Havana Suburban Railway

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Havana Suburban Railway
Red del ferrocarril suburbano de La Habana
Habana Fontanar (suburban train).jpg
A suburban train at Havana Fontanar station
Overview
Owner Ferrocarriles de Cuba
Locale Havana
Transit type Suburban rail
Number of lines8
Operation
Operator(s) Ferrocarriles de Cuba
Technical
Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+12 in) standard gauge
Electrification 600 V DC (Limited to Hershey Railway) [1]
System map

Esquema ferrocarril habana.png

Havana Entronque Cujae station Habana Entronque Cujae station.jpg
Havana Entronque Cujae station
A suburban train at Bejucal station Tren suburbano en Bejucal.jpg
A suburban train at Bejucal station

The Havana Suburban Railway (Spanish : Red del ferrocarril suburbano de La Habana) is a passenger suburban rail network serving the city of Havana, capital of Cuba, and its suburbs. Owned by the national company Ferrocarriles de Cuba , it represents the only suburban rail system of the Caribbean island.

Contents

Overview

Outside Havana, the network serves some towns of its metropolitan area in Artemisa and Mayabeque provinces. A little part of Matanzas Province is served by the only electrified line of Cuba, the Hershey Electric Railway from Havana Casablanca station to Matanzas. [1]

Havana subway plans

Plans for the construction of a rapid transit network in Havana was studied in 1921. [2] Other plans for a subway, based on Russian networks, were studied in the late 1970s and 1980s, due to the relationship between Cuba and the USSR. After the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union and the consequent lack of funds of the Cuban government, the proposal for a Havana Metro was abandoned.

Routes

The network consists of 8 lines, departing from the 3 terminal stations of Havana: Central (4 lines), Tulipán (or 19 de Noviembre, 3 lines) and Casablanca (1 line).

1 Havana Central ↔ Hv CotorroSan José de las LajasGüinesPalos
2Havana Central ↔ Hv Calabazar ↔ Hv Aeropuerto T1 ↔ Hv Santiago de Las VegasBejucal Not operational as of 2021
3Havana Central ↔ Hv Parque Lenin ↔ Hv ExpoCubaNot operational as of 2021
4Havana Central ↔ Hv Guanabo Viejo ↔ Hv Playa de Guanabo [3]
5Havana Tulipán ↔ Hv Rincón ↔ San Antonio de los Baños
6Havana Tulipán ↔ Hv Rincón ↔ Güira de MelenaAlquízarArtemisa (West Line)
7Havana Tulipán ↔ Hv Rincón ↔ BejucalBatabanóSurgidero (South Line)
8Havana Casablanca ↔ Hv Guanabo ViejoSanta Cruz del NorteMatanzas (Hershey Line)

Services

The network has limited use as urban transport and is primarily conceived to serve the suburbs and towns surrounding the capital. The price is very cheap and is subsidized by the state. Train frequency is low and varies between two and five daily departures per route and convoys are composed of two or three cars and diesel locomotives on some routes. Several stations are linked to the MetroBus , [4] a bus network and the principal public urban transport of Havana. [5] As of 2012, the Cuban government was making efforts to revitalize the rail network and expand the service.[ citation needed ]

See also

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References

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Havana Suburban Railway at Wikimedia Commons