Trenes de Buenos Aires (TBA) (In English: Trains of Buenos Aires) was a

private company A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in the respective listed markets, but rather the company's stock is ...

that operated

commuter rail Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are con ...

services over the

broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union ( C ...

Sarmiento and

Mitre The mitre (Commonwealth English) (; Greek: μίτρα, "headband" or "turban") or miter (American English; see spelling differences), is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in ...

lines of Buenos Aires. The company, owned by Claudio and Mario Cirigliano, also operated long-distance services on the

General Mitre Railway A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED On ...

to central-western Argentina and on the

General Urquiza Railway The General Urquiza Railway (FCGU) (in Spanish: Ferrocarril General Urquiza), named after the Argentine general and politician Justo José de Urquiza, is a standard gauge railway of Argentina which runs approximately northwards from Buenos Aires ...

to northern Argentina and

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 ...

on the international Tren de los Pueblos Libres. From 2004 to 2012 TBA, a company which is a subsidiary of the Plaza Group controlled by the Cirigliano family, was part of the consortium Unidad de Gestión Operativa Ferroviaria de Emergencia (UGOFE) which operated other commuter rail services in Buenos Aires. The company became synonymous with the collapse of the railways in Argentina under

privatisation Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

and the company was subject to numerous investigations and legal proceedings.

History

TBA was established in 1995 after the

Carlos Menem Carlos Saúl Menem (2 July 1930 – 14 February 2021) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. Ideologically, he identified as a Peronist and supported economically liberal policies. He ...

's administration privatised all the railway network, giving the company a concession to operate the

metropolitan Metropolitan may refer to: * Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories * Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England * Metropolitan county, a typ ...

and Sarmiento railway lines by Decree N° 730/95. The company took over both lines on 27 May 1995. During the first two years of the concession, TBA met the requirements specified on the contract, regarding the frequency of the service, with an average of 98%. By February 1999 the consortium had invested US$200 million, which included the reconstruction of 220

Toshiba , commonly known as Toshiba and stylized as TOSHIBA, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure systems, ...

carriages and the remodelling of 13 stations and workshops. In addition, a new ticket selling system was introduced with the installation of automated counters. One of the most notable improvements was the introduction of "Puma" coaches on the Retiro-Tigre branch. Those coaches had been built by local factory Emprendimientos Ferroviarios S.A. (EMFER) and featured air conditioning, ABS brakes and computer-supervising systems. In 1997 the Government decided to modify the contracts of concession with a plan of modernisation worth US$2.5 billion. The future investments required the acquisition of 492 brand-new

electric multiple unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number ...

s, refurbishing of more than 100 km of existing tracks, and the installation of new signalling, among other improvements. Nevertheless, the Government of

Fernando De la Rúa Fernando de la Rúa (15 September 19379 July 2019) was an Argentine politician and a member of the Radical Civic Union (UCR) political party who served as President of Argentina from 10 December 1999 to 21 December 2001. De la Rúa was born in ...

(who had come to power in 1999) made changes to the original project, reducing the amount of the budget to US$1.3 billion. As compensation to the companies, the State provided subsidies to TBA and the other private operators. In addition to the commuter rail services on Sarmiento and Mitre Lines, TBA also operated long-distance passenger trains on the

from Retiro to the cities of

Rosario Rosario () is the largest city in the central Argentine province of Santa Fe. The city is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the west bank of the Paraná River. Rosario is the third-most populous city in the country, and is also the most p ...

, Santa Fe, and points between, in northern Argentina. Including all its commuter and long-distance services, the company ran approximately 1,000 trains per day and carried about 147.7 million passengers annually, or 500,000 daily. From 2004 the company also formed part of Unidad de Gestión Operativa Ferroviaria de Emergencia (UGOFE), a consortium with railway companies Metrovías and Ferrovías, which took over the running of commuter rail services on Belgrano Sur, Roca and San Martín lines in Buenos Aires after concessions granted to Metropolitano S.A. for the operation of these services were revoked.

Revocation of concession

Following a commuter train accident on 22 February 2012, at Once Station,

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 ...

, in which 51 people died and at least 703 people were injured, TBA was placed under federal intervention on 28 February. Its concessions to operate the Mitre and Sarmiento lines were revoked on 24 May. After the cancellation of the contact, both lines were taken over by the consortium

Unidad de Gestión Operativa Mitre Sarmiento Unidad de Gestión Operativa Mitre-Sarmiento (UGOMS) was a temporary consortium of Argentine companies formed on 24 May 2012 by Ferrovías and Metrovías to take over the running of the Sarmiento and Mitre commuter rail lines, after concessions ...

(UGOMS) and later Trenes Argentinos, putting them back in state hands. In October 2015, an exposé in the conservative daily newspaper

La Nación ''La Nación'' () is an Argentine daily newspaper. As the country's leading conservative newspaper, ''La Nación''s main competitor is the more liberal '' Clarín''. It is regarded as a newspaper of record for Argentina. Its motto is: "''La N ...

highlighted the firm's apparent mismanagement while in charge of the commuter rail lines. The article revealed large expenditures by the private company on luxury items including jewellery and champagne, as well as trips to

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor, it is home to m ...

and

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, wikt:دبي, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the List of cities in the United Arab Emirates#Major cities, most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 ...

. At the same time, the company was still under investigation into the Once Tragedy and still had AR$ 70 million worth of unpaid fines as a result of its business practices. It was also revealed that the company had bribed the former transport minister Ricardo Jaime, who was also under investigation. Sergio Cigliano, one of the owners of TBA, was convicted and sentenced to nine years in prison for negligence surrounding the original accident which had resulted in the revocation of concession.

Gallery

File:Vista Aérea Ferrocarril Sarmiento - Ciudad de Merlo.JPG, File:UrbanoTBA.jpg, File:Alco en via 3º.JPG, File:Trencercariolujan.JPG, File:Trenesbuenosaires.jpg, File:Trenesbaires.jpg,

References

External links

Official website
(Archive) 1 February 2012 {{DEFAULTSORT:Trenes De Buenos Aires Defunct railway companies of Argentina Railway companies established in 1995 Railway companies disestablished in 2012 5 ft 6 in gauge railways in Argentina Rail transport in Buenos Aires Province

History

Revocation of concession

Gallery

See also

References

External links