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 first presidential term, and transformed into the Empresa de Ferrocarriles del Estado Argentino (EFEA; ).
FA managed both passenger and freight services, including long-distance and commuter rail trains in the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires.
The company was broken up under the government of Carlos Menem following the privatisation of the railways; however in 2015 the government of Cristina Kirchner revived the brand for use on state-owned railways.Otro salto en la recuperación de soberanía. Pagina/12, 16 April 2015.Es ley la creación de Ferrocarriles Argentinos. EnElSubte, 15 April 2015.Ferrocarriles Argentinos: Randazzo agradeció a la oposición parlamentaria por acompañar en su recuperación . Sala de Prensa de la Republica Argentina, 15 April 2015.Ingresó al Congreso la ley de creación de Ferrocarriles Argentinos. EnElSubte.com, March 2015.
Beginning
In April 1946 some British companies executives, such as Reginald Leeper (then ambassador in Argentina) and Wilfred Eady, representative of several railway companies in Argentina, started to make the arrangements for the sale of their companies to the Argentine state. A commission led by Eady arrived in Buenos Aires during the winter of 1946. The Argentine Government approved the creation of a joint company to operate British railways, reestablishing the tax exemptions that had been in force during Law n° 5,315, also named "Mitre Law".
On 17 December 1946, a contract was signed by Miguel Miranda, president of Instituto Argentino de Promoción del Intercambio and the ambassador Wladimir D'Ormesson for the sale of French companies in Argentina at a global price of A$ 182,796,173 (about US$45 million). That included Compañía General de Buenos Aires, Province of Santa Fe and Rosario and Pto. Belgrano Railways.
Two weeks after the agreement signed with French companies, the Government made an offer of £ 125 million to British companies although the railways were finally acquired at £150 million. The acquisition would be paid by Argentina with exports of meat and cereal to Great Britain, which would transfer the money to the former owners of the rail companies. On 1 March 1948, the Argentine government led by president Juan Perón took over the British railways. The acquisition of the foreign railways was shown by the government as an act of sovereignty that would contribute to development of Argentine industry."Breve historia de los ferrocarriles argentinos", La Gazeta
After the nationalisation, the Argentine network continued expansion until 1954, when it reached a peak of length, the most in its history."Voy en tren, voy en avión" by Manolo Lafuente , CBA24N.com"Afirman que la infraestructura ferroviaria es obsoleta", Cadena3, 2 Mar 2015 The Argentine network was also the biggest in Latin America.
Divisions After the nationalisation all the Argentine network was grouped into six railway divisions named after distinguished Argentine presidents and national heroes (such as José de San Martín, Manuel Belgrano, Domingo Sarmiento, Justo José de Urquiza, Bartolomé Mitre and Julio A. Roca) according to their track gauge and locality. Apart from former British and French companies, Argentine ones also became part of "Ferrocarriles Argentinos", the state-owned company specifically created after the nationalisation to manage the entire railway network.
The list of divisions that Ferrocarriles Argentinos was divided into was as follows:
Ferrocarriles Argentinos (1948) Division Provinces covered La Rioja, Catamarca, Córdoba, Tucumán, Formosa, Chaco, Santiago del Estero, Salta, Jujuy, Mendoza Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Córdoba, Sgo. del Estero, Tucumán Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos, Corrientes, Misiones Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Río Negro, Neuquén, Chubut, Santa Cruz Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Córdoba, Mendoza, San Luis, San Juan Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Córdoba, San Luis, Mendoza
Reorganisation
After the nationalisation, the Midland and Compañía General rail lines became part of Belgrano Railway while the province of Buenos Aires Railway was transferred to the state in December 1951, operating as an independent unit until 1953 when it was finally added to Belgrano network.
On 1 January 1954, a new state-owned company, "Ferrocarril Nacional Provincia de Buenos Aires" was established, inheriting the infrastructure and rolling stock from former French companies. The railway network formerly operated by Midland became "M" line, while the Compañía General line became "G" line.
On 14 May 1949, the Argentine state acquired the Buenos Aires Central Railway, owned by the Lacroze Brothers, adding it to the standard gauge General Urquiza Railway network. In 1957 the new General Urquiza railway terminus in Buenos Aires was inaugurated, naming it "Federico Lacroze". The narrow gauge "Ferrocarril Depietri" railway (that connected cities of San Pedro and Arrecifes) would be later added in November 1949.
Nevertheless, trains would be never run again on the line because the Provincial Railway did not show interest in the 68-km length line. The recently created Belgrano Railway did not take over the line. Therefore, the Argentine state returned the line to "Ferrocarriles y Elevadores Depietri" company. Depietri decided to bid the railway infrastructure as scrap. The state finally compensated Depietri for the deterioration of the line and the stolen material in 1975.
In Patagonia region there were only a bunch of rail lines built and managed by the state but not connect between. They were FC Viedma-Nahuel Huapi, Comodoro Rivadavia Railway, Puerto Deseado Railway, all of them of broad gauge. Other railways were of narrow gauge, such as La Trochita, Gral. Vintter to Gral. Conesa (108 km) and Central Chubut Railway that connected Puerto Madryn with Playa Unión and Alto Las Plumas.
Those lines were managed by state-owned Ferrocarriles Patagónicos with the exception of Viedma-Bariloche and Jacobbacci-Esquel that had become part of General Roca Railway after nationalisation. The rest of the network would be added in 1956.
Likewise, other branches were closed, such as the 1,9-km length to Basilica of Our Lady of Luján, where thousand of pilgrims arrived each 8 December. to celebrate Solemnity of the Virgin Mary. Services were cancelled in 1955 and the station demolished, while its tracks were lifted a year later. The Municipality of Luján built a park (named "Basílica") on the same land where the station stood."La estación Basílica, un mojón entrañable" , La Nación, 4 May 2013
Rolling stock improvement
National manufacturers impulse
At the moment of being nationalised, most part of Argentine railways' locomotives still were steam-powered and long-distance trips were in wooden coaches. It was not until the 1950s when the Government acquired brand new diesel locomotives produced in the United States and Belgium, more specifically Cockerill-Ougree, Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton. Also, Budd Company coaches that were previously used on the canceled C&O Chessie would be used in El Marplatense, an express service from Constitución to Mar del Plata with multiple luxury services.
Despite the success of El Marplatense, FA did not acquire new material from Budd Co., Dutch company Werkspoor being the new locomotives, coaches and railcars suppliers. The Werskpoor rolling stock was used for services to Mendoza, Córdoba and Tucumán. Other companies like Ganz and Drewry being the new diesel railcars suppliers
During those years the first diesel locomotive manufactured in Argentina and produced at Liniers workshops by national company Fábrica Argentina de Locomotoras ("FAdeL") was launched in October 1951 by President Perón and its designer and builder, engineer Pedro Sacaggio. That locomotive (officially, "CM1", and named Justicialista) started to run in the summer of 1952-53 serving in El Marplatense and completing the 400-km length in only 4 hours. The CM1 was also used for services to Bariloche and Mendoza at an average speed of 90 km/h.
The second model by FADEL was the CM2 La Argentina, powered with diesel engines by Italian manufacturers FIAT Ferroviaria and Cantieri Riuniti Dell Adriático. Nevertheless, the project to produce 600 locomotives was aborted by the Revolución Libertadora that took the Government in 1955. FADEL was subsequently closed and the plan of construction dismissed.
After the closure of FADEL, Ferrocarriles Argentinos committed a company the manufacturing of 280 locomotives that would be powered with the 280 engines that had been acquired to FIAT, originally intended to be used in the FADEL machines to be built. The new manufacturer was a local Italian-Argentine consortium named "Gruppo Aziende Italiane e Argentine" (mostly known for its acronym "GAIA"). The first 80 units and their engines were totally manufactured in Italy and the remaining 200 were built in Argentina between 1964 and 1970, using mostly national components. Despite the efforts to make a reliable locomotive for the Argentine railways, the GAIA machines did not satisfy the expectations and many units would be removed from circulations, remaining only a few locomotives serving at FA.
In 1958 Sociedad Material Ferroviario ("Materfer") was established by Fiat Ferroviaria, through Fiat Concord, a consortium formed by many FIAT subsidiaries operating in Argentina. The company built a factory to manufacture rolling stock in the country to provide goods for FA."Materfer" on Ferrocarriles del Sud, 2 Oct 2011
That same year the Ministry of Transport of Argentina signed an agreement with Fiat Ferroviaria to acquire 210 brand-new railcars. Those machines were formed by 2 units powered by a FIAT diesel engine at 660 HP. The railcars could reach speeds of 115 km/h. Their low weight made them suitable to run on any railway line. The vehicles also had two driver cabins, one on each end of the car, which reduced the time of manoeuvres at termini stations, particularly in urban services.
Railcars were built in the FIAT factories of Turin, Decauville and Córdoba. Although the first railcars were manufactured in Italy and France, most of them were made in Argentina, in a factory specially designed for that assignment located in Ferreyra, Córdoba and named "Materfer". In 1962, the 7131, a railcar manufactured by FIAT Concord, made its debut in the Villa Ballester-Zárate and Victoria-Capilla del Señor sections of General Mitre Railway, then managed by Ferrocarriles Argentinos. Those light cars replaced Ganz Works railcars that had been run on those lines since 1938.Historia del Ferrocarril al Norte del Gran Buenos Aires: Ferrocarriles Mitre y Belgrano by Ariel Bernasconi - Dunken Editorial (2012) -
Materfer also produced coaches that looked like Werkspoor's that were used for long-distance services to Bariloche (Los Arrayanes), Tucumán (Independencia), Posadas (Cataratas), Mendoza (El Libertador) with international connections with Chile and the Expreso del Sur.
Imported rolling stock
In 1951, the company acquired a total of 46 coaches from US manufacturer Budd Company. The rolling stock, originally built for standard gauge railways, had to be adapted to indian gauge used in Roca Railway. After a probationary period, trains began to run express services to Mar del Plata with a journey time of about 5 hours. Unlike old wooden coaches used until then, the American wagons were made of steel and came with comforts such as air conditioning and double glazing to insulate the passengers from noise, arm chairs, bars and restaurant carriage.El Marplatense, historia de confort on Portal de Trenes