By Cassandra Garrison and Raul Cortes
MEXICO CITY, Dec 30 (Reuters) – Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum deferred questions on Tuesday about the record of a passenger train that derailed over the weekend, killing 13 people and injuring 98 others, the latest in a series of accidents that have put pressure on her government to improve the safety of flagship projects.
The conductor of the train, who survived, has been taken in for questioning, and opposition lawmakers have called for an investigation.
“The prosecutor’s office has already interviewed the operator and several other people – they will have to report what happens next,” Sheinbaum said at her regular press conference on Tuesday.
The crash in the southern state of Oaxaca marks the third train accident this year in Mexico. The new tourist-focused Mayan Train in the Yucatan Peninsula has suffered two derailments. No one was killed in those accidents.
Mexico’s military operates both the Mayan Train and the Interoceanic Train that derailed on Sunday, which has led some to question both its role and what the Sheinbaum government is doing to deliver safety on flagship infrastructure projects.
“The government should be very concerned with the safety record and go to great lengths to determine the cause of the derailment,” said Gustavo Flores-Macias, dean of the University of Maryland School of Public Policy.
Survivors told local news outlets that Sunday’s crash happened as the train rounded a curve. It occurred on the Interoceanic Railway of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, a narrow stretch of land connecting the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.
The railway forms part of a trade and transit project known as the Interoceanic Corridor, which was launched in 2023 by Sheinbaum’s predecessor and mentor, former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, with the aim of creating an alternative to the Panama Canal.
But the project has faced multiple allegations of corruption, weak oversight and potential conflicts of interest.
Mexico’s federal audit office reported irregularities in four Interoceanic Train construction contracts, including overpayment for materials, in a 2020 report.
Following Sunday’s crash, local media outlets also reported that companies linked to associates of Lopez Obrador’s sons may have benefited from government contracts tied to major infrastructure projects, including the Interoceanic Train.
Lopez Obrador has denied the accusations, calling them politically motivated.
Opposition lawmakers called for an independent investigation into the accident. Alejandro Moreno, leader of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), urged the government to suspend all projects linked to the former president’s sons and their business partners.
Senator Mario Vazquez of the opposition National Action Party (PAN) called the derailment “criminal negligence.”
The accident risks denting confidence in Sheinbaum’s broader infrastructure agenda, said Antonio Ocaranza, a Mexican political consultant.
“The discussion surrounding this accident could trigger a broader and more damaging conversation about other projects,” Ocaranza said, highlighting the Mayan Train and the Olmeca refinery, both megaprojects with ballooning budgets.
“If these accidents become more frequent and the causes are deemed unreliable, there will be increased public scrutiny and a higher cost to the government,” he said.
(Reporting by Cassandra Garrison and Raul Cortes; Editing by Emily Green and Rosalba O’Brien)
