Cuban railway system strengthens its youth force

HAVANA, Cuba, Jun 30 (acn) The Central-East Railway Company located in the province of Camaguey and which also makes up Ciego de Avila and Las Tunas are creating and action plan to attract the young people due to its aging working force.

The creation of young professional, technician and working brigades to look for solutions to the problem affecting the sector, strengthening of its training process and guaranteeing them a position in the areas are some of the projects aimed at attracting youth.

During an interview with the ACN, Enrique Valdes, Director of the company explained that only some 20 percent of the personnel is under 30 years of age while the average age is about 49.

There are also difficulties in the technical level since the Railway Workshops, the second largest in Cuba only has 11 engineers.

The director added that in addition to the already mentioned actions, they are also looking to improving the agreements with the University of Camaguey and polytechnic institutions to guarantee positions in the railway entities which is an economic objective prioritized by the Cuban government for its high impact in cargo and passenger transportation.

Valdes said that personalized attention to the young workers and the search for positions depending on each of their profiles and interests is another of the actions that must be improved to protect the qualified working force above all in a sector where salaries are still low.

Others like Daniel Barrios, graduate in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Camaguey recognized the importance of the railway system and the value of the current process to look for ways to solve the difficulties and offer more participation to the youth in the sector.

The economic crisis of the 1990's conditioned the depression of the sector and the exodus of is personnel, which has historically been very committed in the work and that is why the authorities are looking for ways to revert this tendency before a large investment underway in Cuba for its recovery.