Interoceanic Corridor of Mexico’s Isthmus of Tehuantepec Will Connect to Guatemala

Mexico City, Mexico — President López Obrador says the Isthmus of Tehuantepec Interoceanic Corridor will connect Mexico to Guatemala. He says the project will include three train lines and the renovation of seaports to boost trade.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador led the progress report on the Tehuantepec Interoceanic Corridor, a vast project that includes three railway lines and the renovation of seaports that will boost freight traffic.

Raymundo Morales Ángeles, the general director of the Tehuantepec Isthmus Interoceanic Corridor project, explained that Line K will connect Ciudad Ixtepec, Oaxaca, and Ciudad Hidalgo, Chiapas, a region bordering Guatemala, over 459 kilometers.

“We are going to unite more and more with Guatemala and we are going to facilitate the development of the southeastern region of Mexico, but also of Central America,” he said.

As part of this railway project, an intermodal marshalling yard will be built in Suchiate, Chiapas, and a passenger station in Ciudad Hidalgo, under the direction of the Navy.

At the same time, Line K is being renovated up to the international bridge. The Guatemalan government plans to build an intermodal yard in Tecún Umán and to modernize the railway lines in the interior of the country.

Through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation (AMEXCID), Mexico will donate 400,000 linear meters of rails, sleepers and rail fastening systems with the aim of incorporating Guatemala as soon as possible into the connectivity network that will improve the flow of goods.

By mid-September, the first phase of Line K will be completed to Arriaga, Chiapas. The overall progress is 58 percent, he said, adding that the project will be delivered to the people of Mexico in the third quarter of 2025.

In the report, the Secretary of the Navy, José Rafael Ojeda Durán, indicated that Line Z has been completed and is in service. It connects the Pacific Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean from the ports of Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, to Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, in a maximum travel time of seven hours.

Since its commissioning in two phases, in September and December 2023, this means of transport has mobilized a total of 44,313 passengers and 109,665 tons of various types of cargo, including clay, cement, corn and sand.

The Navy is promoting the development of the municipality of Matías Romero through the construction of a railway complex consisting of a control room, workshops, garages, a training center, a commercial building and the renovation of the historic station.

So far, 26 percent progress has been made and completion is scheduled for June 2025.

The renovation of 95 kilometers of track from Coatzacoalcos to Medias Aguas, Veracruz, previously conceded to Ferrosur, continues. It will be a suburban train that will provide services to isolated communities such as San Juan Guichicovi. The project will be completed in June of next year.

The FA line from Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, to Palenque, Chiapas, where it will connect with the Maya Train, will be 100 percent operational in September. Since December 2023, it has started transporting cargo to the Roberto Ayala terminal.

The federation is renovating seven stations: Cuichapa, Roberto Ayala, Teapa, Juárez, Pino Suárez, Pakal Na and Las Choapas, and is also building seven sidings and two transfer stations.

The two strategic ports of this project, Salina Cruz, Oaxaca and Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, have the capacity to move around 300,000 containers per year. At their consolidation point, they will reach 1.4 million containers per year.

The Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec is a profitable project. In the case of the railways, the break-even point will be reached in the first quarter of 2027 with 1,732 million pesos. Meanwhile, the seaports no longer report a deficit, according to director Morales Ángeles.

In total, this large-scale mobility project comprises a multimodal logistics platform consisting of 1,189 kilometres of rail tracks on three lines. The platform can transport various types of double-stacked freight and passengers on American, European and commuter trains.

The security tasks are supported by a Marine Infantry Brigade with 2,512 elements divided into four battalions, which comprise 21 separate units.

President López Obrador said that Line Z is a project of global scale. The government of Mexico is making this strategic move possible because of the current growth of the market and maritime transport between Asia and America.

Speaking to media representatives, López Obrador reiterated that the Interoceanic Corridor project will continue during the next federal government led by President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo.