Rail transport in Argentina

The Argentine railway network comprised 47,000 km of track at the end of the Second World War and was, in its time, one of most extensive and prosperous in South America. However, with the increase in highway construction and the break-up in 1993 of Ferrocarriles Argentinos (FA), the state railroad corporation, there followed a sharp decline in railway profitability. Since that time several private and provincial railway companies have been created and have resurrected some of the major passenger routes that FA once operated. The railroad network today, with its 34,059 km of track, [ [http://www.argentina.gov.ar/argentina/portal/paginas.dhtml?pagina=257 Historia del Ferrocarril] "argentina.gov.ar" Retrieved on 26 May 2008 (Spanish)] is now far smaller than it once was. The railways of Argentina operate over track of the following five rail gauges: :Main line gauges::Broad gauge: 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) – 24,481 km :Standard gauge: 1,435 mm (4 ft 81/2 in) – 2,765 km:Metre gauge: 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 in) – 11,080 km:Secondary gauges::Narrow gauge: 750 mm (2 ft 51⁄2 in) – 409 km:Minimum gauge: 500 mm (1 ft 73⁄4 in) – 8 km

History

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 [ [http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/casamirror/argentine%20railways.htm The British and the Argentine railways] Retrieved on 24 June 2008] 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.

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 the following six state-owned companies:
* Ferrocarril General Manuel Belgrano
* Ferrocarril General Bartolomé Mitre
* Ferrocarril General Roca
* Ferrocarril General San Martín
* Ferrocarril Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
* Ferrocarril General UrquizaThese 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.

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. [ [http://www.railwaygazette.com/news_view/article/2007/08/7661/argentina_sets_a_new_course.html Argentina sets a new course] . "Railway Gazette International", Retrieved on 19 May 2008]

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. Nationally, in 2006, 434 million passengers were transported by railways. [ [http://indec.mecon.gov.ar/nuevaweb/cuadros/14/sh_ferroviario_pasaj2.xls www.indec.mecon.gov.ar] (Spanish) Retrieved on 14 July 2008]

Buenos Aires City's metropolitan rail system is very extensive with 267 stations, 6 main rail lines and one light rail line covering 899 kilometers (562 miles) and 1800 trains carrying over one million passengers each business day 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 its 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 metro 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. [ [http://www.jrtr.net/jrtr02/f23_kog.html Reshaping Argentina's Railways, Japan Railway & Transport Review No. 2 (pp.23–29)] Retrieved on 24 June 2008]

The light rail Tren de la Costa (the coastal train), which 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.

An experimental project of a short run tramway line, Tranvia del Este, has recently been inaugurated in the Puerto Madero district of Buenos Aires. The 2 km prototype line runs between the Córdoba and Independencia avenues, ridership has not been as expected, nevertheless, extensions are being planned.Another tramway line, the PreMetro E2, operates as a feeder at the end of Metro Line E and a Historic Tramway operates on weekends and holidays in the Caballito neighbourhood of the capital.

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.

Ticketing

Contrary to the Buenos Aires Metro, which uses electronic fare cards, the Buenos Aires public transit system still uses antiquated ticketing systems, all tickets are bought at ticket booths at railway stations and every once in a while, on board certain trains, there is also no single integrated fare payment system for users of bus, metro, and railway services, the designation of multiple operating entities in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area adds technical complexities to the Prepaid Fare System and represents a unique concept for public transport, nonetheless, the implementation of such system is being studied. However, it has being argued that automatic ticket control system may have certain disadvantages in that the presence of ticket sales and control personnel in the station, adds more security to the passengers and to the property of the railroad.

Electrification plans

Though the first electric railway between Retiro and Tigre was inaugurated in 1916, major electrification projects where not adopted since long distances, flat topography and economic reasons did not merit major capital investments in this area, though, some suburban networks in Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area where electrified.

After several decades of the Buenos Aires rail-service being under-funded, there is presently an ongoing modernization plan so as to provide much needed improvement in services and the trend is towards electrification of several lines, first in issue is the cramped Roca line network on the southern part of the city, where work is already in progress, and several new routes have recently been approved for electrification covering the rest of the line [ [http://www.perfil.com/contenidos/2008/03/11/noticia_0053.html Electrificarán todos los ramales del Ferrocarril Roca] Retrieved on 23 June 2008 (Spanish)] . Work is also under way on the San Martín line, [ [http://www.clarin.com/diario/2006/08/26/elpais/p-02401.htm Comprarán 160 coches y 24 locomotoras chinas para la línea San Martín] Retrieved on 23 June 2008 (Spanish)] and there are plans to electrify the Belgrano Norte line.

As of 2008, approximately 42.7%, 258KM (160 miles) from a total rail network of 604 km (375 miles) of the Buenos Aires and Greater Buenos Aires area, (excluding outer-suburban satellite cities of Capilla del Señor, Lobos, Mercedes, Luján, Zárate and Cañuelas), but including the city of La Plata, is electrified (both by locomotives and multiple units).Once the oft-mentioned Roca line (143 km) and San Martín Line (55 km) electrification projects are completed by the year 2014, 75.5% of the network would be electrified, if the Belgrano Norte is added to the equation (which is being planned), the total electrified network would work out to approximately 84.9%.

Intercity passenger services

Argentina scrapped many of its uneconomical long distance passenger train services during the early 1990s and privatised by concession contract several main corridors to Trenes de Buenos Aires, Ferrocentral, Ferrobaires, and Trenes Especiales Argentinos, but service are not what passengers where use to and today, with the exception of the Buenos Aires, Rosario, Córdoba and Tucumán corridors, provide erratic and poor quality services.Nonetheless, a strong demand in farm commodities has helped the Argentine economy bounce back over recent years and the government intends to reestablish long-distance passenger services between vital centres in the agricultural and industrial regions, with a project to build a high-speed railway that would join the three largest cities in Argentina; Buenos Aires, Rosario and Córdoba, [ [http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/01/argentina-says.html www.wired.com:] Argentina Says '¡Si!' to High Speed Rail, Retrieved on 23 June 2008] which is expected to act as an essential component in the revival of railways in Argentina. [ [http://www.greengauge21.net/assets/European_Regeneration_Experience.pdf www.greengauge21.net] High Speed Trains and the Development and Regeneration of Cities, Retrieved on 23 June 2008] Another project in the planning stages is the refurbishing and upgrading of the Buenos Aires-Mendoza corridor to operate trains at speeds of up to 160 kilometres per hour and possibly another high-speed line to the coastal city of Mar del Plata.

Routes

The following is a list of most of the current destinations operating from Plaza Constitucion, Estación Once and Retiro rail terminus located in the centre of Buenos Aires::R= Restaurant car:D= Sleeping car

*Plaza Constitución - Pinamar: twice a week – R
*Plaza Constitución - Mar del Plata: three trains daily, other added Friday – R
*Plaza Constitución - Miramar: daily – R
*Plaza Constitución - Ayacucho - Tandil: once a week
*Plaza Constitución - Azul - Olavarría: five days a week – R
*Plaza Constitución - Bahía Blanca (via Lamadrid): three times a week – R / D
*Plaza Constitución - Bahía Blanca (via Coronel Pringles): twice a week – R
*Plaza Constitución - Carmen de Patagones: once a week – R
*Plaza Constitución - Saladillo - General Alvear: twice a week
*Plaza Constitución - 25 de Mayo - Bolívar: five days a week
*Plaza Constitución - Daireaux: once a week
*Once - Chivilcoy - Bragado: daily
*Once - Los Toldos - Lincoln: once a week
*Once - 9 de Julio - Carlos Casares: four days a week
*Once - Pehuajó: three times a week
*Retiro - Junín: daily
*Retiro - Rosario - Santa Fe: once a week
*Retiro - Rosario - La Banda - Tucumán: twice a week – R / D
*Retiro - Rosario - Córdoba: twice a week – R / D
*Federico Lacroze - Concordia - Monte Caseros - Posadas: twice a week – R

Other province destinations:
*Córdoba - Villa Maria: twice a week
*Viedma - San Antonio Oeste - S. C. de Bariloche: thrice weekly – R / D
*Ing. Jacobacci - San Carlos de Bariloche: thrice weekly
*Basavilbaso - Villaguay Central - Concordia: five days a week to Villaguay, twice weekly to Concordia.
*Resistencia - La Sabana - Los Amores: to La Sabana daily, to Los Amores three days a week
*Roque Sáenz Peña - Pinedo - Chorotis: daily
*Resistencia suburban service: several trains daily

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. This line will be standard gauge.

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. Rail freight operators transported 25.2 million tons in 2007, roughly an eighth of the total. [ [http://www.indec.mecon.gov.ar/nuevaweb/cuadros/14/sh_ferroviario_carga.xls www.indec.mecon.gov.ar] (Spanish) Retrieved on 14 July 2008] 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. [ [http://www.card.iastate.edu/iowa_ag_review/fall_00/comparing.aspx Comparing Grain Transportation in the United States and Argentina] . Retrieved on 12 June 2008]

Freight operators

* Nuevo Central Argentino
* Ferroexpreso Pampeano
* Ferrosur Roca
* América Latina Logística
* Belgrano Cargas

Tourist railways

Buenos Aires
*The "Tramway Hitorico de Buenos Aires" is a Heritage 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. [ [http://www.caminosdelvino.com/en/index.php?id_menu=48 Mendoza Wine Train] Retrieved on 26 May 2008]

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 in 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 "Ferrocarril Austral Fueguino", called Tren del Fin del Mundo - "The Train at the End of the World" or Southern Fuegian Railway, is the world's southernmost railway in the province of Tierra del Fuego, operating on narrow gauge (0.5 m), using steam locomotives. Presently being restored with modern steam by Eng. Shaun McMahon.

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. [ [http://www.iadb.org/biz/ppt/092305tuliod.pdf Initiative for Regional Infrastructure Integration in South America] , Retrieved on 26 May 2008]
* Paraguay - RailGauge|ussg gauge both countries.
* Uruguay - 1435 mm gauge both countries.
* Transandine Railway between Mendoza and Valparaíso, now defunct, pending reconstruction. [ [http://www.seconstruye.com/webnoticia/asp/interior.asp?id=17067 En julio se licitará tren Los Andes - Mendoza] Retrieved on 26 May 2008 (Spanish)] This mountain railway of 1,000 mm (3 ft 3in) gauge with rack railway sections had a break of gauge RailGauge|66/1m at either end.

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. [ [http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/03/09/argentina.train.bus.ap/index.html Argentina train bus collision] ]

References

See also

* Rail transport by country
* Buenos Aires Metro
* Transportation in Argentina

Bibliography

* [http://www.latintracks.net/index.htm Latin Tracks] (Latin-American railway magazine )
* Mario J. López and Jorge A. Waddell, Nueva Historia del Ferrocarril en la Argentina – 150 años de Politica Ferroviaria "(A New History of Railways in Argentina – 150 Years of Railway Policies)" – Text: Spanish – Ediciones Lumiere SA [http://www.edicioneslumiere.com/ www.edicioneslumiere.com] & Fundación Museo Ferroviario – (2007) - ISBN 978-987-603-032-8

External links

Heritage railways:
* [http://www.latrochita.org.ar/trochiingles/index.html Old Patagonian express official site]
* [http://www.tranvia.org.ar/ Asociación Amigos del Tranvía official site] (Spanish)
* [http://www.trenhistoricoavapor.com/ingles/home.htm Tren Histórico a Vapor - Historical Steam Train official site]
* [http://www.trendelfindelmundo.com.ar/tfm_base_en.htm Tren del Fin del Mundo official site] History:
* [http://www.todotren.com.ar/mundo/histo_1.htm Historia del Ferrocarril] (Spanish)
* Ing. Livio Dante Porta's First Locomotive – [http://www.martynbane.co.uk/modernsteam/ldp/argentina/arg.htm “Argentina”]