Argentine State Railway (in

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 ...

: Ferrocarriles del Estado) was a State-owned

railway company A railway company is a company within the rail industry. It can be a manufacturing firm or an rail transport operations, operator. Some railway companies operate both the trains and the track, while, particularly in the European Union, operation ...

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 ...

, established by Law N° 6.757 in October 1909, when

José Figueroa Alcorta José María Cornelio Figueroa Alcorta (November 20, 1860 – December 27, 1931) was an Argentine lawyer and politician, who managed to be the only person to head the three powers of the State: Vice President of the Nation (President of the ...

was the President of Argentina. The company built and operated railway lines in Argentina.

History

By 1905 the State-owned railway network was 3,490 km length, with the

Ferrocarril Central Norte The Central Northern Railway (Spanish: ''Ferrocarril Central Norte'', FCCN) was the first (metre gauge) railway built by the Argentine State Railway. Its aim was to extend the existing British-owned Central Argentine broad gauge) railway from ...

(FCN) being the longest with 1,385 km and the

Ferrocarril Argentino del Norte The North Argentine Railway (native name: Ferrocarril Argentino del Norte) was a Government-owned corporation, State-owned railway company which built a (metre gauge) railway network in the Argentina, Argentine provinces of Catamarca Province, C ...

(FAN) with 563 km. Five years later, FCN was 2,135 km long and FAN 1,355 km. In 1925, the Argentine State Railway ranked 2nd among the most important companies in the country, operating a railway network of 6,617 km. By 1936 the railway network had been extended to 9,690 km. Most of the railway lines built by the Argentine state were metre gauge because of financial reasons. In 1937 the State company began to acquire some existing companies with the purpose of competing against British railway companies. In 1948 Argentine State Company (along with British and French companies) became part of

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 ...

after nationalisation of the railway network, headed by then-President

Juan Domingo Perón ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, ...

. Therefore, the Central Northern rail lines were added to

General Belgrano Railway The General Manuel Belgrano Railway (FCGMB) (Spanish: Ferrocarril General Manuel Belgrano), named after the Argentine politician and military leader Manuel Belgrano, is a railway and the longest of the Argentine system. It was one of the six ...

network while the Patagonian railways became part of

General Roca Railway The General Roca Railway (FCGR) (native name: Ferrocarril General Roca) is a broad gauge railway in Argentina which runs from Constitución station in Buenos Aires to the south of the country through the provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, ...

Railway network

Argentine State Railway network as of 1936: Central norte railw map

Note: * ⁽¹⁾ ''The Central Northern had previously taken over North Argentine Railway in 1909.''

Gallery

File:Est_Boca_de_la_Zanja.jpg, Boca de Zanja station, Chubut File:Est Trelew hacia 1900.jpg, Trelew station, c. 1900. File:Ferrocarril_Km_3.jpg, A train arriving km. 3 in Chubut. File:Baldwin Dolavon.jpg, Locomotives in Dolavón. File:Ferrocarriles del Estado (Bourquin y Kohlmann).jpg, Headquarters in

Retiro, Buenos Aires Retiro is a ''barrio'' or neighborhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Located in the northeast end of the city, Retiro is bordered on the south by the Puerto Madero and San Nicolás, and on the west by the Recoleta. History Towards the end of the ...

. File:Uno de los primeros coches a motor en la línea Córdoba - Cruz del Eje.jpeg, Railcar on the Córdoba - Cruz del Eje line

Bibliography

Ferrocarriles del Estado on CEPAL Library
* ''Historia de la Ingeniería Argentina'', Centro Argentino de Ingenieros (1981) {{Authority control Railway companies established in 1909 Railway companies disestablished in 1948

History

Railway network

Gallery

See also

Bibliography