Cuba’s Railway Transportation Being Revitalized

HAVANA, Jan 30 [ACN] – Cuba has purchased 100 locomotives from China, and 550 freight cars and 200 modern passenger coaches from Iran, informed Cuban Transport Minister Jorge Luis Sierra Cruz on Tuesday.

When operating, the new equipment will greatly improve transportation between Havana and the eastern part of the island. This and the modernization underway of the National Railway System will reduce the public’s current dissatisfaction, said the minister.

“We are convinced that the image people have of the trains being late and other inadequacies is going to change,” said Sierra during a ceremony for railroad workers' day held in the western Cuban city of Pinar del Rio.

The Transportation minister said the investment involved in renovating the railroads is more than US $500 million, and includes improving trains, tracks, sign-posting and communication systems.

Sierra noted that the transformation of the nation’s railways will take time due to the accumulated deterioration that occurred during the difficult years of the Special Period following the disappearance of the Soviet Union, and won’t be totally implemented in 2008. He said a good part of the engines and cars —currently being assembled— will be delivered to Cuba in 2009 and 2010.

The railway workers must be trained to be ready to operate the new technology. Not all of the problems today have to do with financing, concluded the minister.

Cuban News Agency www.cubanews.ain.cu

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