The Venezuelan government has granted Cuba a loan for USD 100 million to streamline its railroad network in an effort to reconstruct the transportation infrastructure after a decade of economic crisis, Reuters reported.

The deal made between the Venezuelan Bank for Economic and Social Development (Bandes) Cuba's Banco Exterior will be used to refit ways and signaling, and upgrade communications, said Granma, the daily newspaper of ruling Communist Party.

"With this loan, railway lines will be fully recovered, to the extent of taking them back to the original design conditions for freight or passengers transportation," said Cuban Minister of Transportation Jorge Luis Sierra during the execution of the agreement in Caracas, Granma quoted.

Sierra explained that the new railroads will make Cuban trains travel as fast as 100 kilometers per hour, instead of 40 kilometers per hour at the present time.