispatcher for the railway, identified as Ricardo Mendoza Cerón.

Interoceanic train

The interoceanic railway was conceived as part of López Obrador’s Corredor Interoceánico del Istmo de Tehuantepec (CIIT) project, a trade and transit corridor across the narrowest point of the country. Dubbed as Mexico’s answer to the Panama Canal, the project centres around the railway (which also transports freight), modernised port infrastructure, and new industrial parks known as ‘development poles’ in a bid to provide an alternative route for global trade and attract investment to the southeast of Mexico, which is less developed than the industrial north of the country. As part of the project, in 2020 López Obrador promised a complete rehabilitation of three trainlines and the restoration of passenger services, which were suspended in the 1990s. Like many of López Obrador’s infrastructure projects, the military was put in charge of the railway.

Questions that have long plagued the Tren Maya, which had previously come under greater scrutiny, are now being asked of the interoceanic train. These include the speed with which the project was completed, with many suspecting that work was expedited in order to meet political goals, potentially at the expense of health and safety standards and expert advice. The suitability of the military, in this case the navy, overseeing such a project has also been raised, with questions surrounding the technical capability of the navy and its lack of experience in managing such a project. The manner in which contracts were awarded for the railway has also come under renewed scrutiny. This latter point has become particularly pertinent given the links of one of López Obrador’s sons, Gonzalo Alfonso López Beltrán, and his associates with the project.

In July 2024, López Obrador stated that López Beltrán had been appointed as an “honorary supervisor” of the project, helping to monitor progress of the works, the laying of track, and other aspects of the infrastructure – all without pay. However, in audio recordings released by the anti-corruption lobby group Mexicanos Contra la Corrupción y la Impunidad (MCCI) and local investigative news outlet Latinus, a businessman named Jorge Amílcar Olán Aparicio, reportedly a friend of López Beltrán, is apparently heard discussing an influence peddling network facilitated by López Beltrán relating to the provision of ballast for the railway. In another recording reposted on social media by Alejandro Moreno, the leader of the centrist opposition Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), Olán speaks to López Beltrán’s cousin, Pedro Salazar Beltrán. The pair refer to a “corruption network” and appear to speak about cutting corners, joking about what would happen if an accident occurred on the railway.

This has added to the political fallout from the accident. On 6 January legislators from the right-wing opposition Partido Acción Nacional (PAN) filed a complaint against López Beltrán, Olán, and Salazar Beltrán, as well as the navy minister Raymundo Pedro Morales Ángeles and former navy minister, Rafael Ojeda (2018-2024) for alleged corruption, illicit exercise of public service, abuse of authority, influence peddling, murder, injury, and omission of duties. PAN is calling for independent technical investigations into the accident, transparency surrounding contracts for the project, and a full review of the interoceanic train and the Tren Maya to avoid future risks. Meanwhile, the PRI has demanded that services on the interoceanic train be suspended while investigations take place.

On 14 January Raquel Buenrostro, the head of the government’s secretariat for anticorruption and good governance, announced that the authorities were carrying out a “detailed” audit to identify possible omissions or irregularities related to the derailment of the train. Speaking to the media, Buenrostro said that the aim of the investigation was to make sure that “there has been no omission” on the part of businesses, public officials, or suppliers that may have caused the accident. The incident will also mean that other projects will come under renewed scrutiny, such as the Tren Maya and rail projects earmarked by the Sheinbaum administration, which has pledged to increase passenger rail services. This may prove challenging as Sheinbaum works to meet ambitious goals for already announced projects.

Insurance

The main line of the railway – the one on which the accident occurred – was inaugurated at the end of 2023, with a second line inaugurated in September 2024, the final month of López Obrador’s term. A third line is due to be completed later this year. In the wake of the accident, it came to light that the railway had operated passenger services without the requisite insurance policies until January 2025, transporting some 70,000 passengers during this time, according to Spanish newspaper El País.

Sheinbaum’s rail projects

Sheinbaum has outlined plans for three new passenger rail lines, spanning some 3,000km. One will run from Mexico City (CDMX) to Nogales, a city on the US-Mexico border in the state of Sonora, via Querétaro, the capital of the eponymous state; Guadalajara, the capital of the western state of Jalisco; Tepic, the capital of Nayarit state; and Mazatlán in Sinaloa state. The other will run from CDMX to Nuevo Laredo, a city in the northern state of Tamaulipas via San Luis Potosí (San Luis Potosí state) and Monterrey, the capital of Nuevo León state. She also announced plans to extend a suburban branch rail line that will connect CDMX with the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) near CDMX, which was inaugurated in March 2022, and Pachuca, the capital of Hidalgo state.