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Ferrocarriles Chiapas-Mayab (
reporting mark A reporting mark is a code used to identify owners or lessees of rolling stock and other equipment used on certain rail transport networks. The code typically reflects the name or identifying number of the owner, lessee, or operator of the equip ...
FCCM) is a state owned railroad in southeastern
Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
since 2016.


History

Ferrocarriles Chiapas-Mayab became a subsidiary of the Genesee & Wyoming in 1999 with a 30-year concession to operate the railroad. The railroad was damaged by Hurricane Stan in October 2005. The hurricane damaged over 175 miles of track and Genesee & Wyoming was not financially capable to repair the railroad. On June 25, 2007, Genesee & Wyoming Inc announced it was giving up its 30-year concession and liquidating FCCM SA by the end of 2007. Operation of Ferrocarriles Chiapas-Mayab was officially taken over by Ferrocarril del Istmo de Tehuantepec in 2008. In 2012, Secretary of Communications and Transportation amended the railway concession in order to keep the railways under government control while allowing any potential investor to operate the cargo operations. By 2013, The Secretary of Communications and Transportation announced it had given the new amended concession to Viabilis Holdings to continue operations of Ferrocarriles Chiapas-Mayab for a period of 30–50 years.


Criticism

Employees who work for Ferrocarriles Chiapas-Mayab, as well as the SCT, have criticized management for the deterioration and lack of maintenance of railway infrastructure, citing the potential of petrochemical derailment and the loss of life. The Secretary General of the railway union of Yucatán, has criticized Ferrocarriles Chiapas-Mayab for the decline of speed from thirty-five kilometers per hour to ten kilometers per hour. The National Chamber of the transformation industry cited that the railway derails 200 times per year on average.


Loss of concession

By 2016, The Secretary of Communications and Transportation (SCT) grew impatient about the deterioration of the railroad, as well at the migrant crises in which Central American migrants were riding on top of the trains. By August 23, 2016, The Secretary of Communications and Transportation revoked the concession to Viabilis Holdings. Citing that, "For reasons of interest, public utility and national security" as the reason it was revoking the concession. Viabilis Holdings was given 60 days to remove and dispose of property, equipment and facilities owned off the railway. One of the shareholders in Ferrocarriles Chiapas Mayab, Pedro Topete Vargas, denounced the revocation of its concession as, "an act of revenge" from Secretary of Communications and Transportation Ruiz Esparza. Due to litigation of his other company, Infraiber, towards SCT favorite
OHL OHL or Ohl may refer to: Initialisms *Latvian Hockey Higher League, known in Latvian as the ''Optibet hokeja līga'' *Oberste Heeresleitung, the Supreme Army Command of Germany in World War I *Obrascón Huarte Lain, a Spanish construction company * ...
, which Vargas has accused of corruption and favoritism.


Railway rehabilitation

In September 2014, The Secretary of Telecommunications and Transportation announced that the federal government was going to invest 6 billion pesos to rehabilitate the railway in part to deter Central American Immigrants from hitch-hiking on the train, as well as to increase rail cargo speed in the region.


See also

*
Ferrocarriles Unidos del Sureste Ferrocarriles Unidos del Sureste was a company that operated a railroad in southeastern Mexico. In the 1930s the Mexican government decided to build a railroad into the Yucatán, connecting the national system with the isolated Ferrocarriles Uni ...
, predecessor * Ferrosur, operational successor * List of Mexican railroads


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chiapas-Mayab Railway companies of Mexico Railway companies established in 1999 Railway companies disestablished in 2007 Railway companies established in 2014 Standard gauge railways in Mexico Government-owned companies of Mexico Genesee & Wyoming Mexican companies established in 1999 Mexican companies established in 2014