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 2005 there were 32,170 km of tracks.

Plans for the privatization of the state-run Ferrocarriles Argentinos (FA) were first initiated in 1991. In 1993 central government funding for the FA was suspended and responsibility for existing intercity passenger routes was devolved to respective provincial governments. However, owing to lack of resources, few provinces successfully assumed the operation of services, and many trains were suspended. At the same time, long-distance freight services were sold as six separate 30-year concessions (including lines and rolling stock) to private operators. In the mid-1990s the FA was replaced by Ente Nacional de Administración de Bienes Ferroviarios (ENABIEF), which 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). Plans for a 710-km high-speed railway linking Buenos Aires, Rosario and Córdoba were announced by the Government in 2006, and the contract for construction of the line was awarded in 2008.

Citation: Railways (Argentina), in Europa World online. London, Routledge. Retrieved 03 September 2010 from http://www.europaworld.com/pub/entry/ar.dir.687