AREQUIPA, Peru – The Sancti Spíritus – Havana train resumed service on July 25 with scheduled departures twice a week, on a route that includes 22 stops in five provinces.
A State newspaper report Escambray The report includes statements by the Minister of Transport in Cuba, Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila, who stressed that this is a “highly demanded” railway service because it allows the transport of passengers in towns and communities that, in some cases, “do not have stops on the itinerary of national trains.”
The official newspaper also acknowledges that before its reestablishment, the Espirituano train was perceived as “a delayed service, with irregular circulation and questionable quality,” whose impact crossed the borders of the territory because “it also becomes useful for the other provinces it benefits: Villa Clara, Matanzas, Mayabeque and Havana.”
The formation of the Espirituano will have a locomotive medium-sized, five-carriage train with a capacity of 334 seated passengers. The approximate duration of the trip will be 11 hours and 30 minutes.
The first departure from the provincial capital’s railway terminal is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. on July 25, with a route that includes 22 stops along the five provinces linked by the route.
Within Sancti Spíritus it will make stops in Zaza del Medio and Guayos, from there it will continue along the Central Line.
Mirtha García Jiménez, deputy director of the Cuban Railway Union in the province, informed Escambray which will run twice a week, on Thursdays and Sundays, while the return to Sancti Spíritus will be on Fridays and Mondays.
The capacities granted to the territory, he commented, are sold by Travelers 24 hours in advance, the Waiting List will operate and reservations through the Viajando APK are not yet available. The maximum price from origin to destination will be 70 pesos, he specified.
Railroad in Cuba: a victim of the crisis
In recent months, the Cuban railway has emerged as one of the victims of the deep economic crisis in Cuba. In this regard, the figures of the debacle were revealed last March in the television space Round table.
Lisvany Fernández Rivero, acting general director of the Railway Transport Administration, pointed out in his speech that 67% of the tracks and 40% of the infrastructure works need maintenance on the Island.
The director commented that to guarantee the sustainability of the infrastructure, 900 million pesos are required annually, of which a good part is in foreign currency, specifically 25 million dollars “for materials, supplies and parts.”
The maintenance of the railway line also requires between 60,000 and 80,000 concrete sleepers per year, but in 2023 only 15,000 were financed and will be built this year.
According to published graphs by official means CubadebateIn 2018, 51,600 sleepers were manufactured and in 2019 the number increased to 61,600, although these numbers subsequently decreased, as in 2020 and 2021 around 45,000 were counted, while in 2022 it fell to 12,000 and last year to 7,200.
As for the wooden sleepers, most are produced domestically, and to a lesser extent imported. Still, compared to the 3,500 made in 2021, only about 270 were made in 2022, a figure that increased to around 1,200 in 2023. There are also problems in repair of bridges and railways in general, the official said.
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