Entre Ríos Railway
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The Entre Ríos Railway (ER) (in Spanish: Ferrocarril Entre Rios) was a British-owned railway company that built and operated a 1,435 mm (4 ft 8½ in) standard gauge railway network in Entre Ríos Province, between the rivers Uruguay and Paraná, in Argentina. When the company was nationalisation in 1948 it became part of the state-owned Ferrocarril General Urquiza.
The company began operation in 1892 by purchasing a 612 km (380 mi) rail network operated by Ferrocarril Central Entrerriano from the provincial government. Four years later the company purchased the 10 km (6.2 mi) Gualeguay to Puerto Ruiz line, built by Ferrocarril Primer Entrerriano in 1866, from the national government, and on 12 October 1899 a 19 km (11.8 mi) branch line from Solá to Macía was opened.
A line from Villaguay to Concordia, on the River Uruguay, was built in 1902 reaching Jubiléo on 25 January, Gaspar Campos on 3 March and Concordia on 30 June where it joined the Argentine North Eastern Railway. Later the following branch lines were opened: from Las Colas to Carbó on 10 October 1906, from Caseros to Villa Elisa on 28 December 1906, from Crespo to Hasenkamp on 26 August 1907, from Médanos to Carbó on 1 February 1908, from Médanos to Ibucuy on 15 March 1908, from Ibucuy to the port in 1909, Carbó to Parera on 1 December 1909 and Villa Elisa to San Salvador on 2 July 1912.
In 1915 a joint administration was established with the neighbouring British-owned Argentine North Eastern Railway.
By the time President Juan Peron nationalised Argentina’s railways in 1948 the ER operated a 1300 km network which became part of the state-owned Ferrocarril General Urquiza.
[edit] References
Colin M. Lewis, British Railways in Argentina 1857-1914: A Case Study of Foreign Investment, Athlone Press (for the Institute of Latin American Studies, University of London), 1983.
Winthrop R. Wright, British-Owned Railways in Argentina – Their Effect on Economic Nationalism, 1854-1948, ( Latin American Monograph No. 34, Institute of Latin American Studies), Univ. of Texas Press, London, 1974.
