Here’s a note to Americans traveling to Cuba as relations between the two countries thaw: If you need to be somewhere on time in Cuba don’t take the train.
The rail system, which began in the mid-1800s, is the oldest in Latin America and it shows; tracks are overgrown with foliage, rail cars are from a bygone era and the departure schedule that can be off by hours or even days.
But the scenery is incredible.
Today Cuba’s railroad spans more than 2,600 miles from one end of the island to the other.
CNN hopped on board one of the island’s outdated trains to better understand the experience of the Cuban people who depend on the island’s outdated rail system.
While we waited for a 4:30 p.m. train out of Havana headed west we quickly learned what many of the riders already knew. Not only is Cuba’s train system old but it’s unreliable.
4:30 p.m. came and went and there was no train in sight. While we waited we met a rider named David. He was in Havana visiting his four children. His 56-mile trip home to Mantanzas would take three and a half hours.
He told CNN he was waiting to see when the train would show up, if it even showed up. It’s unreliable, he told us. “Sometimes it works. Sometimes I’m stuck waiting,” he said. “It sometimes take a day or two for the train to get back on service.”
Cuba’s trains notoriously fail its riders. From downed cables to broken engines the archaic trains are one of the cheapest ways to get around the island, it cost us less than a dollar to ride.
It was nearly 5 p.m. when we heard the sound of a train’s horn. It had finally pulled into the station, albeit 25 minutes late.
The train CNN rode was open air. The windows and doors were kept open to keep passengers cool.
On board we met Nelson, the Assistant Train Conductor, whose position is considered government work. He’s held the job for 21 years and it pays him the equivalent of twenty dollars a month but in a country where work is hard to come by Cuba’s old rail tracks are his lifeline. He said people rely on the train to get to their jobs, to get to the hospital and to visit family. “On the weekend many people take the train,” Nelson said.
It took us an hour to travel just 14 miles by train.
The people forced to rely on Cuba’s most outdated mode of transportation do it because they say economically they have no choice. It’s one of the cheapest ways to travel.