History
The project to nationalise all the Argentine railway network had been announced by President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner during her speech at the Congress of Argentina's 133rd-year inaugural session on 1 March 2015.[7][8]
At the time the project was sent to the Congress to be discussed, only Belgrano Norte and Urquiza lines (operated by Ferrovías and Metrovías respectively) were under private concessions for passenger services, while Nuevo Central Argentino (NCA), Ferroexpreso Pampeano and Ferrosur companies operated freight trains.
On 15 April 2015, the Congress of Argentina adopted the creation of "Ferrocarriles Argentinos Sociedad del Estado", with 53 votes in favour and 2 votes against.[5][9] Therefore, the Government of Argentina will take over the operation and maintenance of all the railway lines after they had granted to private companies during Carlos Menem's administration in the early 1990s.[10] The re-nationalisation law was officially promulgated on May 20, 2015.[1]
It was also announced that private companies still operating services at the time the law was promulgated, Nuevo Central Argentino, Ferroexpreso Pampeano, Ferrosur Roca, Metrovías and Ferrovías will continue their activities although Ferrocarriles Argentinos S.E. will be able to renegotiate or even cancel the contracts of concession.[10]
As part of a plan of rail transport modernisation announced by the Ministry of Transport led by Mario Meoni,[11] on March 8, 2021, "Ferrocarriles Argentinos S.E." was relaunched, setting its new offices at Constitución railway station. FASE had been inactive during the government of Mauricio Macri, when its divisions operated independently. The relaunch included a new logo, inspired on the homonymous company dissolved in 1993.[12][6]
In October 2024, FASE's human resources division, "Trenes Argentinos Capital Humano", was dissolved by the national government leaded by Javier Milei. It was alleged that the dissolution would represent a cost saving of $42,000 million per year.[13][14]
