Migrant Crisis Impacts Mexico’s Train Routes


Photo: Google
By KELIN DILLON
On Tuesday, Sept. 19, Mexican railway giant Ferromex elected to stop 60 freight trains from running their scheduled routes, a move made due to thousands of migrants attempting to board the company’s passing carriages.
According to reports, more than 4,000 migrants have tried to board Ferromex trains across Mexico’s central, southern and northern regions with the aim of reaching the U.S. border without being detained by the Mexican migration authorities.
At the moment, there are reportedly thousands more migrants waiting to board trains in railway yards in Coahuila, Guanajuato and Aguascalientes.
“Given the severe risk that the integrity of these people represents, Ferromex has temporarily detained 60 trains so far, equivalent to the capacity of 1,800 trucks on routes to the north of the country in the regions impacted by this social and humanitarian problem,” Ferromex said in a statement.
Ferromex went on to note that there had been dozens of incidents of migrant deaths or injuries caused by these boarding attempts.
“We hope that the measure lasts as little as possible,” continued Ferromex, which also mentioned its logistics chain would be impacted by its temporary service pause. “However, the main thing is that it is a measure to avoid the risk to the integrity and lives of migrants. We have an accumulation of incidents that had not been recorded.”