Mexican railway forced to suspend trains after numerous deaths from migrants jumping on board

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Huehuetoca, Mexico September 19, 2023. Associated Press

A railway was forced to temporarily suspend train runs in northern Mexico due to the dangers and injuries occurring from numerous migrants attempting to climb aboard its freight cars.

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The Mexican railway Ferromex said it had to halt 60 trains carrying cargo that would fill a whopping 1,800 tractor trailers due to the at least “half-dozen regrettable cases of injuries or deaths” of migrants jumping on the freight cars, the company said in a statement. Many migrants even hopped on moving freight cars “despite the grave danger that represents.”

International trade will be affected by the halt, and the impact of the train stoppage will be “very important,” said Ana Bertha Gutiérrez, the international trade coordinator for the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness.

The Associated Press reports:

The company said there were about 1,500 people gathered at a rail yard in the city of Torreon, in the northern border state of Coahuila. The company also reported about 800 migrants waiting at the freight yards in Irapuato, in the north-central state of Guanajuato.

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About 1,000 people were reported to be riding freight cars on the train line that connects the city of Chihuahua and the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez.

Gutiérrez noted the impact could be felt in industrial states like Nuevo Leon, Baja California and Chihuahua, given their links to the U.S. market.

Migrants have long used the trains, known collectively as “The Beast,” to hitch rides from as far south as Oaxaca state to the U.S. border. About a decade ago, the Mexican government briefly staged raids on the trains to discourage the practice, but later largely abandoned the effort, the Associated Press added.

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