Puente Alsina is an Argentine railway station in the Greater Buenos Aires neighbourhood of

Valentín Alsina Valentín Alsina (December 16, 1802 – September 6, 1869) was an Argentine lawyer and politician. Biography Early life Alsina was born in Buenos Aires and studied law at the University of Córdoba. He occupied diverse posts in government, an ...

in the

Lanús Lanús () is the capital of Lanús Partido, Buenos Aires Province in Argentina. It lies just south of the capital city Buenos Aires, in the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area. The city has a population of 212,152 (), and the Partido de Lan� ...

'' partido'' of Buenos Aires Province. The station takes its name from the nearby bridge of Puente Alsina over the

Riachuelo River The River The Matanza River is known by several names, including, in Spanish, Río de la Matanza ("the slaughter river" in English), Río Matanza ("slaughter river"), Río Mataderos ("slaughterhouses river"), Río de la Manzana ("the apple rive ...

. On the other side of this bridge lies the neighbourhood of

Nueva Pompeya Nueva Pompeya (Spanish for ''New Pompei''), often loosely referred to as Pompeya, is a neighbourhood in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Located in the South side, it has long been one of the city's proletarian districts steeped in the tradit ...

within the city of

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. The station remains inactive since August 2017 after the Puente Alsina – Aldo Bonzi line was closed due to a derailment.Se cumplen cinco años de la clausura del ramal Puente Alsina – Aldo Bonzi
at Enelsute.com.ar, 4 Aug 2022

History

Built by the British-owned

Buenos Aires Midland Railway The Buenos Aires Midland Railway (BAM) was a British-owned railway company which operated in Argentina, where it was known as Ferrocarril Midland de Buenos Aires. The company built and operated the gauge ( metre gauge) line between Puente Alsin ...

, the station was opened in 1908 as the terminus for their metre gauge line to

Carhué Carhué is an Argentine town in the Province of Buenos Aires, head of the Municipality (Partido) of Adolfo Alsina. Carhué is to the west of the city of La Plata and from Buenos Aires. The city is a tourist destination famous for the thermal ...

, in the southwest of the province. The original plan was to boost the importance of the line by extending it from Puente Alsina into the centre of the nearby city. However, the fact that the company held a concession from the province, meant that it was unable to enter the Federal Capital. When the entire Argentine railway network was

nationalized Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to p ...

in 1948, during Juan Peron's presidency, the BAMR became part of the state-owned company Ferrocarril Belgrano. As part of the

privatization Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

of the whole Argentine railway network in the early 1990s,

private company A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in the respective listed markets, but rather the company's stock is ...

Metropolitano Metropolitano S.A. was a privately owned consortium formed in 1994 to take over concessions granted by the Argentine government as part of railway privatisation during the presidency of Carlos Menem for the operation of commuter rail services i ...

was granted a concession to operate the service, part of the Linea Belgrano Sur, as far as General Belgrano, from 1 May 1994. In spite of the large state subsidies received by the company, a serious decline in the standard of its services led to the concession being revoked on 22 May 2007, after which the line was run by UGOFE, a consortium formed by private companies

Ferrovías Ferrovías S.A.C. is a privately owned company which, on 1 April 1994, took over the concession, granted by the Argentine government as part of railway privatisation during the presidency of Carlos Menem, for the operation of the 1,000 mm ...

Metrovías Metrovías S.A. is an Argentine privately owned company that operates the Buenos Aires Underground and the Metropolitan services of the Urquiza Line. 90% of Metrovías' shares are held by Grupo Roggio. History On 1 January 1994, Metrovías took ...

and

Trenes de Buenos Aires Trenes de Buenos Aires (TBA) (In English: Trains of Buenos Aires) was a private company that operated commuter rail services over the broad gauge Sarmiento and Mitre lines of Buenos Aires. The company, owned by Claudio and Mario Cirigliano, als ...

. In March 2015 the station started to be operated by state-owned

Trenes Argentinos Operadora Ferroviaria Sociedad del Estado (abbreviated SOFSE; trading name: Trenes Argentinos Operaciones) is an Argentine state-owned company created in 2008 to operate passenger services in Argentina. It is a subsidiary of the Ferrocarriles Ar ...

, after the Government rescinded the contract with private company

Argentren Argentren S.A. was an Argentine private company that operated the Belgrano Sur and Roca railway services in Buenos Aires Province for about one year until the Government of Argentina rescinded the agreement with the company in March 2015. ...

signed one year before."Ya está lista la ley que prevé más control estatal sobre los trenes"
''Clarín'', 5 Mar 2015"Estado rescindió contrato de trenes a privados y avisó que no pagará indemnizaciones"
''Ambito Financiero'', 2 Mar 2015Resolution N° 171/2015 - Official Bulletin of Argentina
/ref> Nevertheless, after two years of service under Trenes Argentinos, in August 2017 the Government closed the entire Puente Alsina - Aldo Bonzi line due to a derailment.Hace 50 días que no circulan trenes entre Alsina y Bonzi
on Diario Popular, 25 Sep 2017 Since then, there have not been plans for the reactivation of services in the line.

Historic operators

;Notes

Bibliography

* ''British Railways in Argentina 1857-1914: A Case Study of Foreign Investment'' by Colin M. Lewis, Athlone Press (University of London), 1983 * ''British Railways in Argentina 1860-1948'' by H.R. Stones - P.E. Waters & Associates, Bromley, Kent, England, 1993

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Puente Alsina, Estacion Railway stations in Buenos Aires Province Railway stations opened in 1908 1908 establishments in Argentina Railway stations closed in 2017