Ferrocentral was an Argentine private railway company, with a name formed by a combination of the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

words for "Central Rail". It operated long-distance passenger trains from its base at Retiro station in

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 ...

to several locations in northern Argentina, running on

Ferrocarril Mitre Futbol Club Sonsonate is a Salvadoran professional football club based in Sonsonate, El Salvador. The club plays its home games at Estadio Anna Mercedes Campos, a stadium located in the City suburb of Sonsonate, Sonsonate, since 2009. The team ...

Indian gauge , a broad gauge, is the track gauge used in India, Pakistan, western Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Argentina, Chile, and on BART in San Francisco, United States. In North America, it is called Indian Gauge, Provincial, Portland, or Texas gauge. In Arg ...

tracks. The company also ran regional services (such as

Tren de las Sierras Tren de las Sierras (technically known as the "A-1" branch of the General Belgrano Railway) is a regional rail line in Córdoba Province of Argentina. The line runs from Alta Córdoba to Cosquín, being currently operated by state-owned com ...

) on Ferrocarril Belgrano's tracks in Córdoba Province. The National Government invested $10 million to re-open the line.

History

All of the train routes managed by Ferrocentral had been previously operated by

Ferrocarriles Argentinos Ferrocarriles Argentinos (abbreviated as FA; ) was a state-owned company that managed the entire Argentine railway system for nearly 45 years. It was formed in 1948 when all the private railway companies were nationalised during Juan Perón's fir ...

, the country's now-defunct national passenger railroad corporation. After the privatisation of Ferrocarriles Argentinos starting in 1991, many train services across Argentina were indefinitely discontinued. Since the year 2005, however, Ferrocentral was formed and successfully resurrected some passenger lines. Ferrocentral was established in 2005, being formed by two railway companies,

Nuevo Central Argentino Nuevo Central Argentino S. A. (abbreviated NCA) is an Argentine company that utilises the operation and infrastructure of the national railway system of the former Mitre Railway division of Ferrocarriles Argentinos, by a concession granted on 23 ...

(concessionary of

's freight services) and

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 ...

(which operates the

Belgrano Norte Line The Belgrano Norte line is a commuter rail service in Buenos Aires, Argentina run by the private company Ferrovías since 1 April 1994. This service had previously been run by the state-owned General Belgrano Railway since nationalisation of ...

) with the purpose of running trains from Retiro station in

to the city of Córdoba. In 2006 Ferrocentral started to run trains to Tucumán, with stops in Rosario and La Banda, a city of

Santiago del Estero Province Santiago del Estero (), also known simply as Santiago, is a province in the north of Argentina. Neighboring provinces, clockwise from the north, are Salta, Chaco, Santa Fe, Córdoba, Catamarca and Tucumán. History The indigenous inhabita ...

. Long-distance passenger trains were tractioned by GT22

diesel locomotives A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving wheels ...

. Most services operated in the late night and early morning hours as the rail lines are used for transporting cargo during the daytime. One year later the company also re-opened the

Mountain Range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...

Train") of Córdoba Province that connected the cities of Córdoba and Cosquín. On 2013, Ministry of Transport of Argentina, Florencio Randazzo, signed a resolution transferring the services to Córdoba and

San Miguel de Tucumán San Miguel de Tucumán (; usually called simply Tucumán) is the capital and largest city of Tucumán Province, located in northern Argentina from Buenos Aires. It is the fifth-largest city of Argentina after Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Argentina, ...

to State-owned companies SOFSE (also known as "Trenes Argentinos") and Administración de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias (ADIF). In addition, some problems with ticket sales were reported by users, accusing the company to give a poor service for online purchasing, as well as the virtually nil availability of seats. In November 2014, the Government of Argentina (through the State-owned company Trenes Argentinos S.A.) took over the services to Rosario, Tucumán and Córdoba, leaving Ferrocentral inactive.

Services

Services operated as of October 2014:"Servicios" on Ferrocentral website
(Archive)

References

External links

Official website
(archived, 17 Dec 2008) {{Railway Companies in Argentina Defunct railway companies of Argentina Emepa Group Railway companies established in 2004 Railway companies disestablished in 2014 2004 establishments in Argentina 2014 disestablishments in Argentina Rail transport in Buenos Aires Province Rail transport in Córdoba Province, Argentina Rail transport in Santa Fe Province Transport in Tucumán Province Transport in Santiago del Estero Province

History

Services

See also

References

External links