Cienfuegos, Cuba Train Station Closes for Risk of Collapse
The terminal was closed in 2019 due to serious problems with the roof and reopened three years later.
By Julio Cesar Contreras (14ymedio)
HAVANA TIMES – “No entry, danger of collapse,” warned the sign that on February 28 closed the Cienfuegos train terminal indefinitely. For the passengers who arrived at the station and found the doors and windows closed, the notice glued to the wall was an unfortunate surprise. However, Marta, who has worked there for years, believes that the closure is not really news.
The woman clearly remembers when the terminal was closed in 2019, due to serious roof problems. The City Conservator’s Office hired the private design group Redema for the repairs. Three years and 5.3 million pesos later, according to the official press, the terminal reopened its doors, but the result was disappointing.
“I remember that time very well, because while the repairs lasted I had to look for other work. When they reopened and the workers returned, I realized that it did not have the quality that was so advertised. The roof and plumbing problems continued, to the point that it was now impossible to maintain cleanliness. There was also a lack of implements to ensure the hygiene of the premises,” the worker explains to 14ymedio.
Many people there agree with Marta, some of them cited by the local newspaper, 5 de Septiembre. “Not even two weeks had passed since the work was completed, and leaks were already appearing in the center of the facility when the first downpours arrived,” a resident of the municipality of Palmira told the newspaper.
The repairs initiated in 2019 included replacing the roof tiles, restoring the woodwork, the floors, the platforms, the ticket office and the bathrooms. The benches in the waiting room were also replaced by metal seats. However, “the roof was already falling apart, and from the outside you could see broken tiles, as if absolutely nothing had changed,” says Marta.
Marta explains that the all-wood construction is now rotten, and the building – founded in 1913 – threatens to collapse at any point. “It is obvious that they didn’t do the work that was needed.”
The 5 de Septiembre report ventures one step further and even asks the authorities to take action on the matter. “The population has no doubt that ’the badly done’ will only get worse, as long as time continues to pass without a committed entity under the tutelage of the UEB Ferrocarriles Cienfuegos getting involved in the matter. There needs to be a decent, definitive epilogue to a heritage building that deserves it, and which currently continues to experience a fatal scheme of hit-and-run repairs.”
Meanwhile, the trains continue to arrive at the closed station, but they are as unstable as the future of the building. “The train bound for Santo Domingo, which originally went six times a week, has been canceling trips due to breakdowns and lack of fuel,” explains the terminal worker.
Another hard blow was suffered by the dozens of people who were traveling in hired vehicles, which were taking travelers on their way to the municipality of Aguada. Many of the travelers had this cheaper way to go from one place to another in Cienfuegos. “The possibility of recovering the train route to Sancti Spíritus had already been lost, and the instability of the vehicle services going to Santa Clara presaged this collapse,” the woman laments.
The cancellation of itineraries, as well as the closure of the terminal, have left travelers and employees who depended to a lesser or greater extent on the operation of the facility without options. “Obviously, I can’t stay with my arms crossed in my house indefinitely, without earning a centavo, until another new capital repair can be made. The leaders always ask that we develop initiatives to guarantee the maintenance of the premises, but very little can be done when the repair itself is a disaster,” says Marta.
“So right now I am unemployed,” says the woman, who has taken advantage of the moment to give another direction to her life. “The salary of 2,500 pesos was not enough at all, and there is always a risk that with the closure they will fire some of the workers,” she analyzes. The closure, for her, has closed more than one door: “I don’t think I will work for the State again.”
Translated by Regina Anavy for Translating Cuba.