Traveling in Cuban long-distance trains is set to become a little more comfortable this year. As the news portal “Cubadebate” reports, the Interregios on the island will be equipped with WLAN for passengers. This is intended to “create added value for the rail and achieve a new standard of comfort,” explained Robelis Lambert Matos, the engineer involved in the implementation, to the medium.
With the commissioning of a second undersea fiber optic cable between Cuba and Martinique starting in April, the island’s available bandwidth will increase significantly, with existing gaps to be filled as part of the country’s digitization strategy.
The technical implementation of the project is carried out by the state IT company “Solintel SA”, which was founded 10 years ago. The biggest challenge is the still patchy mobile phone coverage along the main route from Havana to Santiago de Cuba. The expansion will begin in the third quarter. Before the end of the year, the WiFi should work in “some sections”. The worst dead spots are currently being determined in order to plan the construction of new transmission masts. This should make the more than 20-hour train journey between the country’s two largest cities a little more pleasant.
Cuba has reorganized its long-distance trains from 2019 with wagons from China and Russian locomotives. The new trains consist of 12 carriages, of which the first class is air-conditioned, and can accommodate 720 passengers. Also new is a bistro car with a free water dispenser per train, although the range of food is rather spartan. The price for the longest route (Havana-Guantánamo) is 138 pesos (approx. 1.15 euros) in first class or 69 pesos (approx. 60 cents) in non-air-conditioned second class and is therefore significantly cheaper than long-distance buses and private truck transporters (“camiones”). However, the journey time is about twice as long due to the poor quality of the route.