Ferrocentral was 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 ...

private railway company, with a name being a portmanteau of the Spanish words for "Central Rail". It operated long-distance passenger trains from its base at Retiro Mitre station 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 ...

to several locations in northern Argentina, running on Ferrocarril Mitre's Indian gauge tracks. The company also ran regional services (such as Tren de las Sierras) on Ferrocarril Belgrano's tracks in Córdoba Province. The National Government invested $10 million to re-open the line.

History

All of the train routes managed by Ferrocentral had been previously operated by Ferrocarriles Argentinos, the country's now-defunct national passenger railroad corporation. After the

privatisation Privatization (rendered 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 w ...

of Ferrocarriles Argentinos starting in 1991, many train services across Argentina were indefinitely discontinued. Since the year 2005, however, Ferrocentral was formed and successfully resurrected some passenger lines. Ferrocentral was established in 2005, being formed by two railway companies, Nuevo Central Argentino (concessionary of Ferrocarril Mitre's freight services) and Ferrovías (which operates the Belgrano Norte Line) with the purpose of running trains from Retiro station in

to the city of Córdoba. In 2006 Ferrocentral started to run trains to Tucumán, with stops in

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

and La Banda, a city of

Santiago del Estero Province Santiago del Estero (), also known simply as Santiago, is a Provinces of Argentina, province in the north of Argentina. Neighboring provinces, clockwise from the north, are Salta Province, Salta, Chaco Province, Chaco, Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe, ...

. Long-distance passenger trains were tractioned by GT22

diesel locomotives A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover (locomotive), power source is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is con ...

. Most services operated in the late night and early morning hours as the rail lines are used for transporting cargo during the daytime. One year later the company also re-opened the Tren de las Sierras ("

Mountain Range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have aris ...

Train") of Córdoba Province that connected the cities of Córdoba and Cosquín. On 2013, Ministry of Transport of Argentina, Florencio Randazzo, signed a resolution transferring the services to Córdoba and

San Miguel de Tucumán San Miguel de Tucumán (), usually called simply Tucumán, is the capital and largest city of Tucumán Province, located in northern Argentina from Buenos Aires. It is the fifth-largest city of Argentina after Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Argentin ...

to State-owned companies SOFSE (also known as "Trenes Argentinos") and Administración de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias (ADIF). In addition, some problems with ticket sales were reported by users, accusing the company to give a poor service for online purchasing, as well as the virtually nil availability of seats. In November 2014, the

Government of Argentina The government of Argentina, within the framework of a federal system, is a presidential system, presidential Representative democracy, representative democratic republic. The president of Argentina is both head of state and head of government. ...

(through the State-owned company Trenes Argentinos S.A.) took over the services to

, Tucumán and Córdoba, leaving Ferrocentral inactive.

Services

Services operated as of October 2014:"Servicios" on Ferrocentral website
(Archive)

References

External links

Official website
(archived, 17 Dec 2008) {{Railway Companies in Argentina Defunct railway companies of Argentina Emepa Group Railway companies established in 2004 Railway companies disestablished in 2014 2004 establishments in Argentina 2014 disestablishments in Argentina Rail transport in Buenos Aires Province Rail transport in Córdoba Province, Argentina Rail transport in Santa Fe Province Transport in Tucumán Province Transport in Santiago del Estero Province