1337i

INTERNATIONAL SUPPLEMENT TO BLN 1337 5 OCTOBER 2019

BRANCH LINE NEWS

INTERNATIONAL

This newsletter covers the World outside the British Isles from information
supplied by members.

Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the Compilers or of the Society.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS TEAM:-
International Editor (to whom all email and postal contributions should be sent):
Paul Griffin, 7 School Bell Mews, Church Lane, Stoneleigh, COVENTRY, CV8 3ZZ
Email: [email protected]
Deputy International Editor: Derek Woodward, 68 Church Street, Matlock, DERBY, DE4 3BY

_________________________________________________________

Ungheni is in Moldova, just across the border from Romania. It is the end of the standard gauge line from Romania,
and twice a day the gauge changer is used to move standard gauge bogies from international trains onto broad gauge
(1520mm) bogies and vice versa. Broad gauge continues over the border to Romania to Socola, and there is a Friday,
Saturday and Sunday train from Moldova’s capital, Chișinău, to Socola and back. Some Chișinău to Moscow trains also
call, and there are local services to Chișinău and Bălți as well as Iași in Romania. Ungheni is therefore a station of some
importance, reflected in its attractive and rather large station building. The booking hall, part of which is shown in the
picture, is architecturally quite delightful and lovingly maintained. Refreshments are limited to the drinks machine in
the corner, but a currency exchange is also present and did brisk business with the visiting PTG group, freshly arrived
from Romania.

It is with regret that I must announce that I shall be stepping down as International Editor, probably in
early November, after over nine years and (so far) 222 editions of BLNI. I may become slightly self
indulgent in my final one and explain why, but at the moment the priority is to find a successor or,
possibly, people who are prepared to work in an editorial team making contributions according to skills
or knowledge. Please feel free to email me at at [email protected] if you are interested
and want to know more about what is entailed – or even better email Paul Stewart and tell him you
want the job!

[374] Azerbaijan/Belarus/Georgia/Moldova/Ukraine – EU plans rail infrastructure investment
Around 2 billion Euros will be spent by the EU to enhance the railway network in Azerbaijan, Belarus,
Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. The European Commission and the World Bank have presented an
Indicative Investment Action Plan that identifies priority projects in the countries and foresees a total of
4800 kilometres of road and rail, 6 ports, and 11 logistics centres, some by upgrading of existing
infrastructure, some by new developments.
Ukraine is to see considerable investment in its infrastructure. A total of 206 million Euros will be
invested in the north-south line connecting to the border with Belarus. This includes electrification of
the section Berdychiv - Korosten’ - Berezhest’ at a budget of 124 million Euros for the first phase of this
project. A branch of this line connecting to the Russian border will see capacity upgrades on the Hrebinka
- Poltava section. The Yahodyn railway connection to the Polish border will be upgraded by
modernisation of the 1435mm gauge line on the important border section Kovel’ – Yahodyn, including
electrification of this line. Further south, another cross-border line connecting Poland and the Black Sea
will see several upgrades.
Belarus is also an important transit route, with high volumes of traffic already entering the country via
the border with Poland, and exiting at the border with Russia. Although this line is up and running,
investments are to be made in the connection with Ukraine. Electrification of the cross-border line will
be carried out on the Belarusian side as well; on the 143-kilometre section Zhlobin – Kalinkovichi -
Barbarov. In the north-west, the line connecting to the neighbouring country of Lithuania will be
modernised, as will the Zhdanovichi - Molodechno line near the capital Minsk.
The countries of Georgia and Azerbaijan are mainly important as transit regions on the Middle Corridor
and are situated between the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea. On this multimodal route cargo enters or
exits the EU via the Black Sea or Turkey, and crosses the Caspian Sea headed for Kazakhstan, where it
continues by rail to China. On the Azerbaijani line from the border with Georgia to the port of Baku, the
remaining signalling, telecommunication and electrification will be carried out. The investments in
Georgia are mainly focussed on the Black Sea ports, with a focus on road infrastructure. However, the
new deepwater port of Anaklia will be served with a new railway line which connects to the existing
west-east railway between the port of Poti and the capital Tblisi.
Moldova is relatively small in size and landlocked, but does have an important inland port on the Donau.
On the TEN-T map, it is especially the west-east railway line connecting it to neighbouring Romania and
Ukraine that serves the core network. The European investment plan includes one railway project worth
20 million Euros, although it does not define the details of this ambition.
Armenia has also been included in the TEN-T network. It has until now not gained much importance as
a transit region due to ongoing disagreements with neighbouring countries Turkey and Azerbaijan. A

new railway line connecting it to Iran in the south is on the agenda. However, it is not mentioned in the
investment plan, which mostly includes road infrastructure.

[375] France - CFTSA Back in Operation Amagne - Attigny
Good news from their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/traintouristiqueSudArdennes/. It
appears they re-started tourist trains on 7 July between Attigny and Amagne -Lucquy with SNCF Reseau
permission after what they call the “Ardennes Pact” was signed – regional authority funding of the SNCF
Reseau freight line maybe? They plan to extend the trains to Voncq in 2020 and hopefully beyond to
Challerange later.

[376] France – Transport Minister suggests extension of Rhin-Rhône high speed line
The 140 km first phase of LGV Rhin-Rhône opened in December 2011 between Auxonne, east of Dijon,
and Petit-Croix, southeast of Belfort. Isolated from the rest of the high speed network, the line has
junctions with conventional routes at both ends to enable TGVs to serve Dijon and Mulhouse. There are
plans for two extension projects, but a February 2018 report suggested they should be deferred until at
least 2038. Following more reports and lobbying the Transport Minister has agreed to ‘look again’ at the
timescale for completing the second phase, possibly by 2023-2028. The project would build connections
between Auxonne and Dijon (15 km) and Petit-Croix and Lutterbach near Mulhouse (35 km). A parkway
station at Porte-Neuve near Dijon has also been proposed. Construction of a third phase running south
from near Besançon to join LGV Sud-Est near Lyon remains a long-term aspiration.

[377] Germany - Germany – Sommersamstag Sonderzüge auf den Strecken 6935 und 6939 (Summer
Saturday special trains on lines 6935 and 6939) – Part 1
The Saturday after the BLS “Carinthia Explorer” in southern Austria, a member had the opportunity to
travel two lines in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern which he had failed to cover when they still had regular
passenger services and which BLNI 1328.175 suggested might close completely before the end of the
year. One had closed to passengers several years before he’d begun his serious gricing of German
secondary lines, and he’d not been able to travel on an IBSE tour which covered it in November 2012.
The other hadn’t easily fitted into plans when in the area several months before its intended closure
date, and a planned visit later (en route to or from a railtour in Poland) didn’t happen when the railtour
was cancelled; the urgency seemed to disappear when the line got a reprieve... but then it closed at
short notice. The lines in question were Güstrow to Meyenburg and Parchim to Malchow (pronounced
Par-shim and Mal-sho by locals), which meet and cross at Karow (Meckl.).
East-west line
German Railways’ Strecke 6935 is the west-to-east line from Ludwigslust on the Berlin to Hamburg main
line to Waren (Müritz) on the Berlin to Rostock main line. The Ludwigslust to Parchim section opened
in 1880, operated by the Parchim-Ludwigsluster-Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft. The Mecklenburgische
Südbahn-Gesellschaft was then formed to extend the line eastwards from Parchim to Waren and
onwards from Kargow (6km south-east of Waren on the main line to Berlin) to Neubrandenburg (the
latter later becoming Strecke 6767); this opened in 1885. Both companies were subsequently
incorporated into the state-owned Großherzoglich Mecklenburgische Friedrich-Franz-Eisenbahn, in
March 1893 and April 1894 respectively, with the routes becoming part of the Deutsche Reichsbahn in
1920 and, eventually, the current Deutsche Bahn. As part of war reparations, the Karow to Malchow and
Kargow to Neubrandenburg sections were dismantled; the western end of the latter, as far as

Möllenhagen, was reopened in June 1947, but the former was not reinstated until June 1968. Waren to
Möllenhagen lost its passenger service in 1970, but the branch remained in use for freight albeit
downgraded to “Bahnhofgleis” (“long siding”) status in June 1996. Private operator Ostdeutsche
Eisenbahn GmbH (ODEG) won the contract from the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Land to operate
passenger services between Ludwigslust and Waren (and onwards to Neustrelitz) from December 2002,
and on 1st March 2008 ownership of the infrastructure between Karow (inclusive) and Waren (exclusive)
was transferred to Prignitzer Eisenbahn GmbH (PEG), initially leased from DB Netz but later bought
outright. (PEG is one of the two companies which set up ODEG, owning a fifty percent share.) The
takeover of PEG’s infrastructure division saw RegioInfra Gesellschaft mbH (RIG) take ownership in July
2012, and the line is currently operated by its subsidiary RegioInfra Nord-Ost GmbH & Co. KG (RIN) – the
name is clearly visible on various signs.
Austerity measures in the Land resulted in services east of Lübz being reduced from a regular two-hourly
interval in December 2012, and this was a prelude to the complete withdrawal of funding for the
Parchim to Malchow section two years later when the contract with ODEG came to an end. ODEG
continued to operate between Ludwigslust and Parchim (and still does), while the contract for Waren
to Malchow was awarded to the Hanseatische Eisenbahn GmbH (HANS, an off-shoot of EGP – the
Eisenbahngesellschaft Potsdam – which had taken over several routes previously operated by PEG).
HANS also continued to operate a limited train service between Malchow and Parchim, but, in the
absence of local authority funding and with insufficient revenue from passengers (despite local
campaigns for its retention), trains stopped running in late April 2015 after only four months or so.
Ownership of the infrastructure westwards from Karow to the junction at Parchim was also transferred
from DB Netz to RIG / RIN in December 2014. In December 2017 responsibility for Waren to Malchow
services was devolved to the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte Landkreis (the district-level local authority),
but with some money coming from the Land.
North-south line
The other line of interest this day, Strecke 6939, runs north-to-south from Güstrow (on the
Neubrandenburg to Lübeck line) to the Land boundary just north of Meyenburg, where it makes an end-
on junction with Strecke 6938 to Pritzwalk (junction with the one-time Wittenberge to Neustrelitz line)
and Neustadt (Dosse) on the Berlin to Hamburg main line. The Güstrow-Plauer Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft
opened a branch off the Lübeck to Neubrandenburg route in 1882, diverging at Priemerburg (4km east
of Güstrow) and running south via Karow to Plau am See. It was extended south to the Prussian border
at Meyenburg in 1886, where it met the Prussian State Railways line from Pritzwalk and Neustadt
(Dosse), which opened a year later. The Güstrow-Plauer Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft was absorbed into the
state-owned Großherzoglich Mecklenburgische Friedrich-Franz-Eisenbahn in March 1890, passing to the
Deutsche Reichsbahn in 1920 and, eventually, the current DB. After World War II the line became an
important through route when some main lines were at least partly dismantled as part of war
reparations, and there were even some long-distance express trains routed this way during the late
1950s, most of the 1960s, and the early 1970s.
PEG took over train operation in 1998, and in 2004 acquired the infrastructure south of Karow (exclusive)
all the way to Neustadt (exclusive), apart from the section between the junctions either side of Pritzwalk
station. However, passenger trains ceased north of Meyenburg in September 2000 (south of Meyenburg
is in Land Brandenburg, which has continued to pay for operations), and freight traffic was abandoned
a few months later. PEG acquired the infrastructure north from Karow to the junction at Priemerburg
in November 2007, and made it operational again by the following May after being out of use since

2004. Since the transfer of PEG infrastructure to RIG in 2012, there have been occasional specials over
part or all of the line north of Meyenburg, but no regular passenger or freight services.
Exploring
Careful planning was required in order to cover both routes (four legs) and get back to the starting point
(so that your correspondent did not need to carry a fortnight’s worth of luggage), and a combination of
availability and price of accommodation coupled with train times meant he stayed in Parchim, arriving
there (from Brno in the Czech Republic, having changed only in Praha and Ludwigslust) at 19:30 on the
Friday evening. On offer on Saturdays 6 and 20 July and 3 and 17 August were four return trips from
Malchow to Parchim (at 07:37, 09:45, 12:11 and 15:23, returning at 08:41, 11:03, 13:14 and 16:29) and
two return trips from Meyenburg to Güstrow (at 08:35 and 14:35, returning at 11:22 and 16:21), plus a
17:37 from Malchow to Meyenburg (reversing at Karow) in order to get the railcar back to Meyenburg.
(There was also a train every Thursday from 4 July to 15 August from Parchim to Pritzwalk with
connections to Wittstock in connection with the Landesgartenschau, the “LaGa-Südbahn-Ticket”
including the rail fare and admission to the Wittstock Horticultural Show.) Trains called at most of the
intermediate stations.

ODEG “Regioshuttle” DMU VT650.92 Ludwigslust lays over between workings at the west end of Parchim’s platform 2
on the morning of Sunday 4 August 2019.

It was possible to do all the lines by departing Parchim at 11:03, changing at Karow to go first southwards
to Meyenburg and then back north to Güstrow, before returning to Karow and changing for Malchow.
From Malchow the only way back to Parchim was to catch the service train to Waren and travel back on
DB Netz metals the long way round via Schwerin, but the connection at Waren was less than ten minutes
– and it was onto the last set of connections back to Parchim that evening. However, since the Malchow
to Waren section still has a regular passenger service and does not seem to be under immediate threat,

this required bit was sacrificed and your correspondent did things a slightly different way. He caught
the 08:41 from Parchim to Malchow, returning immediately (at 09:45) to Karow for a connection of just
over two hours before a train to Meyenburg (at 12:05) – although staying on the train to Parchim and
back to Karow was also possible. Then there was over an hour and a half – conveniently at lunchtime –
before the train to Güstrow at 14:35. Annoyingly, this was booked to reach its destination just a minute
after a mainline departure westwards (so giving a wait of nearly an hour), but it was still possible to have
dinner and a short lakeside photographic session in Schwerin, and do the short branch to Hagenow Stadt
before returning to Parchim just before 23:00.
Operating the two routes were Hanseatische Eisenbahn type LVT/S railbuses VT504 001 and VT504 002,
built for PEG by DWA in 1999. The former was working between Malchow and Parchim and the latter
between Meyenburg and Güstrow. Your correspondent arrived at Parchim station in plenty of time for
the 08:41 departure, and was pleased to see a reasonable number of people waiting on platform 1 and
not for the normal ODEG services at 08:38 to Rehna via Schwerin (RB13) and at 08:49 to Ludwigslust
(RB14). The train was slightly late arriving, and actually missed the booked four minute connection onto
the RB13. Only a few people were on the arriving train, but the departure was well-loaded, with several
cyclists (with their bikes), and intermediate stations were also used by walkers and cyclists – people
boarding as well as alighting. Tickets could be bought in advance from various tourist information offices
or on the train. Information on ticket prices (as well as the timetable, and other information) could be
found on the Südbahn Saisonverkehr 2019 website (www.suedbahn-saisonverkehr.de – not as shown in
a previous BLNI), and this suggested there was no day ticket. Ticket pricing was according to distance
travelled, with journeys grouped into three bands: green (1km to 20km), blue (21km to 40km) and red
(40km and over) being priced at EUR2.20, EUR3.40 and EUR4.60 respectively for a single journey for an
adult, or EUR3.60, EUR5.60 and EUR7.20 for return, with children (aged 6 to 14 years) half price, and
special rates for groups of five or more. Bikes and dogs cost EUR1.50 per journey.
The writer had noted down the journey he wished to make (not knowing whether there might be an
unadvertised day ticket) – Parchim to Malchow, Malchow to Karow and then Karow to Meyenburg, and
Meyenburg to Güstrow – and the conductor initially tried to charge it as four journeys. However, he
then pointed out the advertised through fare from Malchow to Meyenburg (there were through fares
between all stations, even if it involved a change of train), and had it priced as three journeys, and paid
only EUR12.60, saving about EUR4! Unfortunately the way the journey was written out on the ticket
caused a little confusion on the second train (with different crew), as there were too many arrows
between the names of stations, and it also failed to indicate whether it was a single or return. At the
bottom of the ticket was a little strip which was torn off if a single was issued, or torn off when making
the return leg – and the writer’s four-leg journey meant that was not torn off until the ticket check after
leaving Meyenburg.

[378] Romania - Reduction on services from Anina to Oravița
It is reported that from 25 September the single train pair on this line is only running Friday, Saturday
and Sunday, moving it squarely into the heritage railway category – at least for the winter months.

[379] Spain – Benidorm railway exploration
A member was staying on a package holiday in the Rincon de Loix (East end of Benidorm) and noticed
on a map that the street his hotel was on led (eventually) to the Benidorm – Denia line at the point
where the new Benidorm Intermodal station lies. It was too good an opportunity to miss so he set off

along Avenida del Derramador which started off as a normal street, then became a rough and narrow
road on the edge of a residential area following a dried up river bed, eventually turning into a mud track
just before reaching Avenida Communitat Valenciana. He was able to continue under this busy road
using a low bridge meant for the river. On the far (North West) side of this bridge he climbed on to the
bank and continued on the higher level as the river bed became a deeper gorge and looked difficult to
negotiate. After carefully walking around the river end of a fence across his path, he was suddenly in a
wide open area with a wide tarmacked path leading the way he needed. This was a Rolls-Royce job with
lamp-posts and litter bins every now and then but no-one else using it! The path curved round to the
left taking him to the railway and the Intermodal station. However, he was frustratingly cut off from it
by a fence but the platform was directly in front of him with passengers waiting for a train on the single,
electrified track. It was necessary to continue along an (again empty) road/car park west parallel to the
railway. A train came from the Benidorm (main) direction heading for Calpe which he managed to get
a picture of through the fence (picture below).

Eventually at a small underpass he was able to access the station. Facilities were very basic, just some
shade from the sun and a timetable poster which was useless as it was just for some special night
services running for a festival soon. There was however an electronic display which confirmed his
planned times from a paper timetable picked up from the tourist office (the lady there wrongly advised
him there was only one station in Benidorm!). There was also a poster saying that the station ‘Disco
Benidorm’ was closing soon to be replaced by the new Intermodal station where he was standing. This
was about 400m to the east near a couple of out of town nightclubs – You can still get a picture of this
station by using Google Streetview and putting yourself on the level crossing – the facilities there look
even more basic!

This is a view looking West towards Benidorm main station:

Back to Intermodal - the platform had both a high and a low-level section as there is an overlap of the
Denia DMU and the Alicante Tram services between the 2 Benidorm stations:
Our member had missed the opportunity for a trip to Calpe on the Denia line (trains curtailed at Calpe
due to renovation works on the line beyond there). However, his other option to ride to the main
Benidorm station was available and he took the 16:25 from Calpe to Benidorm

The 16:25 Calpe to Benidorm approaches the station

This was a DMU with air-conditioning and quite comfortable seats without the ubiquitous high backs we
have in the UK. It put a bit of speed on at first, but then stood for 5 minutes waiting for the level crossing
just outside Benidorm (main) station. Our member has read that this is becoming a worse problem for
road traffic now that some Alicante to Benidorm (main) tram-train services have been extended to
Benidorm Intermodal in the peaks and lunchtime, whereas it used to be just the hourly Denia service
using the crossing. When the train eventually pulled into Benidorm (main) and everyone disembarked,
some changing to the TRAM (tram-train) to Alicante, he noticed that the station building has been rebuilt
since his last visit in 2013, although he thinks think the tracks are the same.

A picture of the Eastern ‘throat’ of Benidorm main station looking towards Alicante.

After taking some pictures, he then realised that he had never had the opportunity to buy a ticket and
there were now electronic barriers at the exit. There was one ticket machine within the ‘paid’ area, but
after several tries failed to get the correct ticket (a single from Intermodal at €1.35) he gave up and went
to the barriers where a man let him through but accompanied him to the ticket window so he could
purchase the ticket. Disappointingly, he wasn’t actually given a paper ticket although he left quickly to
catch the No. 1 bus back to his hotel. By the way, the precious paper timetable (surprised they still do
these!) is more up to date than even the website, never mind the posters at Intermodal station. Don’t
be confused, Disco Benidorm *has* gone, Our member has tweeted TRAM about this.
The journey between the two Benidorm stations isn’t the most thrilling of rides but the run to Denia
(when it reopens) is highly recommended.

[380] Spain – Yet more on the Benidorm to Alicante railway
Further to BLN 1335.352 a member has been in contact with further information which may be of
interest. La Marina was indeed the original terminus of the metre-gauge railway to Denia in pre-TRAM
days. Unusually for the Spanish narrow gauge, it was built with French capital as the Compañía de los
Ferrocarriles Estratégicos y Secundarios de Alicante, opened to Altea in 1914 and to Denia the following
year. When he first visited it in the 1960s, one of its four trains/day was still a steam-hauled ‘correo’,
taking 2 ¾ hours for the 94km journey (somewhere in his archives he has a photo of 2-6-0T “ESA No. 1”
on this duty: the formation included some water tank cars, presumably for the railway itself). Other
trains were provided by “automotores” which made the journey in around 2’07”. The railway passed
into State control (EFE, later FEVE) in 1964. In later years he recalls (but never experienced) the line
experimenting with a "tourist train" of diesel-hauled stock, which underwent attack by train robbers as
part of a package aimed at tourists visiting Benidorm etc.

[381] Switzerland - Châtel-Saint-Denis new station/deviation
The caption on the frontispiece of BLNI 1335 observed that ‘notices say closed until 3 November, so is
that and not the December timetable the date of the curve opening?’ The answer appears to be no,
although project dates have changed. The old station closes at end of traffic on 7 November 2019 and
the new line opens on 1 December 2019.

[382] Switzerland/Germany – Why some infrastructure in Switzerland is owned by the German state
Inveterate map studiers will have noticed that two areas of Switzerland on the north side of the Rhein
have railway infrastructure owned by the German State and operated by DB. The two areas are Basel,
where the Rheinbrucke forms the boundary, and the canton of Schaffhausen where the Basel to Singen
line passes through Switzerland. How did this strange situation come to pass? The Badische Staaatsbahn
(BS) at that time was building a line up the north side of the Rhein. In Basel it reached Swiss territory as
the border exceptionally does not follow the river. In 1852 a treaty (still valid) between the Swiss
Confederation and the state of Baden resolved the legal issues. The Badische Staatsbahn built their own
station on the right side of the Rhein, in Kleinbasel as it is called, which opened 1855. Construction was
immediately continued in the direction of Singen/Konstanz and the line also crossed the canton of
Schaffhausen, another Swiss area on the north side of the Rhine. This railway was opened in 1863. A
bridge had already been was built in 1859 between Waldshut and Koblenz, which was the first
connection between the German and the Swiss network. Only in 1873, 18 years later, was a connection
built between Basel Badischer Bahnhof and Basel Centralbahnhof (the station of SCB). The Badische
Staatsbahn was integrated into the Deutsche Reichsbahn and became Deutsche Bundesbahn after WW
II. When DB became a separate company, Germany did not transfer the infrastructure in Switzerland,
but contracted DB Netz AG to operate it. Thus the very special status of this infrastructure. Today the
Swiss confederation subsidises operation and maintenance of this German infrastructure. On the other
hand, Swiss track access charges are valid, not the German system. All this based on a treaty of 1852!

REST OF THE WORLD

[383] Canada – The future for Go Transit
Go Transit operate trains in a network radiating from Toronto using diesel locomotives on double decker
stock. On 15 August there was an announcement regarding Go Transit’s intentions to increase passenger

usage four-fold by 2040. The only major line extension planned is to Bowmansville which will leave the
Lakefront east line between Whitby and Oshawa. The Barrie line is intended to be extended by one stop.
They are intending to increase the number of stations across the network to add capacity. As part of this
expansion they are increasing daytime and evening services across many lines which previously had
none and as a consequence most lines have had new timetables since 31 August.

[384] Cuba – A new era for the railways dawning?
Cuba’s railway system is undergoing a major overhaul, with the government pushing a program to
revamp the decrepit and aging network with new cars and locomotives in the hope of restoring a rail
service that was once the envy of Latin America. Cuba’s Ministry of Transportation took possession last
Monday of 80 new Chinese-made passenger cars, part of a promised consignment of 250 rail cars and
locomotives the island will receive by year’s end. At the same time, the government is busy restoring
and repairing rail lines throughout the island, some with rusting rails overgrown with weeds or buried
under drifting dirt. But the overhaul will be challenging, government officials acknowledge, even with
the new Chinese-made rail stock. The remaining equipment, much of it dating from 1975, lies in disrepair
on the sides of railyards as the system has seen the number of passengers plunge in recent decades.
Some electric trains that provide local links (the Hershey Railway as reported in earlier BLNI. Ed.) are
completely out of service because of aging equipment. And restoring 4,200 kilometres of track,
communications lines and dozens of crumbling rail stations around the island will be a monumental task.
Workers have been restoring Havana’s main rail terminal, an eclectic structure built in 1912, with four
floors and a mezzanine, for over 10 years. The station’s platforms, which are nearly 1 kilometre long,
recall a bygone age when train travel was a principle mode of transportation, and the restoration has
been a painstaking, and at times frustrating, process, government officials say. According to the Cuban
Transportation Ministry, trains carried 6.7 million passengers in 2018, a sharp drop from almost 11
million passengers in 2004. The government hopes to increase ridership by 1 million in 2019 on long
distance routes. Train service to the far-eastern cities of Santiago, Holguin, Camaguey and Guantanamo
are heavily used by locals. The Havana-Santiago trip costs as little as 32 Cuban pesos each way, about
$1.50, making train travel an affordable means of transport for many Cubans. Cuba Railways General
Director Eduardo Hernández says the new program is aimed at providing transportation to locals, but
also hopes to lure tourists with the new Chinese rail cars and locomotives, which have two classes of
service, including an air-conditioned first-class. “The recovery program for the Cuban railways runs
through 2030, and it includes all aspects of the system, which includes rolling stock to modernizing the
communications of the railway system. That’s what we aspire to. We want to restore the central rail
system to its original state,” Hernández said. The trains will service Camaguey and Holguin, important
tourist destinations and gateways to the beaches of the island’s offshore keys. The new first-class cars
even boast hostesses, trained to cater to high-paying passengers, along with digital televisions,
upholstered reclining seats, gleaming toilets and a restaurant car. Cuba is the only country in the
Caribbean that offers island-wide rail service. It once boasted the first country-wide rail line in Latin
America, starting service in 1837 with a 17-mile (27-kilometre) long line built to transport sugarcane.
The Chinese rail cars are the first new equipment received on the island since 2001, when a shipment
from French Railways for the Havana-Santiago line was imported, allowing Cuba Railways to offer
modern service for its most heavily travelled route. The remaining rolling stock is a mix of Canadian,
German, French, Russian and now Chinese, and despite the push to improve service, Cuba Railways faces
a daunting task providing reliable service in the near future. The journey from Havana to Santiago,

roughly 1,000 kilometres east of the capital, can take 20 hours, and sometimes even longer with
equipment breakdowns. Most tourists shun the train because of its reputation for slow and shoddy
service.