Argentine State Railway

Argentine State Railway
	A Ganz Mávag train unit crossing Av. del Libertador in Vicente López.
Native name	Ferrocarriles del Estado
Company type	State-owned
Industry	Railway
Founded	1909
Defunct	1948; 76 years ago
Successor	Ferrocarriles Argentinos
Headquarters	Santa Fe, Argentina
Key people	Pablo Nogués (Director)
Services	Rail transport
Owner	Government of Argentina

Argentine State Railway (in Spanish: Ferrocarriles del Estado) was a State-owned railway company of Argentina, established by Law N° 6.757 in October 1909, when José Figueroa Alcorta was the President of Argentina. The company built and operated railway lines in Argentina.

History

By 1905 the State-owned railway network was 3,490 km length, with the Ferrocarril Central Norte (FCN) being the longest with 1,385 km and the Ferrocarril Argentino del Norte (FAN) with 563 km. Five years later, FCN was 2,135 km long and FAN 1,355 km.

In 1925, the Argentine State Railway ranked 2nd among the most important companies in the country, operating a railway network of 6,617 km. By 1936 the railway network had been extended to 9,690 km.

Most of the railway lines built by the Argentine state were metre gauge because of financial reasons. In 1937 the State company began to acquire some existing companies with the purpose of competing against British railway companies. In 1948 Argentine State Company (along with British and French companies) became part of Ferrocarriles Argentinos after nationalisation of the railway network, headed by then-President Juan Domingo Perón. Therefore, the Central Northern rail lines were added to General Belgrano Railway network while the Patagonian railways became part of General Roca Railway.

Railway network

Argentine State Railway network as of 1936:

Central Northern network

Patagonian rail lines

Main	Division	Province/s	Line/s	Gauge	Length (Km)
Central Northern ^{[n 1]}		La Rioja Catamarca Córdoba Tucumán Formosa Chaco Santiago del Estero Salta	Córdoba - La Rioja (via Cruz del Eje) Chumbicha - Catamarca Deán Funes - Laguna Paiva Córdoba - La Puerta Serrezuela - San Juan - Formosa - Embarcación Sáenz Peña - Metán Tucumán - Santa Fe Quimilí - Barranqueras	1,000	7,500
Patagónicos	Central Chubut	Chubut	Puerto Madryn - Trelew Gaiman - Dolavon	1,000	104
	S. Antonio - N. Huapi	Río Negro Chubut	C. de Patagones - Bariloche Ing. Jacobacci - Esquel (La Trochita) Gral. Vintter - Gral. Conesa	1,676 0,750	1,316
	Comodoro Rivadavia	Chubut	C. Rivadavia - Colonia Sarmiento	1,676	208
	Puerto Deseado	Chubut, Santa Cruz	Puerto Deseado - Las Heras	1,676	286