Ferrobaires

The Unidad Ejecutora del Plan Ferroviario Provincial (UEPFP) (in English: "Executive Unit of the Provincial Railway Plan"), mostly known under its trade name Ferrobaires, was a public railway company which operated extensive long-distance passenger trains throughout the Buenos Aires Province in Argentina. The company was primarily owned and funded by the Buenos Aires provincial government led by Eduardo Duhalde. The name "Ferrobaires" is a combination of the Spanish words for "Rail Buenos Aires."

From its base in the city of Buenos Aires, Ferrobaires rail lines extended south and west across the province. The company transported approximately 1.5 million passengers annually and operated from all three major rail termini in the city of Buenos Aires: Retiro (San Martín), Constitución, and Once, running trains on its 5,500 km of rail tracks.[3]

History

Background

All of the routes which were managed by Ferrobaires were previously operated by Ferrocarriles Argentinos, the country's former national passenger railway corporation.

Decline

In June 2016, after a Ferrobaires train collided with a Belgrano Cargas y Logística freight train in Rawson, a city in Chacabuco Partido, the Government of Buenos Aires Province led by María Eugenia Vidal ordered the suspension of all services (eight in total) operated by Ferrobaires. That decision was taken alleging "the need of preserving security of passengers and service operators".[15]

Nevertheless, it was announced that the service from Constitución to Mar del Plata would remain active as it would be transferred to the National Government. Likewise, a report by "Auditoría General de la Nación" (General Auditing Office of Argentina) revealed that rolling stock, rail tracks and signal systems had severely deteriorated due to the lack of maintenance. As of June 2016, the operation of services by Ferrobaires was costing $1,200 million per year, with annual income of only $60 million.[16]

In July 2016, it was announced that Ferrobaires would be shut down and all of its personnel and infrastructure transferred to the National Government,[17] a process that had been unsuccessfully attempted in 2007.[18] Passenger services formerly operated by the provincial administration (since 1993) would be run by the Operadora Ferroviaria Sociedad del Estado (SOFSE).[19] In January 2018, Governor Vidal signed the decree to transfer Ferrobaires services and assets to the National State.[20][21]

Services taken over by SOFSE included the following lines: Plaza Constitución to Bahía Blanca, Bariloche, Quequén and Bolívar; Olavarría to Bahía Blanca; Once to Toay, General Pico, General Villegas, Darregueira and Lincoln; Lincoln to Villegas and Pasteur; Retiro to Alberti and Junín; Federico Lacroze to Rojas. All those services were part of the original set of railway services transferred to the Buenos Aires province in 1992. The Mar del Plata – Miramar and General Guido – General Madariaga lines (not included in the original Decree N° 1168/92)[19] had been re-established by the Provincial Government after the transfer of the services.[22]

trade name	Ferrobaires
type	Public
industry	Railway
fate	Defunct
predecessor	Ferrocarriles Argentinos
successor	Trenes Argentinos
founded	15 January 1993 in La Plata, Argentina‡R1R‡
founder	Government of Buenos Aires Province
defunct	15 March 2018
hq location city	La Plata
hq location country	Argentina
area served	Buenos Aires Province
key people	Héctor Dotti‡R2R‡ (General Administrator)
services	Rail transport
net income	$A 60 million (2016)
owner	Buenos Aires Province

History

Background

Operation

Decline

Services

External links

References