At the 19 de Noviembre Station, in Havana, no one knows when the train service will return

Havana/The 19 de Noviembre Station on Tulipán Street, in the Cuban capital, should look like the photos it published three weeks ago Havana Tribuneannouncing the “rebirth” of the terminal just on the day of the 188th anniversary of the country’s first railway. In that note, between jubilant adjectives and phrases of patriotic consecration, it was assured that the property “recovered its splendor to provide an efficient and safe service to the population.”

But it is enough to get close to the terminal for the mirage to break.

Although the façade looks recently painted in bluish tones, several workers are still working on the exterior structure. On a makeshift scaffold, workers apply paint, place reinforcements and finish elements that, in a formal inaugurationthey should be finished. “This still has days left to be finished,” he confirms to 14ymedio one of the workers.

The station is also not operational. No train departures or arrivals are announced, and the employees consulted affirm that there is no date to restore services. In the main hall, the only space that seems completely renovated, this Monday there were only three people: all terminal workers. The metal benches that in the official photographs of the inauguration ceremony are full of officials and party leaders are now almost entirely empty.

There is only coming and going of people in the Traveler reservation services office that, on the side street, deals with the sale of national tickets, both for traveling by bus and on trains that leave from other stations. Near the end of the year festivities, the demand for these tickets skyrockets and it is common for the queue to begin outside the premises in the early hours of the morning.

A young man enters the terminal and asks for the train to Pinar del Río. The response she receives completely contradicts the official celebration two weeks ago: “No, it’s not coming out. Keep coming back because we still don’t have a date for the restoration,” explains an employee. The exchange illustrates the gap between the institutional narrative and the actual state of rail service.

According to Havana Tribunethe reopening marked “a firm step towards the recovery of rail transport”, a sector whose precariousness has been publicly recognized by the Government itself on repeated occasions. The presence of the Minister of Transportation, Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila, at the event on November 19, tried to reinforce the idea of ​​progress in a sector that, lately, only generates headlines with its frequent accidents and cancellations of itineraries.

The cafeteria, announced as part of the rehabilitation, has not started operations either. The place is closed and a menu board, placed at the entrance, remains completely blank. No product or price is displayed, which shows that the installation is not ready to receive the public. The doors are kept secured with padlocks and the exterior areas show a much lower level of finish than the main living room.

On the side of the building there is a plaque “Recognition of the Development Fund of the Ministry of Transportation”, dated the same day of the inauguration. Nobody understands why the entity congratulates itself for fulfilling its duty to renovate a premises deteriorated by long years without investment. The contrast between this protocol gesture and the visible unfinished state of the works reinforces the perception that the official activity was carried out before completing the promised restoration.

The patio and secondary areas also confirm that impression. Ceiling beams are exposed, metal frames await coating, and several doors remain closed, with no signs of use. In some areas the floor still has stains from recent work and fragments of materials. There are no indications that these spaces have been ready for the opening celebrated by the authorities.

Around the station, some neighbors tell this newspaper that the work accelerated in the days before the ministerial visit. A construction worker who participated in the external work confirms, under anonymity, that “it was inaugurated because the date was ripe, not because the terminal was ready.”