page_title: Domingo Faustino Sarmiento Railway
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Domingo Faustino Sarmiento Railway / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Versailles train station, terminus of the BA Great Southern Railway's Villa Luro–Versailles branch. The line operated from 1911 to 1953.
context_page_description: The Domingo Faustino Sarmiento Railway, named after the former Argentine president, statesman, educator, and author Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, is one of the six state-owned Argentine railway divisions formed after President Juan Perón's nationalisation of the Argentine railway network in 1948. The six companies were managed by Ferrocarriles Argentinos which was later broken up during the process of railway privatisation beginning in 1991 during Carlos Menem's presidency.
  The principal lines departed from Once railway station in Buenos Aires to the west through the provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Córdoba, San Luis and Mendoza.
  The railway was created after the nationalization of 5 ft 6 in broad gauge lines on the British-owned company Buenos Aires Western Railway on 13 February 1947. The state-owned company created with the nationalization, Ferrocarriles Argentinos took over all the English and French railway lines.
  When Ferrocarriles Argentinos was dissolved and the long-distance services closed by the government of Argentina, the freight lines of the FC Sarmiento were given in concession to Ferroexpreso Pampeano.
context_section_description: The Ferrocarril Sarmiento was the successor of Buenos Aires Western Railway, a company founded by a group of porteño people from the "Sociedad del Camino de Hierro de Buenos Aires al Oeste". Initially a State company, this railway had been the first of Argentina, inaugurated on 29 August 1857. During its first years the service covered a 10 km path from the Plaza Del Parque station (where the Teatro Colón is located nowadays) to La Floresta, then part of San José de Flores Partido. The railway expanded its service to the most productive zones of Buenos Aires Province. During this period, the BAWR's main rival was the Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway so both companies were involved in a hard competition to extend their rails to the southwest territory of Buenos Aires.
  In 1887 the Argentine state and provincial governments sold all the public companies, with the argument "The State is the worst administrator" (according to then president Miguel Juárez Celman's speech). Therefore, the BAWR was sold to British company "The Buenos Aires Western Railway Limited", mostly known for its Spanish form "Ferrocarril del Oeste". Once it was given to the British, the railway continued expanding along the country, reaching the La Pampa, San Luis and Mendoza Provinces. By 1914 the line extended to the Andes but the beginning of World War I frustrated the plans to cross to neighborhood Republic of Chile.
  After a brief period of prosperity during the decade of 1920, the situation becomes critical with the 1929 crash and the economic depression. By 1945 the British and French companies were seriously affected by the World War II, beginning contacts with the Government of Argentina to sell their railway lines that still operated in the country. As a result, the railway assets were acquired by the State of Argentina between 1 November 1947 and 1 March 1948. President Juan Domingo Perón sign the agreement whereby the government took over all the railway line.
  That same year, a decree by the presidency stated that the railway lines would be named with names of national heroes or notable people of Argentina. The Ferrocarril del Oeste received the name "Domingo Faustino Sarmiento", honoring the memory of educator and former President of Argentina born in San Juan Province (one of the regions served by the railway). The branch Darragueira-Huinca Renancó of Bahía Blanca and North Western Railway, that had been administrated by the Great Western Railway) was also added to the FC Sarmiento.
caption: Versalles station.
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