Belgrano Cargas S.A. was an Argentine State-owned company which operated the gauge freight rail network built by Central Northern and Province of Santa Fe Railways, which became part of Belgrano Railway network after railway nationalization of 1948. The network operated by Belgrano Cargas extended through the provinces of

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 ...

, Santa Fe, Córdoba, Mendoza, Santiago del Estero, San Juan,

La Rioja La Rioja () is an autonomous community and province in Spain, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Its capital is Logroño. Other cities and towns in the province include Calahorra, Arnedo, Alfaro, Haro, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, an ...

, Catamarca, Tucumán, Chaco, Formosa,

Salta Salta () is the capital and largest city in the Argentine province of the same name. With a population of 618,375 according to the 2010 census, it is also the 7th most-populous city in Argentina. The city serves as the cultural and economic ce ...

and

Jujuy San Salvador de Jujuy (), commonly known as Jujuy and locally often referred to as San Salvador, is the capital and largest city of Jujuy Province in northwest Argentina. Also, it is the seat of the Doctor Manuel Belgrano Department. It lies near ...

. The line also reached all the Argentina's neighbouring countries, such as Bolivia,

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

and

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 ...

. In more recent years, the name ''Belgrano Cargas'' is often erroneously used by the Argentine government and press to refer to the entirety of the country's freight network, and more specifically those parts operated by Belgrano Cargas y Logística. The name has stuck despite the fright network encompassing numerous other Argentine railways, of which the General Belgrano Railway is only one.

History

As part of a national railway privatisation plan carried out under the presidency of Carlos Menem from 1992, a 30-year concession to operate the network was granted to "Belgrano Cargas S.A.", formed by the union of railway workers, "Unión Ferroviaria" (51%), and Laguna Paiva (48%), an industrial cooperative, on 16 November 1999. The government retained a 1% golden share and the right to elect one director. Nevertheless, the union was involved in suspicions about the handling of the funds received to operate the line. The union alleged that the Government did not invest enough to reactivate the line which was in critical condition when they took over. In 1998 Belgrano Cargas carried 3,287,515 tonnes a year. In 2006 it decreased to 500,000 tonnes."Estatizan el ferrocarril Belgrano Cargas", ''La Nación'', 23 May 2013
/ref> During presidency of

Néstor Kirchner Néstor Carlos Kirchner (; 25 February 195027 October 2010) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 2003 to 2007, Governor of Santa Cruz Province from 1991 to 2003, Secretary General of UNASUR and ...

, two tenders failed due to lack of interested investors. Soon after, "Shima", a Chinese company associated with local entrepreneur Franco Macri presented an investment plan consisting of AR$ 1,400 million. This consortium finally withdrew when the Government imposed as a condition that private holdings Emepa Group and Grupo Roggio (owners of railway operators Ferrovías and Metrovías respectively) should be part of the operator holding along with Unión Ferroviaria and other transport unions of Argentina. In 2008, the Government of Argentina ceased the concession granted to Belgrano Cargas S.A. to operate Ferrocarril Belgrano's freight services. Belgrano Cargas y Logística was established in May 2013 by National decree, to take over Ferrocarril Belgrano's freight services, formerly operated by Belgrano Cargas. In June that same year the company also took over some services from Urquiza, San Martín and Sarmiento railways.

References

{{Railway Companies in Argentina Defunct railway companies of Argentina Metre gauge railways in Argentina

History

See also

References