Cuba was the seventh country in the world to have a railway, surpassing for more than a decade the Spanish metropolis. It was a rainny morning of November 19th, 1837. Despite the weather, an amazing crowd heard the noisy movements of the locomotive. At eight o'clock arrived the first train Havana-Bejucal.
The sugar planters were the main beneficiaries with the railways on the island. By understanding the importance for economic development, they began supporting the initiative to build it. Different issues, especially economic, made the railways were mounted at a slower pace than necessary.
Companies in charge of the works had some contradictions but On January 11th, 1842 the railway construction writing was signed. Stretches of Batabanó, San Antonio de los Baños and Los Palos should be ready in six years. On December 8th, 1844 entered the first train to San Antonio de los Baños. The development of this service favored the extension of mail and telegraph. The railways developed the sugar industry, favored communications and represented a major progress for Cuba.
