The company Ferrocarriles de Centro Este announced the restoration of train service between Camagüey and Santa Cruz del Sur, with a maximum fare of 718 pesos (CUP) for the full journey in both directions, the station Radio Cadena Agramonte reported this Saturday on its Facebook page.
The train will operate on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. It will depart from the Camagüey station at 4:05 a.m. and arrive in Santa Cruz del Sur at 11:35 a.m., while the return trip will leave at 1:50 p.m. and arrive in Camagüey at 7:00 p.m.
The maximum price of the fare is approximately 22.4% of the national minimum wage, which has been set at 3,210 CUP since July. For a worker earning the minimum wage, paying 718 CUP means allocating nearly 22.4% of their monthly income for a single trip.
The fare also remains below the 1,500 CUP cost of the Morón-Camagüey train ticket, which was resumed on Friday after being halted for months due to a lack of fuel, the price of which sparked criticism among users on social media.
Additionally, the deplorable internal conditions of the Morón-Camagüey train carriages sparked debates among users who described the service as a "scam" and "a disrespect to the people," raising doubts about whether the reactivation of routes truly represents a real improvement for the population.
The Camagüey-Santa Cruz del Sur branch spans approximately 98 kilometers and was inaugurated on December 14, 1923, making it part of the historic lines of the Cuban railway network.
Radio Cadena Agramonte also reported that work is underway to resume the Camagüey-Nuevitas-Esmeralda and Camagüey-Esmeralda services, although no date has been announced yet for their operation.
The reactivation comes amid a nationwide railway crisis. In July, Cuban trains operated just 16 monthly services compared to 62 at their historic peak, a decline of 74%, with only 12 out of the 34 necessary locomotives and 67% of the tracks in urgent need of maintenance.
In August, the Ministry of Transport acknowledged that even those minimal frequencies could not be guaranteed due to a lack of diesel.
Recently, the debate regarding the new railway fares in Cuba has intensified, after sector authorities in Guantánamo announced price changes, which are still awaiting approval from the Ministry of Finance and Prices.
The mechanism of the "selective operating card," which finances the purchase of fuel in foreign currency and transfers the cost in local currency to the price of transportation, was mentioned in the official press of the eastern territory as one of the factors explaining the widespread increase in prices.
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