The Alerce is an

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

railcar A railcar (not to be confused with the generic term railroad car or 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 coa ...

produced by the

Emepa Group Emepa Group S.A. (, an acronym for Empresa Metalúrgica Patricias Argentinas)

in Chascomús,

Buenos Aires Province Buenos Aires, officially the Buenos Aires Province, is the largest and most populous Provinces of Argentina, Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of the province an ...

. , the units are produced for the General Belgrano Railway's narrow gauge network and are currently used on commuter rail services, though a broad gauge variant is currently in the works. They are designed to be easily converted into

Electric Multiple Units 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 ...

, though only diesel variants have been produced to date. The Alerce's namesake is the common name of ''

Fitzroya cupressoides ''Fitzroya'' is a monotypic genus in the cypress family. The single living species, ''Fitzroya cupressoides'', is a tall, long-lived conifer native to the Andes mountains and coastal regions of southern Chile, and only to the Argentine Andes, w ...

'', a coniferous tree native to Argentina and

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

Overview

The first prototype of the Alerce began circulating the

Belgrano Norte Line The Belgrano Norte line is a commuter rail service in Buenos Aires, Argentina run by the private company Ferrovías since 1 April 1994. This service had previously been run by the state-owned General Belgrano Railway since nationalisation of ...

on test runs in 2012 from

Boulogne Sur Mer Boulogne Sur Mer is a town in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is in San Isidro Partido and forms part of the Greater Buenos Aires urban conurbation, north of Buenos Aires. It has a population of 89,046 (2001 INDEC census). The town is na ...

Retiro Belgrano railway station Retiro-Belgrano, or simply Retiro, is one of the six large mainline railway station termini in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Located in the neighborhood of Retiro, it serves as terminal station for the Belgrano Norte Line that runs local trains to ...

and the National Government then decided to purchase 20 trains from Emepa for use on the line. Each train has a capacity for 240 passengers and feature intelligent doors,

air conditioning Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C (US) or air con (UK), is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior temperature, and in some cases, also controlling the humidity of internal air. Air c ...

security camera A closed-circuit television camera is a type of surveillance camera that transmits video signals to a specific set of monitors or video recording devices, rather than broadcasting the video over public airwaves. The term "closed-circuit televisi ...

s, disabled access and

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for Wireless LAN, local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by ...

. The Alerce's engine is located between the two carriages on its own articulated

bogie A bogie ( ) (or truck in North American English) comprises two or more Wheelset (rail transport), wheelsets (two Railroad wheel, wheels on an axle), in a frame, attached under a vehicle by a pivot. Bogies take various forms in various modes ...

with an access corridor between the two carriages. The trains use 90% of its parts from Argentine origin, with the remaining 10% being specialised parts imported from abroad, such as the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

brakes and

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n intelligent doors. The trains are also designed to be easily converted into

should the lines they run on be electrified.Servicio diferencial en la Línea Belgrano Norte con coches motores "Alerce"
- Cronica Ferroviaria, 26 March 2015. In June 2015 it was announced that Emepa would produce a broad gauge variant of the Alerce for use on local service on the General Roca Railway.

Usage

The narrow gauge variant of the Alerce is currently used for differential services on the

commuter rail service in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

. The service stops at

, the

University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires (, UBA) is a public university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is the second-oldest university in the country, and the largest university of the country by enrollment. Established in 1821 ...

' Ciudad Universitaria campus, Aristóbulo del Valle and Del Viso with prices ranging from AR$ 1.50-17 with a

SUBE card The Sistema Único de Boleto Electrónico (''Unique Electronic Ticket System'', mostly known for its acronym SUBE) is a contactless smart card system introduced in Argentina in February 2009. It is used on public transport services within the Bueno ...

and AR$3–34 without a SUBE card. The journey time between Retiro and Del Viso is 65 minutes. Unlike the rest of the line operated by

Ferrovías Ferrovías S.A.C. is a privately owned company which, on 1 April 1994, took over the concession, granted by the Argentine government as part of railway privatisation during the presidency of Carlos Menem, for the operation of the (metre gauge) ...

, the service is operated by the state-owned

Trenes Argentinos Trenes Argentinos is the name that has been given since 2014 to a group of state-owned companies of Argentina, responsible for the operation of passenger and freight trains, infrastructure, and personal management. Although all its components are ...

. The service was also going to have a stop at

Aeroparque Jorge Newbery Jorge Newbery Airfield , commonly known as Aeroparque, is an international airport northwest of Buenos Aires Central Business District, downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. The airport covers an area of and is operated by ''Aeropuertos Argentina ...

airport, however this station was cancelled with the Ministry of the Interior and Transport citing the station causing a possible increase in security concerns at the airport as the reason for its cancellation. The broad gauge variant of the Alerce will be used on the General Roca Railway between

Constitución railway station Constitución railway station () is a large railway station in Constitución, Buenos Aires, Constitución, a in central Buenos Aires, Argentina. The full official name of the station is (in English: Constitution Square Station) reflecting the fa ...

and Dolores on a rural service which will stop at all stations between the two termini. In April 2018, Emepa provided the two last Alerce vehicles (from a total of 20) that had been commissioned to be used in the regional services

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 Capilla del Monte, being currently operated by state-ow ...

( Córdoba Province) and Salta – Gral. Güemes (

Salta Province Salta () is a Provinces of Argentina, province of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the east clockwise Formosa Province, Formosa, Chaco Province, Chaco, Santiago del Estero Province, Santiago del Es ...

). In 2020, two coaches else commissioned to Emepa were added to the Salta Service.El servicio de tren Salta-Güemes contará con un nuevo coche motor
on El Tribuno, 13 Nov 2020

References

{{Rolling stock manufacturers of Argentina Multiple units of Argentina Emepa Group Train-related introductions in 2015

Overview

Usage

See also

References