NIZANDA, Mexico — At least 13 people have been killed in a Sunday derailment of Mexico’s Interoceanic train, the two-year-old service across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec launched with a mix of secondhand U.S. and British equipment.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, in a social media post quoting the secretary of the navy, said that 98 people had been injured, five gravely, in addition to those that had been killed. Of the injured, 36 were reported to be hospitalized. Sheinbaum said she had instructed the secretary of the navy and the deputy secretary of human rights of the secretariat of the interior to travel to the site to assist the families involved.
The train was reportedly carrying 241 passengers and a crew of nine. El Sol de Mexico reports the derailment occurred Sunday morning shortly after departure from Salina Cruz on the Pacific coast, and that two cars fell into a steep ravine.
The Interoceanic Train debuted in December 2023 [see “Mexico launches Interoceantic Train service,” Trains.com, Dec. 23, 2023]. It operates on a roughly 180-mile route between Salina Cruz and Coatzacoalcos on the Gulf of Mexico, a line built to compete with the Panama Canal for freight traffic.
Service was launched with a mix of British HST trainsets and a variety of former U.S. and Canadian locomotives and passenger cars. Images from the scene show a damaged but upright F59PHI at one end of the train, an overturned F59PH at the other, and derailed Budd SPV-2000 railcars formerly owned by the Connecticut Department of Transportation. The rail line reportedly bought five of those cars along with several former Amtrak Amfleet cars [see “Passenger equipment from Britain, US …,” Sept. 4, 2023].
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Small detail correction – I believe “several former Amtrak Amfleet cars” are actually de-motored Metroliners. Yes? No?
Curious if any of the new Alstom passengers trainsets destined for Mexico passenger service are to be used on this route? The route if not mistaken was significantly rebuilt to provide the new coast to coast container service as direct competitor with Panama Canal. Not sure if those services in full swing or even if the track rebuild has been completed.
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Tough to say from the article if an equipment failure on the hodgepodge of old equipment or a track issue. Just happened, so maybe not even enough time to understand what happened.