Mexico takes over concession of ‘The Beast’ train routes in Mexico

Mexico's Communications and Transport Ministry said on Tuesday it had taken over a concession to a southern railroad, whose trains are known locally as "The Beast," which thousands of Central American migrants have used to hitch rides to the United States.

The ministry scrapped the concession, which had belonged to the Ferrocarriles Chiapas-Mayab rail company, on the grounds of "public interest, public usage and national security," it said in a statement, without elaborating.

Ferrocarriles Chiapas-Mayab had been trying to wash its hands of the concession since at least 2007, according to a more-detailed account in the . . .