Tren Maya announces opening of Cancun to Playa Del Carmen

The Tren Maya has just announced the preopening of the Cancun to Playa Del Carmen segment. The date will be February 29th, 2024. This means that there will be service between the Cancun Airport Station, Puerto Morelos and Playa Del Carmen. At the Cancun Tren Maya Station the platforms 3 and 4 will go westward toward Merida and platforms 5 and 6 will be for going south towards Playa Del Carmen. This represents 44 km of double track in this segment.

It should be noted that this is preopening. This means it is a in a slower testing mode. The other lines from Cancun to Campeche and Campeche to Palenque are also running now and have been for about half a month now. These lines are also in “preopening” and are not running at full speed nor are all of the types of train running now. This preopening will be a nice chance to get a taste of the train, it however will not be a reliable option from the airport due to only three trains a day and tricky to buy tickets in advance not knowing how long it will take to get from your flight, through customs and on a bus to the station.

Below is a recent picture of the Tren Maya Station in Valladolid. This station is open now, but as you see, it is not finished. So, anyone taking the train soon on this Cancun to Playa Del Carmen route will be experiencing some construction and limited service.

What will be the train schedules?

There will be 3 trains daily from Cancun to Playa Del Carmen. They will be 9:00am, 12:00 noon, and 3:00pm. From Playa Del Carmen to Cancun there will be 3 trains daily as well. The times will be 10:30am,1:30pm, and 4:30pm.

Electric buses to start at the Cancun Airport

The Tren Maya has also announced that at the end of February there will be electric buses between all terminals of the airport to the Tren Maya Station. Currently this is free of charge. This is being offered to be a more comfortable and safe transfer to and from the Tren Maya and Cancun Airport.

Where to buy tickets for the Tren Maya

There is a new page for buying tickets to the Tren Maya. The general director of the Tren Maya recalled that, since last January 22, users can purchase Tren Maya tickets through the website: trenmaya.gob.mx where it is possible to buy a single or round trip, and payment can be made with any debit or credit card, either Visa or Master Card. He specified that these sites would allow the user to select the date of travel, station of origin and destination, schedule, as well as the type of service, whether premier or tourist.

What is riding the Tren Maya like now?

We recently went on the Tren Maya and took this video to show you what it is like.

How is the Tren Maya doing now?

Of the 22 stations currently available, the commercial route that has generated the most ticket sales is that of Mérida Teya-Cancún Airport, with 3, 716 tickets sold, followed by San Francisco Campeche-Mérida Teya, with 3,674 tickets sold; the third route with the greatest traffic is Cancun Airport-Mérida Teya with 3,502 tickets, while the Mérida Teya-San route Francisco Campeche has counted 3,420 tickets sold. In this pre-opening phase, the most popular station has been Mérida Teya, with 9,704 passengers, followed by the Cancún Aeropuerto station, with 9,352 users mobilized. San Francisco Campeche has registered 7,230 people, while Valladolid has received 3,703 tourists.

In these 41 days of operation, the Tren Maya has traveled a total of 112,465 km. Of this total, the #01 train has traveled 28,115 km; the #02 train, 28,975 km; the #03 train, 25,630 km, while the #04 train, 29,745 km.