The long-awaited railway connection between the two countries depends on the rehabilitation of the Doctor Rodolfo Robles bridge in Ayutla, San Marcos, which would be done this year.
According to the Guatemalan Ministry of Communications, under current conditions the bridge cannot support the load of a locomotive and using that section would be a high risk.
The project that intended to connect the Tecun Uman San Marcos line with the line belonging to the Compañía de Ferrocarriles Chiapas-Mayab de México will not be viable before 2017.
The initial idea put forward by President Maldonado in 2015 was that the Mexican train known as "La Bestia" (The Beast), would enter Guatemalan soil through Tecun Uman, where it would receive cargo to be transported from Central America to Mexico and the US.
Although the start date had been was agreed as December 2015, it has now been announced that construction of the roads that connect will Tecun Uman with Chiapas, Mexico, will start in April.
It has been announced that as of December 15th the Tecún Uman San Marcos line will connect with the mexican Compañía de Ferrocarriles Chiapas-Mayab in order to transport cargo from Guatemala.
The Mexican train known as "The Beast", will enter onto Guatemalan soil through Tecún Uman, where it will receive cargo to be transported from Central America to Mexico and the United States.
The government announced that it is studying the feasibility of the project based on an electric train, and some companies have expressed interest in a possible freight service between the port and the greater metropolitan area.
The Ministry of Foreign Trade (Comex) and the authorities of the Instituto Costarricense de Ferrocarriles (Incofer) announced that for funding for the possible launch of the train they will evaluate "...
The National Agency for Partnerships for Development in Guatemala has announced the construction of an intermodal terminal at the customs office in Tecún Umán II.
The investment is estimated to be about $40 million, with the feasibility study having already been awarded at a cost of $362 thousand. What has been called a "dry port" will be a terminal for cargo transfer between trucks and trains.
The government is considering various options for the revival of rail freight in the country.
The Government is considering two options to revive freight railroad in the country. The first is the creation of a state company that would operate under the public-private partnership model and the second is a concession in tranches awarded to different companies.
After the transfer of the controlling interest to the State, the company will review existing contracts with rail customers.
Prensalibre.com reports: "The lease to Compañía Bananera Guatemalteca, the pipeline easement for fuel transport with Texaco, the route for LPG transport with Zeta Gas, signed in 2002, and the easement for electric power transfer with Generadora Eléctrica del Norte and a similar one with Generadora del Sur, signed in 2001, are the contracts that the state will recover when it gains the rights for the railroad. "
With the payment to be made next month, the 82% stake held by Ferrovías will become property of the Guatemalan state.
This will see the fulfilment of the judgement by the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), which ruled in favor of the company subsidized by Railroad Development Corporation (RDC) in 2012. The Finance chief, Pavel Centeno, said "we have identified the funds and the space in the budget where the money will come from".
Problems in the computer systems at Balboa port have slowed container cargo on the railroad.
Currently three thousand containers a week are being transported when normally in the same period of the year nearly eight to nine thousand containers a week are mobilized.
Tomás Kenna, president of the Panama Canal Railway, explained that "the problem we are experiencing is with the receipt and delivery of containers at the ports." According to the official, what is happening with the movement of cargo has to do with the implementation of a new computer system at the Port of Balboa, which apparently is having problems attending to boats and trains.
The Panama Canal Railway Company predicts that it will move 37.5% fewer containers this year compared to 2008.
The estimated number of containers for this year is 225,000, compared to 360,000 containers in 2008.
Reporter Raúl A. Beranl interviewed Thomas Kenna, President of the Panama Canal Railway Company (PCRC), for Prensa.com: “The ships are empty, there just isn’t freight to move, the factories in China are closed and the United States is in its worst crisis in 100 years…with the global recession, commercial transportation is one of the most affected sectors of the economy in any country because people stop buying, and when that happens, there isn't freight for ships, ports, trains, or trucks anymore.”