Railways

Argentina: Railways

There are direct rail links with the Bolivian Railways network to Santa Cruz de la Sierra and La Paz; with Chile, through the Las Cuevas–Caracoles tunnel (across the Andes) and between Salta and Antofagasta; with Brazil, across the Paso de los Libres and Uruguayana bridge; with Paraguay (between Posadas and Encarnación by ferry-boat); and with Uruguay (between Concordia and Salto). In 2008 there were 35,753 km of tracks.

In 1991 plans for the privatization of the state-run Ferrocarriles Argentinos (FA) were initiated, by 1993 existing intercity passenger routes were delegated to the responsibility of state governments and long-distance freight services were sold to private operators. Ente Nacional de Administración de Bienes Ferroviarios (ENABIEF) came to replace FA and assumed responsibility for railway infrastructure and the rolling stock not already sold off. The Buenos Aires commuter system was divided into eight concerns (one of which incorporates the underground railway system) and was offered for sale to private operators as 10- or 20-year (subsidized) concessions. The railway network is regulated by the Comisión Nacional de Regulación del Transporte (CNRT—see above). A 710-km high-speed railway linking Buenos Aires, Rosario and Córdoba named COBRA is under construction. With 85% of the project being financed by China Development Bank, the first stage of this route was expected to be operational by mid-2011.

Citation: Railways (Argentina), in Europa World online. London, Routledge. Retrieved 04 February 2012 from http://www.europaworld.com/pub/entry/ar.dir.687