Newsletter
Office life
Optimization of workshop conditions for the Union of Cuban Railways in Hershey.
First step towards improving operating conditions at the Union of Cuban Railways workshop in Hershey:
This maintenance center, the only one in Cuba capable of providing general maintenance for electrically-powered vehicles, has remained virtually unchanged since it was built in 1920. The building is in a generally poor state of repair, and above all the equipment and tools were barely serviceable, if at all.
In collaboration with the infrastructure department of the Union of Cuban Railways in Havana, a list of the most urgent needs was drawn up. Our association therefore contacted a specialist hardware store in the canton of Fribourg to purchase and ship equipment for a sum of some CHF 11,500.
The equipment was delivered to Cuba in December 2023 and handed over to the workshop staff in January 2024.
Shipping material to Switzerland
Receiving equipment in Cuba
Support for Cuba to improve the availability of electric railcars and the contact line on the Hershey network between Hershey and Jaruco
COMED will travel to Cuba in April 2026 to assess the condition of the network and take delivery of airfreight equipment to maintain the electric circuits of the railcars and the contact line.
Swiss negotiations to finance a solar power plant in Cuba
Negotiations launched to finance the first solar power plant in Cuba with Swiss capital.
In autumn 2023, our association, in close collaboration with Climate Service SA in Fribourg, submitted a proposal to the Cuban authorities to finance a solar power plant for CHF 1,000,000, without any financial participation from the Cuban authorities. Thanks to an innovative model of progressive remuneration of Swiss investors according to the energy produced, a country like Cuba with very limited investment resources can embark on the production of decarbonized energy, even without any capital of its own.
Due to Cuba’s current critical economic situation, this solar power plant project is currently on hold.
Support to Madagascar for the commissioning of Swiss-supplied railway compositions and the planning of solar power plants
The Madagascan government has 9 identical electrically-powered compositions supplied by the RBS network in Bern and FLP in Lugano. These vehicles will serve a renovated 12 km urban rail line in the heart of the country’s capital. Antanarivo.
Since the Malagasy railroads (MADARAIL) have no experience of electrifying railways or maintaining electric vehicles, the Malagasy government urgently needs specialists from outside the country. The Swiss Embassy in Madagascar has decided to get heavily involved in the renovation of the Malagasy rail network in general, and would like to benefit from COMED’s support in advising the country’s political and administrative authorities and facilitating the commissioning of this Swiss rolling stock, as well as collaborating on other rail projects.
At the same time, a project to finance and install solar power plants is being proposed to supply this railway line with electrical traction and simultaneously improve the production of electrical energy for the general network of the national company JIRAMA.
COMED met with a delegation from the Prime Minister’s office in February 2026 to clarify certainpoints of its support for transport and energy, with a view to setting up a joint Swiss-Malagasy commission in the spring of 2026 and preparing a visit to Antananarivo inthe summer of 2026.
