The Havana Suburban Railway ( es, Red del ferrocarril suburbano de La Habana) is a passenger 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 Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are con ...

system of the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

island.

Overview

Outside Havana, the network serves some towns of its metropolitan area in Artemisa and Mayabeque provinces. A little part of

Matanzas Province Matanzas () is one of the provinces of Cuba. Major towns in the province include Cárdenas, Colón, Jovellanos and the capital of the same name, Matanzas. The resort town of Varadero is also located in this province. Among Cuban provinces, ...

is served by the only electrified line of Cuba, the Hershey Electric Railway from Havana Casablanca station to

Matanzas Matanzas (Cuban ) is the capital of the Cuban province of Matanzas. Known for its poets, culture, and Afro-Cuban folklore, it is located on the northern shore of the island of Cuba, on the Bay of Matanzas (Spanish ''Bahia de Matanzas''), east ...

Havana subway plans

Plans for the construction of a rapid transit network in Havana was studied in 1921. 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 The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

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 Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

(4 lines), Tulipán (or ''19 de Noviembre'', 3 lines) and

Casablanca Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...

(1 line). *Note: the stations marked with "Hv" are located in the city of Havana.

Services

The network has limited use as

urban transport Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...

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 2 and 5 daily departures per route and convoys are composed of 2 or 3 cars and

diesel locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving whee ...

s on some routes. Several stations are linked to the '' MetroBus'', a bus network and the principal public urban transport of Havana.Public transport in Cuba: Havana
/ref> , the Cuban government was making efforts to revitalize the rail network and expand the service.

References

External links