The Belgrano Sur line is an Argentine commuter rail service in the Greater Buenos Aires area, currently operated by state-owned enterprise Trenes Argentinos. The Belgrano Sur runs over tracks and through stations built by the Franco–Belgian-owned Compañía General de Buenos Aires and British Midland companies at the beginning of the 20th century.
The termini is Dr. A. Sáenz station in the Nueva Pompeya district of the autonomous city of Buenos Aires, with two branches, one to Lozano in General Las Heras Partido (departing from González Catán)El tren Belgrano Sur vuelve a llegar a la estación 20 de Junio tras 26 años sin servicio, Télam, 1 Dec 2019 and the other to Marinos del Crucero Gral. Belgrano in Merlo partido. The line also has a touristic service between Tomás Jofré and Mercedes.
Carrying just under 11 million passengers per year, the line is the least used of the Buenos Aires commuter rail network.Estadísticas del transporte ferroviario - Total 2014 , CNRT website - Ministry of Transport
The railway line was originally built and operated by two companies, British-owned Buenos Aires Midland Railway that made its inaugural trip in 1909 joining Puente Alsina and Carhue, and Franco-Belgian-owned Compañía General de Buenos Aires (Established in 1908), that built and operated a large network reaching cities in the west of Buenos Aires province and branches to cities such as La Plata and Rosario, Although most of the line was closed and only a few services are active nowadays.
History Background The railway line was originally built and operated by two companies, British-owned Buenos Aires Midland Railway (BA Midland) and Franco-Belgian-owned Compañía General de Buenos Aires (CGBA) (established in 1908). The first train on the British owned line made its inaugural trip in 1909 joining Puente Alsina and Carhué. CGBA built and operated a large network reaching cities in the west of Buenos Aires Province and branches to cities such as La Plata and Rosario, although most of the line has since been closed and only a few services still operate.
When the entire Argentine railway network was nationalised in 1948 during Juan Perón's presidency, the BA Midland became part of the Belgrano Sur line division of the General Belgrano Railway. Furthermore, the newly nationalised companies added to Ferrocarril Belgrano network were renamed, being known as "G" (Cía. Gral. de Buenos Aires), "M" (Midland) and "P(Province of Buenos Aires Railway).
Ferrocarriles Argentinos
After the nationalisation, several improvements were carried out on the line, including an additional rail track between Aldo Bonzi and Libertad to increase the frequency of the services. The modernisation included the purchase of brand-new diesel locomotives manufactured by the American company Whitcomb in 1951 (with the addition of 15 new locomotives from the Dutch company Werkspoor in 1955) and the construction of junctions at the Tapiales and Aldo Bonzi stations that allowed the ex-BA Midland line to connect with the Sarmiento Railway near Haedo in Greater Buenos Aires.
During the 1950s, the increasing population in Greater Buenos Aires led the company to add more services. By December 1955, the Belgrano Railway ran more than 40 services per day along the Puente Alsina−Aldo Bonzi section. Nevertheless, the rolling stock had not been renewed since the 1930s and as a result, some railcars that had been damaged or destroyed in accidents were put out of service and were never replaced due to the lack of investment in purchasing new railcars.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s railcars manufactured by the Hungarian company Ganz Works were allocated to the Belgrano Sur. They had been acquired by the Argentine State Railway decades earlier and had been running on the northern Argentine railways since 1936. Some of them were used for local services to Libertad and the rest for the long-distance service to Carhué, departing from Buenos Aires station, the former Compañía Gral. de Buenos Aires terminus. The Ganz railcars ran services until 1977 when the line was definitively closed.
When the Libertad−Plomer section was closed, the ex-CGBA Buenos Aires station was made the terminus. Trains ran without passengers from Puente Alsina to Aldo Bonzi, running back to the Tapiales junction where they then went to the Buenos Aires station. Passengers waited and took the train in Buenos Aires, being carried to Carhué via Plomer. The lack of maintenance caused a progressive deterioration in the rolling stock and stations of the line. The line was closed in September 1977 and the workshops at Libertad were demolished.
On 2 March 1977, Decree N° 547 by de facto President of Argentina, Jorge Rafael Videla ordered the closure and dismantlement of more than 4,000 km of rail tracks. Several General Belgrano Railway lines were closed on 1 May 1977, although long-distance services to Carhué continued operating until August of that year when the last train ran to that city. Nevertheless, the closure of services in the region did not have a negative impact on the economy of the Province since the rail tracks ran through low-populated regions. Furthermore, most of that region was already served by other railway lines with better access to the city of Buenos Aires.
Privatisation: Metropolitano With the railway privatisation in Argentina in the early 1990s, the Belgrano Sur line was granted in concession to the private company Metropolitano which started operations in 1994. However, the Government of Argentina revoked the contract of concession in 2007 due to poor service standards and increasing complaints from users. Until then, the concessionary had been receiving near $30 million in subsidies per month."Kirchner le quitó la concesión de trenes a Metropolitano" , La Nación, 22 May 2007
In the first years of private operation, many kilometres of the line were closed with stations and infrastructure abandoned.Un grupo de amigos quiere recuperar el recorrido del Belgrano Sur hasta Marcos Paz - Hora De Informarse, 5 March 2009. In spite of the large government subsidies received by TMB (the Metropolitano's subsidiary that operated the line) a serious decline in the standard of rail services led to the original concession being revoked. In 2007, the service was given in concession to the consortium Unidad de Gestión Operativa Ferroviaria de Emergencia (UGOFE).
Transition and new concession The UGOFE took over the service until 12 February 2014, when it was announced that the Belgrano Sur and Roca lines would be granted to Argentren S.A., a company that was part of the Emepa Group and UGOFE was immediately dissolved."Trenes: le dan a Roggio el Mitre y el San Martín y a Emepa, el Roca y el Belgrano Sur", La Nación, 12 Feb 2014"Las privadas volverán a operar la mayoría de las líneas ferroviarias", Clarín, 12 Feb 2014"El Gobierno estableció un nuevo régimen de operaciones de las líneas ferroviarias", Telam, 12 Feb 2014"De a uno por línea, para mejor control", Página 12, 12 Feb 2014"Metrovías operará las líneas Mitre y San Martín", En el Subte, 12 Feb 2014
Renationalisation and investment
The State-owned company Trenes Argentinos took over Belgrano Sur line (operated by Argentren) after the Government of Argentina rescinded the contracts signed with the company on 2 March 2015. The contract terms specified that the concession could be cancelled with no right to claim compensation."Ya está lista la ley que prevé más control estatal sobre los trenes", Clarín, 5 Mar 2015 The agreements had been signed in February 2014, committing Argentren and Corredores Ferroviarios to operate the lines."Estado rescindió contrato de trenes a privados y avisó que no pagará indemnizaciones", Ambito Financiero, 2 Mar 2015"Buenos Aires commuter routes renationalised", Railway Gazette, 3 Mar 2015Resolution N° 171/2015 - Official Bulletin of Argentina
In September 2013, the Government of Argentina announced that 23 brand-new railcars were to be acquired from the Chinese company CNR Dalian."Trenes para el Sur", Página/12, 26 Sep 2013 The first batch of the new rolling stock was expected to be available from May 2015"Estos son los nuevos coches para la línea Belgrano Sur", Infonews, 26 Sep 2014"Randazzo recibió trenes para la línea Belgrano Sur", Ministry of Transport, 7 Jul 2015"Llegaron los trenes nuevos para el Belgrano Sur", Diario Jornada, 7 Jul 2015 but only arrived in Buenos Aires in July. It was then announced that the new rolling stock had been would begin running on the Buenos Aires - Gonzalez Catán route in August.En agosto comenzarán a funcionar nuevos trenes en la línea Belgrano Sur - La Nacion, 29 July 2015. The other parts of the line received the new rolling stock before the end of 2015, as the railcars arrived in the country.Randazzo anunció que en agosto comenzarán a funcionar trenes 0Km en el Belgrano Sur - Ministerio del Interior, 29 July 2015.
It was also announced that all the 28 stations of the line would be remodelled.First Belgrano Sur DMUs arrive - Railway Gazette, 8 July 2015. The cost of the investment was estimated in A$ 1,200 million."Randazzo presentó nuevos trenes para la línea Belgrano Sur", Telam, 19 Apr 2014 The platforms of the stations would be elevated to match the height of the new rolling stock, while the track was being refurbished on the line, with the Buenos Aires - Tapiales segment receiving completely new rails on concrete sleepers.Arribaron al puerto primeros coches motores CNR para el Belgrano Sur - EnElSubte, 6 July 2015. Twenty-four of the stations would be completely replaced using modular designs, while some single-track segments would be made into double-track segments.Informe de Obras - ADIFSE
In 2015, two important extension works were considered. To the southwest, the section from González Catán to Marcos Paz (closed at the time of privatisation) to be restored and reopened, extending that branch of the line after its 20-year closure whilst adding new overpasses and connecting the line with the Merlo–Lobos branch of the Sarmiento Line.Vuelve el tren a 20 de Junio tras 20 años - Diario Popular, 30 May 2014.
In August 2017, Trenes Argentinos suspended the Puente Alsina–Aldo Bonzi service due to a derailment near Puente Alsina station. Since then, the service has not been re-established. Because of that, the National Government ceded the lands occupied by the line to the Municipality of Lanús with the purpose of building a park there.Quieren convertir el suspendido ramal Alsina-Bonzi en un parque lineal, 16 Jul 2019Confirman la clausura definitiva del ramal Alsina-Bonzi para construir un parque on Observatorio AMBA, 15 Aug 2019
Extensions
In 2015, it was announced that the Belgrano Sur Line would reach Roca Line's Constitución station through a viaduct that would connect both lines. The project, named "Centro de Trasbordo Constitución" (Constitución layover center), will allow near 65,000 Belgrano Sur passengers to access not only Roca Line trains but Buenos Aires Underground's Line CTren Belgrano Sur: cómo será el viaducto que a fines de 2023 permitirá viajar directo de La Matanza a Constitución on Zonales, 7 Nov 2022 For that purpose, the Buenos Aires station was closed in May 2018, leaving Dr. Sáenz as new terminus of the line. The viaduct was built between Sáenz and Villa Soldati to avoid level crossings. A second stage of the project included to extend the viaduct to Plaza Constitución, connecting both lines, Belgrano Sur and Roca.El Belgrano Sur deja de llegar a la estación Buenos Aires, 5 May 2018 As of September 2022, 35% of the works were completed, at a cost of US$119 million. The viaduct will have a total extension of 4.2 km.Fernández y Guerrera recorrieron la obra del Viaducto Belgrano Sur que llegará hasta Constitución at Government of Argentina, 13 Sep 2022 Projects also include the construction of a new "Buenos Aires" station, which will be elevated over Avenida Vélez Sársfield.