Trenes Especiales Argentinos (TEA) ( en, Special Argentine Trains) was a private railway company in

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 ...

that operated trains from

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 the city of Posadas in the Mesopotamia region.

History

With the railway privatisation of the entire rail network carried out by Carlos Menem's administration in early 1990s, long-distance passenger services in Argentina had been closed by the National Government in 1993, leaving most of the Province without train services. In 2003, a concession was granted to private company "Trenes Especiales Argentinos" to operate services from

Federico Lacroze Federico Lacroze (4 November 1835 – 16 February 1899) was an Argentine businessman and railway entrepreneur of French descent. He created the first tram line in Buenos Aires and his Buenos Aires Central Railway helped link the provinces of ...

terminus in

to the city of Posadas in

Misiones Province Misiones (, ''Missions'') is one of the 23 provinces of Argentina, located in the northeastern corner of the country in the Mesopotamia region. It is surrounded by Paraguay to the northwest, Brazil to the north, east and south, and Corrientes ...

on the border with

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

Antigua_Estaci%C3%B3n_de_trenes_de_Posadas

The company put into operation a train (mostly known as ''El Gran Capitán'' - ''The Great Captain'') powered by EMD G22 and

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable en ...

U13 diesel locomotives with

coaches Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

that included first class and pullman classes. Some stops along the way were Zárate in Buenos Aires Province, Basavilbaso and

Villaguay Villaguay is a city in the province of Entre Ríos in the Argentine Mesopotamia. It has about 49,000 inhabitants as of thcensus 2010and is the head town of the department of the same name. The city lies near the geographic center of the provinc ...

Entre Ríos Province Entre Ríos (, "Between Rivers") is a central province of Argentina, located in the Mesopotamia region. It borders the provinces of Buenos Aires (south), Corrientes (north) and Santa Fe (west), and Uruguay in the east. Its capital is Paraná ...

, Monte Caseros and Santo Tomé in

Corrientes Province Corrientes (, ‘currents’ or ‘streams’; gn, Taragui), officially the Province of Corrientes ( es, Provincia de Corrientes; gn, Taragüí Tetãmini) is a province in northeast Argentina, in the Mesopotamia region. It is surrounded by (fr ...

, and numerous points between. The total journey lasted approximately 26 hours. Trains departed twice weekly in each direction. On December 15, 2011, the Government of Corrientes Province revoked the concession to TEA by decree N° 3010, alleging that "the company had not been authorised to provide the service to public, apart of not fulfilling with security protocols, putting the life of passengers at risk, according to what the National Commission of Transport Regulations reported". After the concession was revoked, the Government of Argentina established a service from

Pilar, Buenos Aires Province Pilar is a city in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina with a population of 299,077 as per the . It is part of the Greater Buenos Aires urban conurbation and is the seat of the administrative division of Pilar Partido. Since the early 1990s, P ...

to Posadas, operated by

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 ...

(TBA). When the concession to TBA was revoked after the Once station rail disaster in 2012,"Finalmente, el Gobierno le sacó las concesiones del Sarmiento y del Mitre a TBA"
''Clarín'', 24 May 2012 the service was also interrupted.

References

External links

* (Archive) {{Railway Companies in Argentina Defunct railway companies of Argentina Standard gauge railways in Argentina Rail transport in Buenos Aires Province Transport in Entre Ríos Province Transport in Corrientes Province Transport in Misiones Province