Mexico's Maya train faces new legal obstacle

A new court order threatens to halt construction of the fifth stretch of Mexico’s Maya train, which runs 121km from Cancún international airport to Tulum in Quintana Roo state. 

On Tuesday, environmentalist organization Sélvame del Tren claimed that a district judge in Yucatán state had granted it a new suspension to stop all deforestation works on the northern and southern sections of the project, which has been underway since last year.

However, that claim is "absolutely false," national tourism board Fonatur spokesperson Fernando Vázquez was reported as saying by news agency EFE on Wednesday, adding that “the Maya train is totally legal.”

“It is absolutely false the claim that the works on stretch five have been definitively suspended," he said.”

“It has also the permits and authorizations for the change of land use,” Vázquez said, underlining that there was no obstacle to continuing construction.

Several other suspensions have been granted to NGOs to stop works on the rail project. However, the Mexican government has so far managed to continue construction by using a range of different legal tactics. 

One of the most recent moves by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's administration was to declare the Maya train project a matter of national security, allowing it to overturn several injunctions. 

Environmentalists claim the project lacks all the necessary permits and that it will cause negative environmental impacts. Fonatur presented the environmental impact study (EIS) for the stretch in early May, but works had already started three months prior. 

Fonatur assigned 30.4bn pesos (US$1.6bn) to defense ministry Sedena to continue the works. The ministry then contracted ICA, Mota-Engil and Azvindi to build the stretch.