Servicios Ferroviarios del Chaco S.A. (also known for its acronym SEFECHA) (in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

: "Chaco Railway Services") was a State-owned

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

company which operated passenger rail services in the

Chaco Province Chaco (; Wichi: ''To-kós-wet''), officially the Province of Chaco ( es, provincia del Chaco ), is one of the 23 provinces in Argentina. Its capital and largest city, is Resistencia. It is located in the north-east of the country. It is borde ...

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 ...

. These services had been previously been run by the state-owned company

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 ...

since railway nationalization in 1948.

History

As part of railway privatisation carried out during the presidency of Carlos Menem, a concession to operate the services was granted to the government of

in 1992, being later transferred to "Servicios Ferroviarios del Chaco" (also known for its acronym "SEFECHA") in August 1999. The Government of Chaco carried out a plan to rehabilitate some branches within the Province, the first being the Cacuí-La Sabana line, which was re-opened in December 1997 running

railcar A railcar (not to be confused with a railway car) is a self-propelled railway vehicle designed to transport passengers. The term "railcar" is usually used in reference to a train consisting of a single coach (carriage, car), with a dri ...

s by MAN. In March 1998, another service was added, the Sáenz Peña-Taco Pozo line, with 3 trains a week. The 319 km route covered the north of

Santiago del Estero Province Santiago del Estero (), also known simply as Santiago, is a province in the north of Argentina. Neighboring provinces, clockwise from the north, are Salta, Chaco, Santa Fe, Córdoba, Catamarca and Tucumán. History The indigenous inhabita ...

. That same year SEFECHA re-opened the 190 km long Sáenz Peña- Chorotis branch. The Cacuí- Resistencia-

Barranqueras Barranqueras is a city in the southeast of the province of Chaco, Argentina, on a small tributary river on the right-hand-side (western) shore of the Paraná River, only 7 km from the provincial capital Resistencia and within its metropo ...

line (which service was named ''Metropolitano'') was re-established in August 1999, using re-modeled Ferrostaal railcars. In May 2010, the Government of Argentina took over services previously operated by SEFECHA, which was dissolved."Sefecha pasó a la Nación"
''Diario Norte'', 5 May 2010 These services, together with those of

Tren de las Sierras Tren de las Sierras (technically known as the "A-1" branch of the General Belgrano Railway) is a regional rail line in Córdoba Province of Argentina. The line runs from Alta Córdoba to Cosquín, being currently operated by state-owned com ...

in Córdoba Province, are the only ex-General Manuel Belgrano Railway passenger services in the interior of the country that are still in operation.

Services

Two services were run by SEFECHA until 2010:

References

{{Railway Companies in Argentina Defunct railway companies of Argentina Railway companies established in 1999 Metre gauge railways in Argentina 1999 establishments in Argentina Transport in Chaco Province

History

Services

See also

References