page_title: Railway privatisation in Argentina
section_title: Commuter rail (Buenos Aires)
hierarchical_section_title: Railway privatisation in Argentina / Passenger services / Commuter rail (Buenos Aires)
caption_attribution_description: English: EMD GT22CW locomotive (A903) of the Roca Line. Photo taken in La Plata Railway Station, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. Español: Locomotora EMD GT22CW (A903) de la Línea General Roca. Fotografía tomada en la estación La Plata, Provincia de Buenos Aires, 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: In March 1991 the government separated the urban passenger rail services and metro operating within the city of Buenos Aires from the rest of the rail network, and to this end created the holding company Ferrocarriles Metropolitanos S.A. (FEMESA) whilst the freight concessionaires were expected to make a profit, it was recognized that the operation of these services would require public subsidy. Concessions were granted to the bidder who would require the lowest subsidy. Four companies bid successfully for the seven lines originally operated by the six divisions of Ferrocarriles Argentinos, together with the Subte, as shown below:
  Notes:
  ¹ Took over by Trenes Argentinos Operadora Ferroviaria when contracts of concession were revoked or expired.
  The concessions were mainly for 10 years, with an optional 10-year extension, except for the Metro and the Línea Urquiza which were for an initial term of 20 years.  As in the case of the freight concessions, the government maintained ownership of the assets, whilst the concessionaires undertook to operate their services as described in their original bid. Maximum fares were set by the government but were subject to automatic increases according to service quality and the prevailing rate of inflation. Financial penalties would be levied if agreed levels of service were not achieved.
  In spite of these companies receiving large government subsidies, the services operated by Metropolitano deteriorated to a point where the concession for the operation of Línea San Martín was revoked in 2004 and concessions for the operation of the other two lines by the company were revoked in 2007. All three lines were subsecquently operated by transitional private consortium UGOFE.
  Trenes de Buenos Aires operated the Mitre and Sarmiento lines until the concession was revoked after the Once rail disaster on February 22, 2012, at Once Station, Buenos Aires, in which 51 people died and at least 703 people were injured, TBA was placed under federal intervention on February 28; its concessions to operate the Mitre and Sarmiento lines were ultimately revoked on May 24. After the cancellation of the contact, both lines were taken over by transitional consortium Unidad de Gestión Operativa Mitre Sarmiento (UGOMS). Metrovías took over the operation of the Buenos Aires Subte, the Buenos Aires Premetro, and the Urquiza Line in 1994, and established an earlier closing time of 23:00 on all three systems in order to conduct extensive maintenance and reconstruction works, which was retained even after the reconstruction works were completed. Numerous proposals to extend the operating hours of all three Metrovías-operated services have failed.
  When UGOFE and UGOMS were dissolved, Corredores Ferroviarios (a company part of Grupo Roggio, which also owns Metrovías) and Argentren took over the Mitre / San Martín and Belgrano Sur / Roca lines, respectively. The company operated both lines until the government rescinded the agreement with the company in March 2015.
  Apart from Corredores Ferroviarios, other private company, Argentren S.A., was granted concession to operate the Roca and Belgrano Sur lines. The contract was also revoked by the government in March 2015.
caption: A Metropolitano train in La Plata.
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