Tehuantepec national railway

I guess it should be Railroad , Perhaps Paul Theroux giving away his English heritage .
Yes , i'm rereading "The old Patagonian Express , and he is currently in Southern Mexico. Page 101 if any has the paperback book.
What took my interest was his claim this was once the busiest railway in the world , which seem at odds with the Wikipedia article linked , which doesn't even mention significant operations.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrocarr ... 3%ADstmico

Apparently, the Tehuantepec is being revitalized to support competition with the Panama Canal: FInancial Times

Mexico revives century-old railway in $2.8bn bid to rival Panama Canal

Mexico’s government is reviving a railway between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean that had been in decline for more than a century, in a bold bid to steal container traffic away from the Panama Canal.

The project seeks to capitalise on multinationals’ desire to be closer to the US and the canal’s periods of low water levels as the region suffers increasingly frequent droughts. For populist president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, it forms part of a gambit to draw investment to the poorer south — albeit one that industry figures are sceptical can succeed.

The $2.8bn Tehuantepec isthmus corridor will feature a 308km railway between renovated ports at Salina Cruz in Oaxaca state and Coatzacoalcos in Veracruz, and industrial parks close to transport hubs, including airports, along the route. Trains have already traversed the route on test runs ahead of its opening in December.
...