Ferrocarriles de Cuba - Pre-Revolutionary Cuba

Pre-Revolutionary Cuba

American born Canadian railway builder Sir William Van Horne helped expand Cuba's railway network in the early 20th Century. He was an investor in the Cuba Railroad Company (founded 1902).

In 1924 Ferrocarriles Consolidados de Cuba was created from a dispute between Ferrocarriles Consolidados de Cuba and Ferrocarriles de Cuba.

Other railway companies would form and merge in the 1920s:

• Ferrocarriles del Norte de Cuba 1916
• Ferrocarril Espirituano Tunas de Zaza
• Ferrocarril Guantánamo y Occidente

From 1940 to 1959 Cuba's railway system was modernized by the acquisition of train stock from Budd and Fiat. These trains provided medium speed self-propelled (diesel) 4 car trains service on the main line between Havana and Santiago de Cuba. Also after WW II a large network of diesel intercity buses was created with 4 or 5 major carriers competing in the East West corridor between Havana and the provinces to the East. After the revolution with the nationalization of the transportation system, the diversion of resources to defense expenditures and the lack of competition for the service, the train stock slowly deteriorated; this coupled with the inability to obtain replacement parts from the US that who had been the main supplier of the equipment for decades literally destroyed the once efficient system.

A few sugar factories switched over to diesel electric locomotives to haul freight. By 1958, Cuba had more railroad trackage per square mile than any other country.