A quick 20 minute Tren Maya journey from Umán to Mérida Teya

How to utilize Mérida's second station.

Mérida, the capital of the state of Yucatan has, not one, but two Tren Maya stations:

• Estación Tren Maya - Mérida Teya is 13.7 km east of the center of Mérida and takes roughly 28 minutes to drive.

• Estación Tren Maya Umán is 24.5 km southwest of Mérida and takes 34 minutes to drive.

Both of these measurements were taken from the Plaza Grande in the center of Mérida and the time figure is from Google maps, as they say, your mileage may vary.

I’ve been in and out of Mérida Teya station many times between December 19th 2023 and now, exactly 16 months later to the day. Even in the early days Mérida Teya was the first station to be completed and has been the most developed. I’d go as far as saying that Mérida Teya was more developed when it opened than Cancun Station is today. However, a LOT has changed at the Mérida Teya station over those months which I’ll get into in a moment.

The point of this journey was to investigate how to get to the the Umán station and more importantly determine if it can be a better choice of station from Mérida.

My journey started at La Plancha, the newly revitalized, beautiful, central park of Mérida. From La Plancha I can take an IE-Tram to either Tren Maya station so it proved to be an ideal location to start from. I almost always take the IE-Tram to Mérida Teya station and I recommend it as it’s dirt cheap, it’s as fast as driving (sometimes faster), environmentally friendly as it’s all electric and altogether a very pleasant experience. Out of the 1300 or so new, modern buses that the state of Yucatan has purchased I enjoy the IE-Trams the most as they’re open and airy and easy to exit with 3 wide doors. The cost from La Plancha to either Tren Maya station is 12 Mexican Pesos (roughly 60 US cents) making them the deal of a century.

According to the Va-y-Ven app and Google maps the IE-Tram 905 to the Uman Tren Maya station left at 6:50 am. I arrived the IE-Tram station at 6:44 so I’d be a few minutes early but as it turns out both the app and Google are wrong. Once it was clear that there was no IE-Tram 605 at 6:50 am I scrolled through the Facebook page of Agencia de Transporte de Yucatán (ATY) that manages the Va-y-Ven public transport system I found this very non-searchable image. I’ve circled the part I want to call your attention to. The official Va-y-Ven app and Google Maps say the IE-Tram 905 leaves La Plancha at 6:50. This marketing piece was released 6 days ago on April 13th and it says the IE-Tram leaves at 6:40 am. Grrr…

Having missed my IE-Tram which was half the reason I was taking the journey I nearly decided to give it another shot tomorrow. All research is useful so I added to my experience by calling a Didi to the Umán Station. Didi quoted me a 40 minute arrival time at a cost of 217 pesos. It took 43 minutes and cost 272 pesos. Uber was quoting me a 46 minute arrival time and 280 pesos. I expect that the Uber ride would have also taken longer and cost over 300 pesos all said and done. There is a lot of construction on the road to the Tren Maya Uman station in addition to normal traffic while navigating the city. The directions in the Didi app were good and the driver had no problem finding the station even though he’d never been there before. You essentially take 180 south, exit at the clover leaf and take a hard left just over the bridge. No issues there.

Each Tren Maya station has a different design and character while all being clearly part of the same family. The Umán station is upon first inspection… brown. Lots of brown. The station itself is completely open. In fact, they couldn’t close the door if they wanted to as there isn’t one.

About 10 minutes after I arrived the IE-Tram 905 showed up. Driving to the Tren Maya Umán station is faster but the IE-Tram 905 at 12 pesos is a great choice for only being 10-15 minutes slower.

Inside the station, mostly to the right are 21 potential commercial spaces down a long hallway with each commercial space having a glass storefront and door so they can be closed. I’m not sure if the overhead pipes and cable raceways are a styling element or perhaps there will be a ceiling later. I think they’re supposed to be exposed.

Currently there are NO businesses at all or any way of purchasing anything, even from a vending machine so take note. Maybe in the future things will change.

The main hall of the station has extremely high ceilings and great airflow. Along the east side of the hall are sun shades which cut down on direct sun. There is a few tables and a couple of uncomfortable benches. By the time I arrived 1 hour before departure the tables were taken which left the uncomfortable benches. Down the hallway are incremental solid benches that were more comfortable but due to the lack of moving air were already occupied by mosquitoes that were quite a lot larger than I am accustomed to in Mérida. After battling it out with them for a few minutes I returned to the uncomfortable benches in the main hall. I really think there could be some improvement in the comfort of the furniture although if I were to use the Tren Maya Umán station I could see myself arriving 10 minutes before the train and not spending any time at all waiting.

In the main hall are machines for purchasing tickets but I didn’t check to see if they were functional. There was also an open ticket window. Recent logistics numbers from Tren Maya showed that 2/3 of all Tren Maya passengers buy their tickets in person which surprised me somewhat as I’ve purchased all but my very first Tren Maya ticket online or by using the app. The only reason I didn’t purchase the first tickets this way was because there wasn’t a website or app 3 days after it’s inaugural run. Things are easier now but people still seem to like purchasing tickets in person.

About 15 minutes before the train arrives we were instructed to pass through security and proceed up the escalator to the waiting room. The waiting room is a big improvement over the Mérida Teya station which just has a few benches on the train platform and nothing more. By far the most comfortable seats in the station are in the waiting area so my advice is to go through as soon as they’ll let you. Also the view from the waiting room is pleasant.

The Tren Maya staff asked us which car we were on and positioned us on the platform to save time. This is nice but a sign with the train design on it like the TGV in France uses would be nice too. As I was boarding the 7 car train and was in Premiere Classe I needed to walk to the end of the platform.

I was surprised by the number of people boarding at the Umán station as I figured it would be empty since for residents of Mérida or the beach towns north of it Mérida Teya would be more convenient. These 25 people must have been from Uman itself or the surrounding area.

We boarded and the train was in the station for 4 minutes exactly down to the second and left bang on time as it’s known to do. We arrived exactly on time in Mérida Teya as well but coming into the station I knew we weren’t in Uman anymore as there were over 200 people standing on the platform waiting for the train.

I couldn’t believe how many people were waiting, it felt more like France, Italy or Germany than the Tren Maya of the past year. I saw the same thing inside the Mérida Teya station as well, lots of people either getting off the train or going to their platforms. Mérida Teya is an 8 minute stop but by the way people were meandering toward the escalators I think they were pushing it a bit. If only Merida had a trackside waiting room like Uman…

Inside the Merida Teya station was busy as well with many booths set up for Semana Santa and the potential 3000 people per day that could get off at the Mérida Teya station.

I’m not a big fan of just sitting around the station however the IE-Tram often gets us to the station about 45-50 minutes before the train leaves (remember the percentage of people buying their tickets at the station…) and I’m just happy that I can get a great coffee at the Cafe. I had a Mocha and it was as good as any that I’ve had in the city. I was expecting less to be honest. The barista let me know that the coffee was from Chiapas.

Even though the Mérida Teya station was functional 16 months ago there is new construction happening now. I asked about it and a lady said they were working on the floors on both ends of the station. Also the Premiere Class lounge appears to be finished but I’m not sure if it’s open yet. That’s a big benefit for people traveling in first class. ADO has removed most of their Platino Lounges in their bus stations removing a nice, quiet, cool place to wait from the list of benefits for paying the big price. A lounge is a nice perk if you’re paying 50% more for your ticket.

Also there are signs up for lockers (but no lockers yet) for day trippers. As there are more scheduled departures the Tren Maya becomes more useful for day tripping the peninsula. In fact I saw a LOT of people on the train without luggage so it’s common. Usually I want a locker because I may want to stop off at an in-between city and don’t want to drag my bag around with me. With a locker you can drop your bags, tour the city and then return to the station to pick up your bag and continue on.

Earlier I said the IE-Tram from La Plancha to Mérida Teya is often faster than driving so I leave you with one last photo to explain why.

The IE-Tram 901 from Mérida Teya to La Plancha has a dedicated right of way so it’s not impacted by traffic. About 30 minutes after leaving the station you’re blowing by La Plancha. That’s right, La Plancha is no longer the terminus for the IE-Tram 901 from Mérida Teya in the same way it was in the past and doesn’t pull into the IE-Tram station on it’s way by. If you still want off at La Plancha wait until it takes a left and ring the buzzer and they’ll let you off at the front of the Park.

It also has stops at Parque La Mejorada, Parque Santa Ana known as “Gringo Gulch” due to all of the expats that live there, Paseo 60 which also has an ADO bus station and then heads back to La Plancha. I’m assuming the last part as I got of at Paseo 60 and there were passengers still on it then.

My thoughts

I was quite surprised at how many people were using the Uman station so I had to ponder it a bit. Clearly people from Uman are using the Tren Maya but also I think anyone from the Southern part of Mérida would be well served by the Uman station *if* they were headed south to Campeche or Palenque. It wouldn’t make any sense to go south to catch the Tren Maya at Uman and then sit on the train for an additional 20 minutes to get to the Mérida Teya station. I did think of another scenario though.

Merida Airport to Tren Maya Umán

If someone flew into Mérida and the timing was right they could walk 10 minutes from the airport terminal building to the IE-Tram stop on Benito Juarez and ride the IE-Tram 905 42 minutes to the Uman station where they’d catch the train to head south saving over an hour of time and multiple transfers trying to get to the Merida Teya station only to take the train back past Mérida again.

Another option is to catch a taxi at the Mérida airport for the 27 minute ride to the Tren Maya Umán station or better yet walk across the street from the airport and get an Uber or Didi. I can’t imagine what a Taxi would cost for a half hour ride. I stopped using taxis about 6 years ago and they were charging over 300 pesos for a 15 minute ride then.