Court Grants Profepa Three-Day Extension in Tren Maya Environmental Case

Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo — A federal court has given Mexico’s environmental enforcement agency three business days to hand over a detailed report in connection with a legal challenge to Maya Train cargo rail construction, warning that another refusal could trigger a fine of more than 13,000 pesos.

The First Collegiate Court of the 27th Circuit issued the extension after the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa) declined to submit the “justified report” requested in an appeal filed by José Guillermo Urbina Bravo and other members of the Selvame del Tren environmental movement. The court’s agreement, published August 11, requires the agency’s deputy prosecutor for strategic litigation and environmental justice to produce the document within the extended deadline.

Selvame del Tren filed the underlying amparo suit on May 11 against Tren Maya SA de CV, the company created by the Mexican Army, as well as against the Environment Ministry (Semarnat) and Profepa, over works being carried out for the cargo rail line.

The activists are contesting an administrative ruling that exempts the project from submitting an environmental impact assessment. The exemption, granted through official letter SRA/DGIRA/DG-01735-26 dated February 25, 2026, applies to Tren Maya SA de CV even though the route is not a pre-existing road and construction has already affected forest vegetation, jungle, coastal ecosystems and wetlands, according to the complaint. The case is registered under file PFPA 5.3/35.6/00125-2025.

The amparo was filed with the Fifth District Court, which denied the activists’ request for a definitive suspension on June 18. That ruling prompted the appeal now before the Second Collegiate Court.

Although Profepa provided a preliminary report, the collegiate court is asking for the full justified report — the complete administrative file explaining why the agency ordered the works closed and later authorized the removal of closure seals. The court will use that file to decide whether the environmentalists’ legal challenge can proceed.