A Cuban official, interviewed by TV Yumurí, announced this week the restoration of the Hershey train terminal in Matanzas, as part of the plans to revive the historic electric train, the only one of its kind in Cuba, which has been out of operation for nine years.
The service has not been operational since May 1, 2017, the date it made its last complete trip between Casa Blanca, in Havana, and Matanzas, leaving 46 rural communities isolated along the 98 kilometers of the line.
The official stated that "the electric railway is part of the identity of a significant portion of Matanzas" and that the projects and conceptual ideas for restoring the terminal "are already prepared."
"We are currently working on the executive project, soliciting bids from contractors to repair the iconic building of the Hershey Terminal in Matanzas," he stated, although without providing specific timelines for execution.
The official himself acknowledged that these are “things that are not visible, that the population does not see”, but that require time for preparation.
This is not the first time the regime promises to salvage this railway relic
In June 2025, the Minister of Transport, Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila, had already announced during a visit to Matanzas that efforts were being made to restore the service and the station, but the available ferrobús "was not technically suitable" and there was no date set for any railway tests.
That 2025 plan already included a significant concession: the train would no longer be electric. René Peña García, deputy director of the Cuban Railway Union in Matanzas, announced that passenger transportation would be carried out "with diesel traction equipment when conditions allow."
The state of the railway infrastructure illustrates the magnitude of the problem
In September 2025, a freight train derailed at kilometer 53.800 of the Hershey Line, with four cars off the tracks, three tanks overturned, and approximately 400 meters of damaged track, highlighting the neglect and vandalism that has accumulated over the years.
The Hershey Train was built in 1916 by the Hershey Corporation of Pennsylvania to transport workers and products from Havana to its sugar mill.
Starting in 1920, it began transporting passengers, becoming an essential service for dozens of rural communities. Its carriages date back to 1944 and were donated by the Spanish city of Barcelona in 1997.
After the 1959 revolution, the sugar mill was nationalized and renamed Camilo Cienfuegos, and in 2002 it was dismantled under the orders of Fidel Castro as part of the so-called "Álvaro Reynoso task," which eliminated 120 of the 165 sugar mills in operation.
The town of Hershey, in Santa Cruz del Norte, is today a ghost town with ruins and abandoned spaces.
The new promises in May 2026, without confirmed dates or technical resources, contribute to a history of unfulfilled announcements that fuels the skepticism of the people in Matanzas, who have been waiting for almost a decade for the most iconic electric railway in Cuba to resume operations. However, amidst the energy crisis, no Cuban believes that such a thing is possible.
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