Maya Train Construction Halted at Playa del Carmen by Federal Judge Is Refuted by Amlo

Temporary? Or ongoing?

Feb 25, 2024

Activists fear pristine Yucatán cenotes will be contaminated by train construction. Photo Dorian D1 for Unsplash

A Mexican federal judge ordered work on a 68-kilometer stretch of the new Maya train route from Playa del Carmen to Tulum, section 5 south, to halt construction until the federal government can demonstrate geological, geophysical, and geo-hydrological studies have been completed. At this writing, it’s uncertain how long the order will last.

If Mexico President Andrés López Obrador (Amlo) has his way, work will continue as usual. As of February 25, in the government’s first public acknowledgement of the ruling, Amlo insists that “the necessary studies were carried out.”

Said López Obrador as quoted by the Riviera Maya News, “We are respectful of the judge’s decision. We are going to comply. All the studies are going to be delivered, but the train is not going to stop.

“They may tell us not to work, but we have many sections to continue building,” he said.

In late January a court in Merida, Yucatán, handed down a definitive suspension after it was revealed steel and cement pilings pierced through limestone cave roofs over underground rivers along an elevated section of the railroad south of Playa.

As written in my January 5 post, alarm spread throughout Mexico and beyond after the government’s dismissal of de rigueur geological studies to test some of the world’s most fragile ecosystems before construction began. Cenotes and underground rivers were at risk, according to environmental groups, due to the maneuvering by President Andrés López Obrador to get work done in a hurry.

The Riviera Maya, which the train passes through, is the largest jungle in the Americas after the Amazon, and the 947 miles of tracks resulted in cutting 3.4 million trees, according to the Mexican government. Environmentalists suggest the actual number is closer to 10 million, as reported by The Guardian.

With little transparency and a delinquent lack of geological testing, environmentalists, archeologists, locals, and even the U.N., have voiced concern that the railway and its hasty construction could critically endanger pristine wilderness, bringing civilization closer to vulnerable species such as jaguars, spider monkeys and coatimundis.

The train route cuts through some of the world's most unique ecosystems. A fragile system of cenotes, as well as underground rivers that lie beneath the jungle floor, are distinct to the Yucatán. Cenotes are fresh water sinkholes sacred to the Maya but also an intrinsic part of their present day water requirements. Amlo stated in January that construction on train route section 5 south would be the most challenging.

Earlier this month, several groups of environmentalists recorded that irreparable damage was being done to install support pillars along that section. More than a dozen large holes have been drilled deep into the ground, some having penetrated caves and damaging stalactites. Others have been found leaking detritus into water-filled cenotes.

In addition, SOS Cenotes and Guillermo D. Christy, photographer, have shown videos with rusting exteriors and leaking cement believed to be contaminating the region’s water supply.

Until the First District Court in Yucatán accepts that the studies have been carried out with known results, including conditions 9 and 10 of the environmental authorization referred to, the construction must remain halted.

“In addition, there must be a prior statement from the environmental authority regarding these results and their impact on the execution of the project,” the Yucatán court document reads, according to Riviera Maya News, as of late January.

How this will play out remains to be seen after today’s announcement by Amlo.

February 25 was the date of the first public statement made regarding the recent judicial ruling handed down by the Merida, Yucatán, court on section 5 south. Tren Maya section 5 north, running between Cancun-Puerto Morelos-Playa del Carmen, is scheduled for inauguration on February 29.

López Obrador inaugurated construction of the Maya Train project in June 2020 and pledged it would be finished in 28 months, by October 2022. As of late January, Amlo said he believed the railroad would be “100 percent complete in another two (or) three months,” Mexico News Daily wrote February 16.