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The extra train number 9 heading to Guantánamo departed this Wednesday from the La Coubre Train Station in Havana, three hours late due to technical issues, as reported by the Rutas Nacionales page on Facebook.
Aboard were 680 teachers and educators from the province of Guantánamo who provide teaching services in the capital during the school year.
Yandy Benet Acosta, director of Resource Planning at the General Directorate of Education of Havana, confirmed the number of travelers and explained that the hiring process requires passengers to check in four hours before departure, which forced teachers to wake up quite early.
The pickup from the eleven municipal villages where the educators reside was scheduled for 5:30 in the morning and was carried out on time, although a technical delay postponed the departure of the convoy.
The teacher Mabel Hay Faure, 66 years old, who has been working in Havana since 2019, positively assessed the operation despite the circumstances: “We have never had problems going back to our provinces during vacation periods. They have always ensured our round-trip travel. Even now, with the critical energy situation, they brought us from each of the villas to the terminal on time.”
His return to the capital is scheduled for August 22.
The Physics teacher Alexis Allen from the Argelia Libre secondary school in La Lisa acknowledged that "the collection time and the journey of approximately sixteen hours are quite long," although he noted that the wait for his family in Guantánamo makes up for any discomfort.
The teacher Maikol Sarmiento González, who resides in San Miguel del Padrón, recommended "to expedite access inside the terminal, as passengers wake up very early and the journey is tiring even for the youngest."
Its journey continues to Caimanera, a connection that is also coordinated by the authorities.
In addition to the educators, there were passengers on the train who managed their tickets through the Vía Azul office, including a man traveling with three relatives, including his aunt, who is traveling to Guantánamo for cataract treatment.
This is the second extra train departing during the summer vacation period of 2026. On the same Wednesday, at seven in the evening, another special service was scheduled to leave for Bayamo and Manzanillo in the province of Granma.
The operation is part of a summer special trains plan announced in June by Jorge Oliva Yero, director of National Passenger Trains, to support priority groups: teachers and students from eastern provinces, construction workers, and patients.
According to Oliva Yero, these trains return to Havana with about 80% of their capacity filled by passengers from the general public.
The railway context in Cuba is critical: regular trains operate with frequencies of up to one departure every 16 days per destination and only 63% of the scheduled cars are operational.
Since June 18, the Ministry of Transport also eliminated the unrestricted sale of tickets, transferring the control of seats to provincial commissions that prioritize cases of medical necessity, family deaths, and return to the place of origin.
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