At first glance, this locomotive appears to be a U.S.-built Alco RS3 from the 1950s. It's actually a Soviet-built TEM-2-TK, a 1970s-vintage, 1,000-hp road unit copied from Alco locomotives supplied to the USSR by the U.S. during the post-World War II Marshall Plan. Ferrocarriles de Cuba has nearly 80 of these eight-cylinder units. No. 71042 is awaiting servicing at the Taller Ciro Redondo locomotive shop, Santa Clara, one of the railway's principal maintenance facilities. Photo by William C. Vantuono

"So close, yet so far." For U.S. railroaders and suppliers, Cuba-forbidden to most U.S. business interests because of a trade embargo imposed a long time ago when the world was a very different place-is like most other export opportunities. Its railway system, though bustling with freight and passenger traffic, suffers from years of neglect and under-capitalization. Its enterprising employees make the most of limited resources. And-most significant-an infusion of modern U.S. freight railroad technology could return it to pristine condition. Problem is, Cuba's railway can't be touched.

That may change, though, and sooner than later. The anti-communist, anti-Soviet Union political climate of the early 1960s that fueled the embargo, imposed soon after Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution, no longer exists. The USSR collapsed ten years ago, and with it went all the economic assistance the Cuban government had come to depend on. The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 has been relegated to the history books, and Castro has ceased his efforts to export revolution to Cuba's Latin American neighbors. Instead, he's busy building hotels and rebuilding Havana's historic district to accommodate a growing flow of tourists, and cutting business deals with capitalists from around the world-but not the U.S.

Pro-embargo sentiment, kept alive by hard-line conservatives like U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) and by a small but vocal Cuban-American community, is still strong. But an opposite viewpoint-that the embargo is doing more harm than good-is gaining favor. "We're saying on behalf of the American business community that it's time to look at this another way," said U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue after leading a delegation to Cuba a couple of months ago.

What's in it for us?
On a five-day visit to Cuba at about the time the U.S. Chamber of Commerce group was there, I talked with railway officers and workers at all levels. I was also able to observe conditions for myself as I rode freight and passenger trains and poked around yards and shops. The railway people were warmly pro-American and fascinated with U.S. technology. My few copies of Railway Age were examined eagerly and passed around.

There is little question that U.S. railroad interests could benefit from normalized relations with Cuba. Though Cuba's 2,900-mile standard-gauge railway system has deteriorated since aid from the former Soviet Union dried up, the country depends on it for basic transportation. The government believes that rail service is environmentally desirable and necessary to the country's economic objectives. Cuba's highways are in poor condition, few people own cars, and gasoline is scarce. So despite its dilapidated condition, Ferrocarriles de Cuba (FdeC) commands a strong market share, hauling 65-70% of Cuba's freight and providing transportation for 55-60% of intercity and regional travelers.

FdeC's important role
Annually, FdeC hauls about 4.4 million tons of freight and carries 11 million passengers, and produces 500 million freight ton-miles and 900 million passenger-miles. Freight train-miles are 3.9 million, passenger train-miles 1.1 million. This is accomplished with a fleet of approximately 350 locomotives, 8,000 freight cars, and 750 passenger cars. About 50% are out of service at any given time due to a lack of repair parts. U.S. repair parts are not available, and parts from other countries are expensive due to high import tariffs and shipping costs. Diesel fuel is in short supply, as prices are high since petroleum products must be imported from South America or the Middle East.

FdeC freight trains average 16-18 cars (about 900 metric tons) and use one locomotive. The maximum permissible axle load on most of the network is 23 metric tons. Longer, heavier trains would be possible were there not an equipment shortage, as the infrastructure is capable of supporting them. Principal commodities are sugar cane and sugar cane byproducts, tobacco, aggregates, petroleum products, and agricultural products.

FdeC employs 27,000 people who are paid, on average, about 500 Cuban pesos per month. At 22 pesos per U.S. dollar, that translates to an annual payroll of about $7 million. Average train crew size is four-engineer, assistant engineer, conductor, assistant conductor. Cabooses are still used, and on long distance freights, crews generally stay with the train, living aboard dormitory cars for up to a week.

FdeC operations do not include Cuba's sugar cane railroads, which number approximately 100 and are operated independently with their own rolling stock. These railroads account for an additional 4,800 miles of track (about 35% of which is narrow-gauge), 900 locomotives (almost 400 of them steam), and around 30,000 casillas, or stake cars.

	FdeC rosters 41 1955-vintage EMD GM900s. This particular unit has been refurbished by the Santa Clara locomotive shop. Photo by William C. Vantuono

What the railroad looks like
FdeC still is, for all intents and purposes, an AAR-standard railroad as it was before the revolution, even though much of its equipment comes from former Soviet-bloc countries. Many of the railroad's diesel locomotives are Soviet-built copies of U.S. Alco units transferred to the USSR after World War II during the Marshall Plan. Sprinkled in this eclectic mix are units from Canada's Bombardier-Montreal Locomotive Works, Hungary, Romania, and Czechoslovakia (1976-vintage MLW units among the newest), as well as a handful of U.S.-built, 1950s-vintage General Electric switchers and EMD road units. Soviet-built, 2,600-hp TE114Ks, acquired in the early 1980s, are the most powerful in the fleet; 1920s-era GE electrics are the oldest. Locomotive availability of the operable fleet averages 65%. The most reliable locomotives are the old EMD units, availability of which is 80-82%. The newer Soviet units are the least reliable.

Freight cars for the most part are based on old U.S. designs, and there are some U.S. cars left in the fleet. Wheels, trucks, and couplers are Eastern European- or Japanese-made copies of obsolete designs from such U.S. suppliers as ASF and NACO. FdeC's roster includes stake cars, gondolas (bottom- and side-dump), livestock cars, tank cars, flat cars, and container flats. Principal car and locomotive shops are at Havana (Revolución de Octubre and Cienaga facilities), Matanzas, Santa Clara (Taller Ciro Redondo shop), Camaguey, Moron, Sagua, and Santiago de Cuba.

Most of FdeC's main lines are laid with 112-pound, Soviet-supplied bolted rail, Cuban-made prestressed concrete ties, and screw-bolt fasteners. Track products are scarce, as is maintenance-of-way equipment. The only m/w machines are a handful of tampers; most other maintenance (tie and rail replacement, ballast cleaning) is done manually. In the early 1990s, FdeC undertook reconstruction of its Havana-Santiago de Cuba main trunk, but this project didn't get very far due to Cuba's economic downturn. Some of the new construction has been cannibalized to repair other parts of the network. For example, there is a relatively new bypass around Santa Clara laid with welded rail and concrete ties. It's out of service because its materials are needed elsewhere.

FdeC operates mostly with paper-based train orders and manual block/tower control, though radio-based dispatching is used on the Havana-Santiago route. The newest technology is employed on the Havana-Santa Clara line, which is equipped with a semi-automatic block system and relay interlockings.

Passenger rail service is unreliable, though affordable for Cubans (the 12-hour Havana-Santiago run, operated with ex-VIA Rail Budd RDCs, costs 30 Cuban pesos). Intercity trains are generally crowded and reserved far in advance. Rail buses, some of them manufactured domestically, are in widespread use throughout the country on branch lines. FdeC also operates 90 miles of 1,200 v.d.c. electrified interurban passenger lines-the famous Hershey Electric.

Tourist trains are under consideration, as well. In partnership with the Cuban government, Brussels-based Transnico International Group has plans to start late next year the Cuba & Caribe Express, a six-day Havana-Santiago tour with accommodations for 136 passengers on 21 refurbished railcars.

Opportunities await
Offshore interest in Cuba's rail system is just beginning to stir. A Mexican company has expressed interest in investing and/or privatization. Under the current structure, outside investors must partner with the government and are allowed a maximum 49% interest. FdeC's business director, Dr. Carlos Maceo Caballer, though he declined to name specifics, indicated the government would consider privatization on a line-by-line basis, possibly starting with locomotive and car shops. The Sagua shop, for example, was recently refurbished and converted to a tank car overhaul facility. With 270 employees, it rebuilds 35-40 tank cars per month. As such it may be a candidate for privatization.

Aside from supplying locomotive and car replacement parts and infrastructure materials, one potentially lucrative opportunity for U.S. railroad interests is re-establishment of carfloat service from Florida to Cuba-a business that flourished prior to 1959. Ports that once accommodated such service are located at Havana, Mariel, Puerto Nuevitas, Cardenas, and Isabela de Sagua, but their rail facilities have long-since vanished. The government, in anticipation of the U.S. embargo being lifted, is considering rehabilitating Isabela de Sagua, the closest point in Cuba to the U.S. The Florida East Coast Railway considers carfloat and intermodal services to Cuba out of Port Everglades, Miami, or West Palm Beach a "significant opportunity."

One of FdeC's strong suits is that it is staffed with highly-educated, well-trained people. Many management-level employees have advanced engineering degrees, having been trained at Moscow's prestigious Institute for Railway Transport Engineering. Cuba, interestingly, is one of only three countries in the world with a school for signal engineers (the others are Russia and Hungary).

This training, however, won't go very far without an opportunity to work with modern technology. That's something U.S. railroaders and suppliers can provide, if given the opportunity.