Photo of the day: Where the trains used to pass now only weeds grow

Sancti Spíritus/The rails are still there, although you have to look for them under the brush. Tall grass, garbage and pieces of concrete have occupied the old railway line that runs through this area of ​​the city of Sancti Spíritus, while the life of a neighborhood that seems to have become accustomed to coexisting with abandonment continues around it.

The rails, a deteriorated platform and the La Rampla sign remain, the name of the old stop located on the line that went east from the central station, but what gave meaning to the entire infrastructure is missing. There are no locomotives, cars or workers repairing the route. In the space left by the trains only weeds advance.

The scene is not only a consequence of the current fuel crisis, but also of the accumulated deterioration of rail transport, also affected by the aging of locomotives, the lack of spare parts and the poor condition of the tracks. Many branches that for decades connected towns, sugar mills, warehouses and agricultural areas have reduced their operations or have ceased to be used completely.

When the service disappears, surveillance and maintenance are also withdrawn. Then comes the looting and dismantling of materials that still retain some value. Reports about the theft of railway components have been constant for years.

The official press has documented the looting of concrete sleepers, screws, railings and rail guards. Some materials are sold on the informal market, while other pieces end up being used in pig pens.

Signs warning about curves, level crossings, sidings, bridges and kilometer points are also disappearing. Settlements have been reported where numerous homes incorporated materials extracted from railway tracks. Neighbors from different provinces also claim that the old wooden sleepers are used as firewood or to produce charcoal, in the face of unbearable blackouts.

When the trains return, if they ever do, just starting the locomotives won’t be enough. It will be necessary to clear kilometers of undergrowth, replace missing sleepers, replace signs, rebuild bridges and re-lay entire sections of track that have been looted or lost due to abandonment. The paralysis has not only suspended the service, it is also destroying, piece by piece, the material conditions necessary to recover it.