page_title: Railway privatisation in Argentina
section_title: Freight Services
hierarchical_section_title: Railway privatisation in Argentina / Freight Services
caption_attribution_description: English: Two General Motors G12 Ferroexpreso Pampeano locmotives carrying frieght in Argentina.
context_page_description: Railway privatisation in Argentina was a process which began in 1993 under the presidency of Carlos Menem, following a series of neoliberal economic reforms. This primarily consisted of breaking-up the state-owned railway company Ferrocarriles Argentinos and allowing the former lines to be operated by private companies instead of the state. This policy was met with widespread criticism and proved catastrophic for the Argentine railways whose service worsened significantly in the years that followed, with entire lines closing and infrastructure deteriorating beyond repair. Privatisation was ultimately reversed in 2015 with the creation of Nuevos Ferrocarriles Argentinos.
context_section_description: Although FA supported the idea of operating the freight line competing with private companies, the Ministry of Public Works (assisted by the World Bank) excluded FA from the activity, allowing only private concessionaires to operate the lines. In 1990 a program of restructuring was signed by FA, the Ministry and the World Bank. That agreement was the first official document to suggest the possibility to exclude FA from the operation of public transport.
  The government granted concessions for a term of 30 years, extensible to 10 years else. It was also established that investments made by private operators became property of the state when the contract of concession finished. The concessionaire only kept the rolling stock or other goods acquired during the term of concession.
  For freight transport, the government established zones of interest according to traffic. The first section was Rosario–Bahía Blanca with a traffic estimated in 2,000,000 tones carried by year along its 5,300-km length. The second section was the Urquiza Railway with 1,200,000 ton per year along 2,700-km length. The third section was Mitre Railway with 2,500,000 tons (also considering the possibility of passenger services) in its 4,800-km length. The San Martín Railway was included as the fourth section, with 4,700-km length
  Most part of Roca Railway was granted in concession to Ferrosur Roca, property of Loma Negra, the largest cement producer of Argentina. The San Martín was granted to Buenos Aires al Pacífico S.A. while Sarmiento was granted to Ferroexpreso Pampeano (owned by Techint), Urquiza to Ferrocarril Mesopotámico and Mitre to Nuevo Central Argentino.
  Only the Belgrano Railway freight service remained under the control of the state due to lack of interest from private inversors. Nevertheless, the railway would be granted to Belgrano Cargas S.A., a consortium established by railway union "Unión Ferroviaria" in 1999. That same year, Brazilian company América Latina Logística (ALL) took over the Urquiza and San Martín lines replacing Ferrocarril Mesopotámico and BAP respectively.
  Freight services were granted in concession as follows:
  Notes:
  ¹ Only the Rosario and Puerto Belgrano line.
  ² Not to be confused with the British-owned company Buenos Aires and Pacific Railway, the original concessionary and builder of the line that had been awarded concession in 1872.
  ² Took over by state-owned Belgrano Cargas y Logística in 2013.
caption: Ferroexpreso Pampeano operated Sarmiento Railway.
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