Rosario Central is a former

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

Rosario Rosario () is the largest city in the central provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe. The city is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the west bank of the Paraná River. Rosario is the third-most populous ci ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. It is located at the junction of Corrientes St. and Wheelwright Avenue, in the city center, not far from the coast of the

Paraná River The Paraná River ( es, Río Paraná, links=no , pt, Rio Paraná, gn, Ysyry Parana) is a river in south-central South America, running through Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina for some ."Parana River". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Br ...

. The station was part of the Mitre Railway network until 1977 when it fell into disuse. After being restored by the Municipality of Rosario, in 2005 the building was re-opened as the seat of the Center

Municipal District A municipal district is an administrative entity comprising a clearly-defined territory and its population. It can refer to a city, a town, a village, a small grouping of them, or a rural area. Brazil In Brazil, municipal districts are, in genera ...

, named "

Antonio Berni Delesio Antonio Berni (14 May 1905 – 13 October 1981) was an Argentine figurative artist. He is associated with the movement known as ''Nuevo Realismo'' ("New Realism"), an Argentine extension of social realism. His work, including a serie ...

History

Background

The station served as a terminus of the

Central Argentine Railway The Central Argentine Railway, referred to as CA below, (in Spanish: Ferrocarril Central Argentino) was one of the ''Big Four'' broad gauge, British companies that built and operated railway networks in Argentina. The company had been establish ...

company. Its construction was started in 1868 and finished in 1870. At the time it was among the most important stations in the country due to its size, the funds invested in it, and the amount of traffic. It was built by British capital following the neo-gothic Italian style en vogue at the time, with a characteristic

clock tower Clock towers are a specific type of structure which house a turret clock and have one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another buildi ...

. The railway starting at the station joined Rosario to the city of Córdoba, 396 km to the west. It was the first of the eight lines that eventually worked in Rosario, the country's longest at the time, and the first line that joined two Argentine provinces. In 1908, after the merging of the Central Argentine and the Buenos Aires and Rosario Railway companies, the station was set aside to handle the short- and mid-distance passenger services, while Rosario Norte was destined to long-distance and express services."Historia Ferroviaria de Rosario"
Asociación Rosarina Amigos del Riel, 13 Apr 2009 (Archive) Rosario Central managed seventy daily train services between 1935 and 1940, with an annual average of 438,000 passengers.

Closure

Most local and mid-distance train services were cancelled in 1977, and Rosario Central Station was shut down and left abandoned. Starting in 1987, the rails joining the station with the

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

were removed to leave room for the construction of the ''Avenida Ribereña Central'' (Central Riverside Avenue). An experimental passenger service that departed from the station was briefly set up in November 1989, but abandoned one month later. Additional facilities of Rosario Central, north of the station proper (workshops, stores, etc.) were demolished in 1993 as the avenue's construction progressed, and in 1997 the rails that led to the station were removed, thus making it practically impossible for it to be used again as a railway terminus.

Restoration

In 1999 ENABieF, the state organization that managed the former assets of railway companies, gave over control of Rosario Central Station to the Municipality of Rosario. The municipal administration decided to restore the building, preserving most of its outer appearance, and employing it as the seat of the Center

, as part of its decentralization programme. The District Center, named ''

'' (honouring the local

eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

ous painter), serves an area of 20.37 km² with a population of 261,047."Hoy se inaugura el CMD Centro"
Municipality of Rosario, 16 Sep 2005 Colombian architect Laureano Forero Ochoa was involved in restoration work along with local architect Luis Grossman. Another part of the former station, separated from the rest by a short bridge over a road tunnel, was turned into an educational/entertainment center for children called ''La Isla de los Inventos'' ("Invention Island")."La Isla de los Inventos"
, Ente de Turismo Rosario The station is on the list of works and sites of patrimonial value of the municipality of Rosario, as item 010180000.

Historic operators

Companies that operated the Rosario (CC) train station since its inauguration were:

References

External links

Centro Municipal de Distrito Centro Antonio Berni
(archived) {{Railway stations in Argentina Railway stations in Rosario, Santa Fe Railway stations opened in 1868 Railway stations closed in 1977 Defunct railway stations in Argentina Repurposed railway stations in the Americas Clock towers in Argentina