During 2020, the Base Business Unit Railways in Ciego de Ávila (UEB by its Spanish initials) guaranteed the safe transfer of more than 280,000 passengers, by maintaining the vitality of local services in complex circumstances, associated with limitations imposed by the US blockade on the Cuban nation, and the health crisis caused by Covid-19.

José Oriol Carreras del Río, deputy director of the UEB Railways in Ciego de Ávila, said that it represented a challenge due to the energy contingency for the fuel deficit and the implementation of restrictive measures to contain the virus SARS-CoV-2, that caused a decrease in production.

“The movement of local trains from the municipality of Ciego de Ávila to the towns of Baraguá, Júcaro, Orlando González; and of those that cover routes between Morón and the territories of Perea (in the municipality of Florencia) and the capital city ”, the manager added.

The economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed on the Island constitutes an impediment to speed up the replacement of locomotives and cars with more than 60 years of operation, as well as the acquisition of resources for maintenance.

“This hinders the quality of service, by affecting the image and comfort of travelers. Technological obsolescence also implies a lack of spare parts, where mechanics, turners and other operators superposed their ingenuity in the workshops to guarantee the functioning of the equipment", Yudislay Pérez Mendoza emphasized, head of the group of Technical and Stations Department of the referred entity.

The deputy director of the UEB Railways in Ciego de Ávila emphasized the impossibility of maintaining active the service that covers the Nuevitas-Santa Clara route, as a consequence of the fuel deficit and the deterioration of the wagons.

The Ciego de Ávila's railway company has secured the sale of 326 monthly capacities to travel in a dozen of national trains from the eastern provinces (Guantánamo, Santiago de Cuba, Holguín and Bayamo) to the capital of the country, and vice versa, with greater safety and comfort in modern equipment.

Faced with the threats of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Union of Railroads of Cuba limits the capacities of national and local trains to avoid concentrations of passengers; the use of foot sanitizers passes and disinfectant solutions are promoted in all stations, and the sanitation of trains and cars are guaranteed at the end of each service.

In 2020, despite the regulations imposed by the Blockade and the complexities in the epidemiological situation, the UEB Railways in Ciego de Ávila managed to overcomply with local and national transportation plans, which generated revenues of more than 224 760 pesos in national currency.

Carlos Jiménez Hernández, UEB's commercial deputy director, highlighted the transfer of sugar production, raw materials, containers and boxes. “When the energy contingency occurred, due to the fuel deficit, the entity assumed the transfer of coffins and 120 tons of products per month corresponding to the cost of a family's basic needs. The last one represented a 50% of saving in diesel compared to transfer by road”, he said.

"Moreover, the movement of goods by trains had an impact on conservation and road safety, as the infrastructure was protected with the decrease in loads and heavy vehicles," Dianelis Ramos Guevara, UEB commercial specialist, said.

Until the end of July 2020, the transport sector recorded damages in the order of $312 027 430, as a result of the Blockade regulations. The measures adopted in 2019 by the US government to prevent fuel supplies had a devastating impact in this area, according to the report Need to end the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States of America against Cuba.