TRANSNICO INTERNATIONAL & GROUP S.A.
Avenue Montjoie, 114 - B- 1180 BRUSSELS / Belgium
Licence : A 5216 R.C. : 579074 T.V.A. : BE 447.460.901
Member of the Guarantee Fund
******************************************************************************
TRAINS AND SUGAR HARVESTS
For every train enthusiast Cuba is a real jewel. With its 14.000 km of tracks Cuba has the largest operating railway net in Latin America. Trains are passing every where through its sunny landscape of waving palm trees, small farmers villages, colonial city centers, through green valleys with its soft tobacco fields and chalk mountains in the back. But foremost the railway in the nineteenth century gave Cuba its greatest epoc of prosperity, the sugar cane era.
Still thousands of kilometers of track go from the fields into the factory, down to the ports. Over two hundred 19th and early 20th century steam locomotives are still being operated by the factories to achieve the yearly goals of sugar production. And many of the factories are a living example of the industrial ingenuity of this era when Cuba produced more sugar than any other country in the world and actually through the vastness of its production introduced this sweet habit into our everyday life. The yearly zafra or sugar cane harvest is a true must for every enthusiast of industrial archaeology or for the passionate lover of the steam trains. One can only marvel at the persistence and the mechanical skills these thousands of Cuban workers show every year again to keep these century old machines going and going.
From the beginning Transnico International has been a travel agency passionate by train travel. Transnico came to Cuba with the island's rail history and its touristic potential clearly in mind. Infatiguebly Thierry Nicolas, Transnico's CEO, persuaded the ministry of Sugar to open up its factories and train potential for foreign visitors. The yearly "zafra" tours he organizes are unique in its kind and something Transnico is very proud to present. The programs are made a la carte on the demand of the agencies and include licensed visit of sugar mills, observing the steam trains in action bringing in the sugarcane and the chartering of historic trains as a means of transport for he group or just to have the best photo shootings. Marvellous tours that will satisfy the most demanding "aficionados".
But conscious of the opportunities of Cuba's railway heritage Transnico together with Ferrocarriles de Cuba explores the use of trains for a much broader scope or of tourism. The coche motors, one-wagon trains with built-in diesel engine, disposing of the comforts of a bar, toilet facilities and lot of space, provide an agreeable alternative for the long distance transfers by bus, often slow and unsafe through the bad quality of the Cuba's roads. Or choose the Hershey electric train, unique in its kind, to take your friends partying on Cuban music from Havana to Matanzas, we can also propose genuine steam train rides on Cuba's most beautiful train tracks, like the valley of the Ingenios near Trinidad. The goal of these train dreams remains always to incorporate them into roundtrips, to use for incentive travel or just to offer to who ever comes along.
Or to give the word to our CEO Thierry Nicolas talking about his big dream the Cuba & Caribe Express Luxury Train":
"The train will only offer the best in the Americas regarding comfort, nostalgia, service and cuisine, the attractions and excursions inside and out of the train, the options, a true cultural experience and of course the Caribbean climate."