Rail transport in Argentina
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The Argentinean railway network stood at a length of 47,000 km at the end of the Second World War, and was, at its moment, one of most extensive and prosperous in South America, but with the rise of highway construction and the break-up of Ferrocarriles Argentinos (FA), the now-defunct state railroad corporation in 1993, both contributed to a sharp decline in railway profitability. Since that date, however, several private and provincial railway companies have been created and have resurrected some of the major passenger trains that FA once operated. The railroad network is, however, with its 34,059 km of track, [1] far smaller than it once was. The rail system in Argentina operates on five rail gauges and services are operated by a variety of private and public operators.
- Broad gauge: 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) – 24,481 km (134 km electrified)
- Standard gauge: 1,435 mm (4 ft 81/2 in) – 2,765 km (26 km electrified)
- Metre gauge: 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 in) – 11,080 km
- Narrow gauge: 750 mm (2 ft 51⁄2 in) – 409 km
- Minimum gauge: 500 mm (1 ft 73⁄4 in) – 8 km
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[edit] History
[edit] Development
The building of the network began in 1855 at first with Argentine finance. Major development of the Argentine rail network occurred between 1870 and 1914, primarily financed by British and to a lesser degree, French, German and Argentine investors, the Argentine rail network attained significant growth during this period which positioned the country as the tenth largest rail network in the world in 1914. Its expansion accelerated greatly due to the need for the transport of agricultural products and cattle in Buenos Aires Province, the rail network converged on the city of Buenos Aires and was a key component in the development of the Argentine economy as it rose to be a leading export country. In 1946, the Argentine government started the nationalisation process of its rail network.
| Years | 1860 | 1870 | 1880 | 1890 | 1900 | 1910 | 1920 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| System length (in kilometres) | 9.8 | 722 | 2,516 | 9,397 | 16,500 | 29,094 | 47,000 |
| Passengers transported (in millions) | – | – | 3 | – | 18 | – | ? |
| Cargo transported (in million tones) | – | – | 1 | – | 11,8 | – | ? |
[edit] Nationalisation
Following what was then a worldwide trend, the private companies were nationalised in 1948. These companies, together with those that were already state-owned, where grouped, according to their track gauge and locality, into a total of six state-owned companies which would later become divisions of the state-owned holding company Ferrocarriles Argentinos. Although at the beginning the state-owned railways were able to provide a good standard of passenger and freight service, political factors soon entered the equation and began to interfere with the economic and administrative aspects of the rail business.
[edit] Privatisation
Not being willing to provide the money required to renew and upgrade the network, this time the government decided to privatise the state-owned company Ferrocarriles Argentinos (FA) which comprised the six relatively independent divisions, Sarmiento, Mitre, Urquiza, San Martin, Belgrano and Roca into segments and granted concessions to private companies for their operation through competitive bidding. At the start of the concessions service quality greatly improved, and traffic began to grow again. However, as more locomotives and rolling stock were needed the private companies became increasingly reluctant to make the investment required to increase capacity and service quality began to decline again.
The economic crisis in 2001 was the final blow and neither the private companies nor the government could provide the service required. In 2003, the President of Argentina, Nestor Kirshner, set itself as a key objective the revival of the national rail network. Although the economic upturn saw traffic grow again, nevertheless, the suburban rail operators are now little more than managers of government contracts rather than true entrepreneurs.[3]
[edit] Components of the network
- Ferrocarril General Manuel Belgrano
- Ferrocarril General Bartolomé Mitre
- Ferrocarril General Roca
- Ferrocarril General San Martín
- Ferrocarril Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
- Ferrocarril General Urquiza
[edit] Commuter network
Both Buenos Aires and to a lesser degree Resistencia are the only cities in Argentina to offer suburban passenger services, most other cities rely on bus transportation.
Buenos Aires City's metropolitan rail system is very extensive with 200 stations, 6 main rail lines and one light rail line covering 965 kilometers (600 miles) and serving more than 400 million commuters annually in the city of Buenos Aires, its suburbs in Greater Buenos Aires and several far reaching satellite towns.
Service is provided by private companies and spreads out from five central stations in Buenos Aires, these are the main terminals of Retiro being the busiest, Constitución, Once de Septiembre, Federico Lacroze, all serving both long-distance and local passenger services and Buenos Aires Station which despite it's name is a secondary rail terminus serving only local commuter service.
The Retiro and Constitución train stations are linked by the Line C of the Buenos Aires Metro, Once de Septiembre is served by the Line A of the subway via its "Plaza Miserere" station and will also be served by the new Line H of the metro when construction is completed and Federico Lacroze is served by B line. The smaller Buenos Aires Station is accessible by some city bus services and it is the only railway terminus in Buenos Aires that has no access to the Buenos Aires Metro.
Most trains leave at regular 8- to 20 -minute intervals though for trains traveling a longer distance service may be less frequent. Fares are cheap and tickets can be purchased at ticket windows ot trough coin-operated machines at stations. Most of the lines are electric, several are diesel powered, while some of these are currently being converted to electric, many of the lines share traffic with freight services.
Buenos Aires area commuter rail lines were privatised in the 1990s, and passengers have complained for years about poor commuter rail services on lines leading from Constitución station in downtown Buenos Aires to the capital's poor southern suburbs.
The light rail Tren de la Costa (the coastal train), wich serves “tourist” and local commuters, runs from the northern suburbs of Buenos Aires to Tigre along the river for approximately 15 kilometers, the line connects directly to the Linea Mitre at Maipú–Bartolomé Mitre station in the northern suburb of Olivos for direct access to Retiro terminus in the centre of the city.
[edit] Rail lines / Operators
- Belgrano Norte Line / Ferrovías
- Belgrano Sur Line / UGOFE
- Mitre Line / Trenes de Buenos Aires
- Roca Line / UGOFE
- San Martin Line / UGOFE
- Sarmiento Line / Trenes de Buenos Aires
- Urquiza Line / Metrovías
- Tren de la Costa / Tren de la Costa S.A.
[edit] Intercity passenger services
Argentina privatized many of its railway services by concession contract during the early 1990s to Ferrobaires, Ferrocentral, and Trenes Especiales Argentinos. Today trains in Argentina are experiencing a revival, since the government intends to re-establish long-distance passenger services between major cities. Several new lines are planned including a High-speed line for the Buenos Aires–Rosario–Córdoba corridor.
[edit] High-speed rail
A new high-speed rail line between Buenos Aires, Rosario and Córdoba, with speeds up to 320 km/h is being planned.
[edit] Freight network
Argentine rail lines have not been well maintained over the past several decades, with many key segments inoperable today. Despite these challenges, Argentina's rail freight traffic has increased by more than 10 percent in each of the past five years. Recent estimates indicate that 20 percent of Argentina's grain production moves by rail at some point. As a result of improved utilization and efficiencies, the cost of rail transportation has dropped by 25 percent. Argentine rail operators expect business to increase dramatically over the next five years. In sum, Argentina is making great efforts to rejuvenate its rail systems. Modernization efforts seem to be resulting in significant performance improvements and a substantial shift in traffic from motor to rail service.[4]
[edit] Freight operators
- Nuevo Central Argentino
- Ferroexpreso Pampeano
- Ferrosur Roca
- América Latina Logística
- Belgrano Cargas
[edit] Tourist railways
Buenos Aires
- Historic Tramway inaugurated In 1980 in the Caballito neigbourhood on existing vintage street tracks.
Córdoba
- Tren de las Sierras (Train of the Hills) is popular with tourists because of its scenic route through the Sierras Chicas region of Córdoba Province.
Salta
- Tren a las nubes in the province of Salta crosses canyons and cliffs before arriving to the 3,775 metres (12,500 feet) of San Antonio de los Cobres.
Mendoza
- A heritage railway or tourist railroad, "The Wine Train" (Tren del Vino) is being planned which will also provide transportation to locals, it will run along wine producing districts of Mendoza.[5]
Misiones
- The Rainforest Ecological Train is a small environmentally-friendly train runs through the forest inside Iguazú National Park in the north of the province of Misiones of Argentina.
Patagonia
- The narrow-gauge Old Patagonian Express, (Viejo Expreso Patagónico) known locally as La Trochita, is a 402 km long narrow gauge (0.75m) heritage railway in Patagonia, Argentina using steam locomotives. It is said to be the only narrow-gauge long-distance steam train in operation in the world.
- Tren Histórico de Bariloche is a short run to Perito Moreno, 4-6-0 steam manufactured in Scotland in 1912 by the North British Locomotive Company in Glasgow, the Cedar and Mahogany carriages were originally made in England.
Tierra del Fuego
- The Southern Fuegian Railway or End of the World Train is a narrow gauge railway (0.5 m) in Tierra del Fuego Province, Argentina using steam locomotives.
[edit] International rail links to adjacent countries
- Bolivia - 1000 mm gauge both countries.
- Brazil - break of gauge, 1435 mm gauge (Argentina)/1000 mm gauge (Brazil).
- Chile - IRJ of March 2005 reports construction started to build/restore South Trans-Andean Railway link between Zapala, Argentina and Lonquimay, Chile. 1676 mm gauge both countries.[6]
- Paraguay - 4 ft 8½ in (1,435 mm) gauge both countries.
- Uruguay - 1435 mm gauge both countries.
- Transandine Railway between Mendoza and Valparaíso, now defunct, pending reconstruction.[7] This mountain railway of 1,000 mm (3 ft 3in) gauge with rack railway sections had a break of gauge 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm)/1m at either end.
[edit] Incidents
A passenger train slammed into a bus at a rural Argentine rail crossing, near Dolores, some 125 miles south of Buenos Aires, before dawn March 9, 2008, killing 18 people and leaving at least 47 others injured.[8]
[edit] References
- ^ Historia del Ferrocarril argentina.gov.ar Retrieved on 26 May 2008 (Spanish)
- ^ JSTOR: The Economic Journal, Vol. 68, No. 271 (Sept., 1958), pp.589-593 - Retrieved on 14 June 2008
- ^ Argentina sets a new course. Railway Gazette International 10 August 2007
- ^ Comparing Grain Transportation in the United States and Argentina. Retrieved on 12 June 2008
- ^ Mendoza Wine Train Retrieved on 26 May 2008
- ^ Initiative for Regional Infrastructure Integration in South America
- ^ En julio se licitará tren Los Andes - Mendoza (Spanish)
- ^ Argentina train bus collision
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
Heritage railways:
- Old Patagonian express official site
- Asociación Amigos del Tranvía
- Tren Histórico a Vapor
- Tren del Fin del Mundo official site
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