The Army Just Swapped Out the General Running Mexico's Billion Train

The general who built Mexico's most ambitious railway is out. Not for scandal. Not for failure. Just the Army doing what the Army does.

General David Lozano Águila, who spent the last three years turning a political promise into a working train line through the Yucatán jungle, was replaced this week as director of the Tren Maya. President Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed the move Wednesday, calling it standard procedure.

"It's normal," Sheinbaum said during her morning press conference. "The Defense Ministry has a policy of making changes every two, three, or four years to the people in various responsibilities, and it was a decision by the Secretary."

The replacement: General Manuel Jaime Ramírez Camacho, who until now ran Banjército, the military's bank. He'll take the helm of a $30-plus billion railway project that carries both Sheinbaum's political legacy and López Obrador's signature infrastructure bet.

Lozano Águila was tapped in January 2023 to lead the Tren Maya out of the construction phase and into something passengers could actually use. By December of that year, he'd done exactly that, presiding over the inauguration of the first commercial routes. He then managed the messy, unglamorous work that followed: gradual track openings, hotel launches under military management, tourist packages, and the slow expansion of cargo service.

He also weathered the March 2024 derailment near Tixkokob, Yucatán, where a train jumped the tracks after a switch was incorrectly set. No one was hurt, but the incident raised questions about safety on a line built at breakneck speed. Official investigations blamed human error on the track crew.

Under his watch, the Tren Maya went from a construction site to a functioning transportation network. The Cancún to Palenque route now carries passengers through some of the most ecologically sensitive terrain in North America. Hotels along the route opened under military management. Cargo service began connecting industrial zones in the Yucatán Peninsula to broader supply chains.

The Costs and the Controversy

The Tren Maya has been a lightning rod since López Obrador announced it in 2018, his first week in office. Environmentalists warned it would carve through protected jungle and threaten archaeological sites. Indigenous communities along the route said they were never properly consulted. Costs ballooned from an initial estimate of around $6 billion to well over $30 billion, with much of the work handled directly by the Army.

What the Army built, the Army now runs. That's the arrangement Sheinbaum inherited and appears determined to keep. The Tren Maya is not a public-private partnership or a civilian infrastructure project. It's a military operation that happens to carry tourists from Cancún to Palenque.

The project remains one of the most visible symbols of Mexico's broader militarization of public services. Under both López Obrador and now Sheinbaum, the Army has taken on roles traditionally held by civilian agencies: airports, ports, customs, security, and now tourism infrastructure. The Tren Maya is the crown jewel of that expansion.

Ramírez Camacho arrives with the skill set Sedena values: logistics, finance, and the kind of institutional loyalty that keeps megaprojects on the generals' terms. Banjército manages military pensions and housing. The Tren Maya manages trains, hotels, and a growing cargo network. Different cargo, same chain of command.

His appointment signals that Sheinbaum sees the Tren Maya not as a one-time construction project but as a permanent military operation. The railway needs ongoing management, expansion, and political cover — particularly as passenger numbers remain below projections and critics question whether the line can ever justify its price tag. Ramírez Camacho's background in military banking suggests the next phase will focus on making the line financially sustainable — or at least presentable on Sedena's balance sheets.

For travelers, the transition likely means little in the short term. Trains keep running. Bookings stay open. The Cancún-Palenque route continues its slow expansion into new stations and connecting services. But the change signals something about how Mexico's military-industrial apparatus works: no one is indispensable, rotations are the rule, and the institution always outlasts the individual.

Lozano Águila, Sheinbaum said, will receive "other functions within the Army." In Sedena's world, that's not a demotion.