HAVANA, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) -- A batch of eight Russian locomotives arrived in Cuba on Wednesday, one day before Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev's two-day official visit to the country.
According to the Railways Union of Cuba (UFC), the new machines will join the rail service in the central and eastern provinces of the Caribbean country.
Rolando Navarro, deputy director of the UFC, said the shipment responds to a contract signed last January with the Russian locomotives manufacturer Sinara, which establishes an acquisition of 75 machines in the next five years, 15 every year.
The new acquisition for the rail sector is expected to help alleviate the difficulties in interprovincial transport caused by fuel deficit and shortage of spare parts for maintenance in the island country.
