Low-mass stars are known to exhibit strong X-ray emission during the early stages of evolution. Nearby star forming regions are ideal targets to study the X-ray properties of pre-main sequence stars. Aims. A deep XMM-Newton exposure is used to investigate X-ray properties of the pre-main sequence population of the Chamaeleon I star forming region. The northern-eastern fringe of the Chameleon I dark cloud was observed with XMM-Newton, revisiting a region observed with ROSAT 15 years ago. Centered on the extended X-ray source CHXR 49 we are able to resolve it into three major contributing components and to analyse their spectral properties. Furthermore, the deep exposure allows not only the detection of numerous, previously unknown X-ray sources, but also the investigation of variability and the study of the X-ray properties for the brighter targets in the field. We use EPIC spectra, to determine X-ray brightness, coronal temperatures and emission measures for these sources, compare the properties of classical and weak-line T Tauri stars and make a comparison with results from the ROSAT observation.