[2] The building is considered a national monument for its architectural and historical values[3] and is, along with the stations of Santiago, Camagüey and Santa Clara, a network's divisional headquarter.

[4] The site of the railway station is located where the former Spanish Royal Shipyard of Havana was southeast of the Campo de Marte, and immediately outside the southernmost gate of the city.

By 1910, the 71-year-old Villanueva Railway Station (currently the Capitolio grounds), the first of Havana, had exceeded its capacity due to increasing urban development and population of the city.

This transaction caused heated debates within the political community and in general throughout the population of the city, because the value of Arsenal land was more than a million dollars to Villanueva, so it was unknown where that amount would go.

The Chamber representative Silverio Sánchez Figueras, commander of the liberation army, denounced the trade as a "dirty business", and the action was contradicted by congressman Colonel Severo Moleón Guerra.

These coaches were originally used on the premier Trans Europ Express service between Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam before being replaced with high speed Thalys trains.