| Argentina | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operation | |||||
| National railway | Ferrocarriles Argentinos SE | ||||
| Infrastructure company | ADIFSE | ||||
| Major operators | Trenes Argentinos | ||||
| Statistics | |||||
| Ridership | 423,202,522 Buenos Aires commuter (2018)[1] 2,036,792 regional (2018)[2] 1,009,357 long distance (2018) | ||||
| System length | |||||
| Total | 17,866 km (11,101 mi) (8th)[3] | ||||
| Track gauge | |||||
| 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) | 26,475 km (16,451 mi) | ||||
| 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) | 2,780 km (1,730 mi) | ||||
| 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) | 7,711 km (4,791 mi) | ||||
| Secondary narrow gauges | 424 km (263 mi) | ||||
| |||||
The Argentine railway network consisted of a 47,000 km (29,204 mi) network at the end of the Second World War and was, in its time, one of the most extensive and prosperous in the world. However, with the increase in highway construction, there followed a sharp decline in railway profitability, leading to the break-up in 1993 of Ferrocarriles Argentinos (FA), the state railroad corporation. During the period following privatisation, private and provincial railway companies were created and resurrected some of the major passenger routes that FA once operated.
Dissatisfied with the private management of the railways, beginning in 2012 and following the Once Tragedy, the national government started to re-nationalise some of the private operators and ceased to renew their contracts. At the same time, Operadora Ferroviaria Sociedad del Estado (SOFSE) was formed to manage the lines which were gradually taken over by the government in this period and Argentina's railways began receiving far greater investment than in previous decades.[4][5][6] In 2014, the government also began replacing the long distance rolling stock and rails and ultimately put forward a proposal in 2015 which revived Ferrocarriles Argentinos as Nuevos Ferrocarriles Argentinos later that year.[7][8][9][10]
The railroad network, with its 17,866 km (11,101 mi) (2018) size, is smaller than it once was, though still the 16th largest in the world,[3] and the 27th largest in passenger numbers.
- ^ "2018 Informe Estadistico Annual - Red ferroviaria de pasajeros del área metropolitano de Buenos Aires" (PDF). www.argentina.gob.ar. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
- ^ "Informe Estadístico - Gerencia de Control de Gestión Ferroviaria" (PDF). www.argentina.gob.ar. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
- ^ a b CIA World Factbook - Argentina
- ^ Resolution 163/2015 - Infoleg Archived 2 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine (in Spanish)
- ^ Estaciones nuevas y modernas para las lineas metropolitanas Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine - ADIFSE, December 2014
- ^ Comenzaron a funcionar los nuevos trenes Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine - ADIFSE, November 2014
- ^ Así es el proyecto que recrea Ferrocarriles Argentinos - EnElSubte, March 2015
- ^ Otro salto en la recuperación de soberanía - Pagina/12, 16 April 2015
- ^ Es ley la creación de Ferrocarriles Argentinos - EnElSubte, 15 April 2015
- ^ Ferrocarriles Argentinos: Randazzo agradeció a la oposición parlamentaria por acompañar en su recuperación Archived 16 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine - Sala de Prensa de la Republica Argentina, 15 April 2015