Some Ferromex cargo trains restart in Mexico after migrant deaths spark suspension

By Isabel Woodford

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Some cargo trains run by Mexico’s Ferromex have restarted after they were halted following a spate of serious injuries and fatalities to migrants traveling on them, the rail operator’s parent company said on Wednesday.

In a step Mexico’s president described as “unusual,” Ferromex temporarily suspended operations of 60 northbound trains after about half a dozen migrants suffered death or injury, it announced on Tuesday.

Company estimates show stopping 60 trains represent a daily loss of 40 million pesos ($2.34 million), a company spokesperson said in a local radio interview.

However, Ferromex owner Grupo Mexico said on Wednesday rail freight operations had been restarted on routes where no “heightened risk” had been identified. The company did not say how many trains were still not operational.

Grupo Mexico said it would continue evaluating the situation and was in touch with authorities over how it proceeded.

For years, migrants trying to reach the United States have crisscrossed Mexico on cargo trains. Collectively, such trains have become known as “La Bestia,” (The Beast), for the risks riding via rail represented.

Ferromex said the presence of migrants in its railcars and rail yards had grown significantly in recent days to more than 4,000 in several cities throughout Mexico.

Earlier on Wednesday, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador flagged that trains were restarting after calling Tuesday’s announcement by Ferromex “strange” and “unusual.”

Lopez Obrador has clashed with Grupo Mexico this year, and in May moved to expropriate some tracks the company controls in southern Mexico for a flagship infrastructure project.

Mexico’s National Migration Institute has proposed adding agents to the affected routes, noting in a statement it also requested the company increase its private security aboard trains.

Ferromex executives will meet with members of the Mexican government and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Friday to discuss further measures, the Mexican institute added.

($1 = 17.0849 Mexican pesos)