CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

National Railway Company of Cuba

state rail operator in Cuba

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 12, 2026
Entity authorityQ21235039
Source-derived summary

Ferrocarriles de Cuba (FCC) or Ferrocarriles Nacionales de Cuba (English: National Railway Company of Cuba), provides passenger and freight services for Cuba. The National Railway Company of Cuba was formed in 1924 and expanded during Cuban nationalization, having since grown to span 4,556 kilometres (2,831.12 miles) of standard-gauge rail.

Route network

Ferrocarriles de Cuba uses 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge that extends from Guane, Pinar del Río province, in the westernmost part of the island up to Guantánamo bay in the eastern part. The 1,024 kilometers (636 mi) Central railway runs from Havana to Santiago de Cuba in the eastern region. Most of the 4,556.25 kilometers (2,831.12 mi) system is diesel-powered with 1,055 kilometers (656 mi) electrified. The flagship Train Number 1 travels between Havana and Baracoa. Other long-distance passenger services link Havana to Pinar del Río (western railway), Cienfuegos (South branch), Sancti Spíritus, Bayamo-Manzanillo and Guantánamo. The network connects the six first-level ports in Cuba: Havana, Mariel, Matanzas, Cienfuegos, Nuevitas and Santiago de Cuba, as well as all provincial capital cities.

The Hershey Electric Railway is an electrified railway from Havana to Matanzas that was built by the Hershey Company in order to transport workers and products after it had bought sugar plantations in 1916. It is a commuter service running in northern Havana and Matanzas provinces using some original equipment.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “National Railway Company of Cuba” is state rail operator in Cuba. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through National, Railway and Company, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1924, 1916—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1959. For this dossier, National, Railway and Company is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “state rail operator in Cuba” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q21235039. VIAF identifies the subject as 126426799. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1924 and 1916.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “National Railway Company of Cuba”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow National Railway Company of Cuba primary sources, National Railway Company of Cuba archive and National research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “National Railway Company of Cuba”?
  2. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from National Railway Company of Cuba” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.