Operadora Ferroviaria Sociedad del Estado

Operadora Ferroviaria S.E.
State-owned
Industry Railway
Predecessor
Founded 2008 (2008)
Founder Government of Argentina
Headquarters Buenos Aires, Argentina
Area served
 National
Key people
 Guillermo Dietrich (Ministry of Transport)
Marcelo Orfila (President)[1]
Services Railway transport and maintenance
Owner Government of Argentina
Parent Ferrocarriles Argentinos S.E.
Website sofse.gob.ar

Operadora Ferroviaria Sociedad del Estado[2][3] (abbreviated SOFSE; trading name: Trenes Argentinos Operaciones) is an Argentine State-owned company created in 2008 to operate passenger services in Argentina. It is a subsidiary of the Ferrocarriles Argentinos holding company.

Since March 2015 SOFSE has run the Buenos Aires commuter rail services Mitre, San Martín, Roca and Belgrano Sur lines[4][5] previously operated by private companies.

History

Background

The first SOFSE logo
A CNR CKD8G diesel-electric locomotive running express services to Mar del Plata
A CSR train running on Sarmiento line
SOFSE Materfer and CNR CKD8 rolling stock in Bragado

After the Railway privatisation in Argentina at the beginning of the 1990s the railway assets that had not given in concession were taken over by Ferrocarriles Argentinos before being dissolved.

From 1996 to 2000 those assets were administered by "Ente Nacional de Administración de Bienes Ferroviarios" (ENABIEF) created through a National Decree promulgated by the Presidency of Argentina. On June 1, 2000, ENABIEF merged to Dirección Nacional de Bienes del Estado.

From then on, the "Organismo Nacional de Administración de Bienes" (ONABE) began its activities as an organism created to manage the assets not directly affected to State activities.[6]

Law 26.352 promulgated in 2008 re-organized the railway operations in Argentina creating two State organisms, the "Administración de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias" (ADIF) and the Operadora Ferroviaria (SOFSE). Decree N° 752/08 regulated the activities by the recently established company since then.

Further operations

Although having been established in 2008, SOFSE became active two years later, when the organism took over the railway services in Chaco Province left by Servicios Ferroviarios del Chaco (SEFECHA). In 2011 the organism added the regional services of Salta and Buenos Aires Provinces. When Minister of Transport was created in 2012, SOFSE took over all the urban services not granted in concession of Greater Buenos Aires. The society also began to operate interuban services such as train services to Córdoba, Tucumán cities and other services previously operated by the Government of Entre Ríos Province.

In June 2013, SOFSE took over the Tren de la Costa when the Government decided the company would be managed by the Argentine State after revoking the contract with Sociedad Comercial del Plata.[7]

In September 2013, the Government of Argentina designed SOFSE to operate the Mitre and Sarmiento lines, after their contracts of concession were revoked to Trenes de Buenos Aires. This decision was officially promulgated through Resolution N° 1083/13.[8][9][10][11][12]

SOFSE operated temporarily the Mitre line until the Government of Argentina re-privatised it, giving the line in concession to "Corredores Ferroviarios S.A." (a private company part of Emepa Group) on February 12, 2014.[13][14][15]

In December 2014, brand new trains acquired by the Government of Argentina to Chinese company CNR Dalian, started to run luxury services from Constitución to Mar del Plata.[16][17] Classic service continued to be operated by Ferrobaires.[18]

In February 2015, services from Buenos Aires to Rufino, Santa Fe were reestablished after 22 years. The service runs with brand-new trains acquired to China on Ferrocarril San Martín tracks. Trains make stops at Chacabuco, Junín, Vedia and Alberdi, among other stations.[19][20]

In March 2015, SOFSE started to run the CNR CKD8 trains from Retiro to Córdoba. Due to the poor conditions of the tracks, trains took 19 hours to run the 700 km (430 mi) between terminus. It was double the time that in 1938, when services operated by Central Argentine took 9 hours to connect both cities with two intermediate stops.[21][22]

Commuter rail renationalisation

SOFSE took over Belgrano Sur and Roca (operated by Argentren) and Mitre and San Martín (operated by Corredores Ferroviarios) lines after the Government of Argentina rescinded the contracts signed with both companies on March 2, 2015. The contract terms specified that the concession could be cancelled with no right to claim compensation.[4] The agreements had been signed in February 2014, committing Argentren and Corredores Ferroviarios to operate the lines.[5][23][24]

Actual situation

In January 2016, the Ministry of Transport ceased operations over services to La Pampa Province. The Government took the decision based on the low demand of the Santa Rosa–General Pico line and the poor conditions of some bridges that had been deteriorated after the flooding in August 2015.[25][26][27]

In June 2016, the Buenos Aires–Rosario service extended operations to Rosario Norte Station (located at the north of the city, closer to the downtown) instead of Rosario Sur, which had been terminus until then.[28]

Services operated

A Materfer DMU on the Mitre Line, 2015
Maipú station platforms in Olivos, Buenos Aires
La Falda station of Tren de las Sierras
University train of La Plata
Tren del Valle running on Neuquén bridge

The following is a list of services operated by Operadora Ferroviaria in Argentina. The list includes urban railways such as Mitre, San Martín, Roca and Belgrano Sur lines previously managed by private companies. The Binational service Posadas-Encarnación is run by Casimiro Zbikoski S.A. through an operation agreement with SOFSE.[29]

Urban

Commuter rail services within the Buenos Aires Province:

Cities run Km.[note 1] Line
Once - Moreno[30] 45 Sarmiento
Moreno - Mercedes 62
Merlo – Lobos 90
Constitución - Ezeiza 35 Roca
Ezeiza - Cañuelas 35
Constitución - Alejandro Korn 45
Constitución - La Plata 60
Temperley - Bosques 10
Temperley - Haedo 10
Temperley - Gral. Alvear 230
La Plata - Policlínico (University train) 4
Buenos Aires - González Catán 30 Belgrano Sur
Tapiales - Marinos Cruc. Belgrano 15
Puente Alsina - Aldo Bonzi 17
Retiro - Tigre 30 Mitre
Retiro - B. Mitre 15
Retiro - José León Suárez 27
Victoria - Capilla del Señor 60
Villa Ballester - Zárate 75
Retiro - Doctor Cabred 70 San Martín
Maipú - Delta [30] 15 Tren de la Costa [note 2]

Long distance

Inter-city services along Argentina:

Province/s covered Cities run Km.[note 1] Company/Line
Buenos Aires Constitución – Mar del Plata [31] [note 3] 400 Roca
Constitución – Bahía Blanca 637 Roca
Buenos Aires - Córdoba[34][35][36] Retiro - Córdoba 695 Mitre
Buenos Aires – Santa Fe Retiro – Rosario Norte 315 Mitre
Buenos Aires - Tucumán Retiro – S.M. de Tucumán (via Rosario Norte) [34][35] 1,170 Mitre
Chaco Puerto Tirol – Puerto Vilelas [37][38] 23 Belgrano
R.S. Peña – Chorotis[39] 185
Resistencia – Los Amores[40] 153
Córdoba Córdoba – Villa María[41] 150 Mitre
Alta Córdoba – Cosquín (Tren de las Sierras) 150 Belgrano
Entre Ríos Paraná – Colonia Avellaneda [38][42] 13 Urquiza
Salta Salta – General Güemes[43][44] 40 Belgrano
Neuquén, Río Negro Neuquén – Cipolletti (Tren del Valle)[45] 10 Roca

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 Estimated distance between cities.
  2. ↑ The "Tren de la Costa" was part of the Mitre Railway until it was closed in 1961. The service re-opened run by private operators in 1995, and then re-nationalised by the Argentine Governement but not included as part of the Mitre Line but a separate light rail service.
  3. ↑ The service was inactive since Aug 2015 to Jul 2017 due to the bad conditions of the rail tracks.[32][33]

References

  1. ↑ "Perfil de los funcionarios de Dietrich para Ferrocarriles", En el Subte, 9 Dec 2015
  2. ↑ Resolution 163/2015 - Infoleg
  3. ↑ Licitación Pública Nacional 05/2015 - Trenes Argentinos Operadora Ferroviaria
  4. 1 2 "Ya está lista la ley que prevé más control estatal sobre los trenes", Clarín, 5 Mar 2015
  5. 1 2 "Estado rescindió contrato de trenes a privados y avisó que no pagará indemnizaciones", Ambito Financiero, 2 Mar 2015
  6. ↑ "Historia del organismo" at ONABE website
  7. ↑ "Trenes: el Gobierno reestatizó una línea de carga y otra de pasajeros", Infobae, 4 Jun 2013
  8. ↑ "Transfirieron a SOFSE la Línea Mitre y Sarmiento", Rieles.com, 13 Sep 2013
  9. ↑ "El gobierno nacional estatizó los ferrocarriles Sarmiento y Mitre", Infobae, 11 Sep 2013
  10. ↑ "Avanza la estatización de trenes: se suman Sarmiento y Mitre", Diario Popular, 12 Sep 2013
  11. ↑ "El Sarmiento ya es estatal", Página/12, 26 Oct 2013
  12. ↑ Resolution N° 1083/13, Official Bulletin of Argentina, 11 Sep 2013
  13. ↑ "Trenes: le dan a Roggio el Mitre y el San Martín y a Emepa, el Roca y el Belgrano Sur", La Nación, 12 Feb 2014
  14. ↑ "Las privadas volverán a operar la mayoría de las líneas ferroviarias" Clarín, 12 Feb 2014
  15. ↑ "El Gobierno estableció un nuevo régimen de operaciones de las líneas ferroviarias", Telam, 12 Feb 2014
  16. ↑ "Los nuevos trenes a Mar del Plata funcionarán desde este viernes" on Telam, 19 Dec 2014
  17. ↑ "Realizará su primer viaje el tren chino que unirá Buenos Aires con Mar del Plata" on MinutoUno, 21 Nov 2014
  18. ↑ "Horarios - Mar del Plata" on Satélite Ferroviario website
  19. ↑ "Después de más de dos décadas volvió el tren de pasajeros a Rufino", Cronica Ferroviaria, 2 March 2015
  20. ↑ "Mañana vuelve el tren a Rufino", La Capital, 27 Feb 2015
  21. ↑ "El nuevo tren a Córdoba tardó media hora más que en 1890", Clarín, 11 Mar 2015
  22. ↑ "El nuevo tren a Córdoba tarda más del doble que en 1938", Infobae, 12 Mar 2015
  23. ↑ "Buenos Aires commuter routes renationalised", Railway Gazette, 3 Mar 2015
  24. ↑ Resolution N° 171/2015 - Official Bulletin of Argentina
  25. ↑ "La Pampa se quedó otra vez sin tren de pasajeros", El Diario de La Pampa, 26 Jan 2016
  26. ↑ "Trenes: una herencia precaria que dejó el kichnerismo y que el maquillaje no disimula ", La Nación, 21 Jan 2016
  27. ↑ "En La Pampa ya dejaron de funcionar los trenes de pasajeros", Diario Registrado, 26 Jan 2016
  28. ↑ "El tren a Retiro llega ahora hasta la estación Rosario Norte, en pleno Pichincha", La Capital, 16 Jun 2016
  29. ↑ Operación directa / Acuerdos de operación on SOFSE website
  30. 1 2 "Operación" on SOFSE.gob.ar website, 21 Oct 2014
  31. ↑ Tras dos años sin funcionar, vuelve el tren a Mar del Plata y tendrá 12 paradas, Clarín, 15 Jun 2017
  32. ↑ "Tren fantasma", Diario Hoy, 25 May 2016
  33. ↑ "Mar del Plata sin trenes: el puente del río Salado está listo, falta que unan las vías", 0223 Noticias, 11 Apr 2016
  34. 1 2 "Estatizaron los trenes de pasajeros de larga distancia", Clarín, 8 Nov 2014
  35. 1 2 "Resolución 1093/2013 - Asignación de servicios y administración de infraestructura", Official Bulletin of Argentina
  36. ↑ Retiro Córdoba on Satélite Ferrovario
  37. ↑ Regionales Chaco on SOFSE, 28 Jul 2017
  38. 1 2 Trenes Argentinos - Informe de Gestión - Primer Trimestre (pag 21-25)
  39. ↑ Roque Sáenz Peña - Chorotis - Satelite Ferroviario
  40. ↑ Resistencia - Cacuí - Los Amores - Satelite Ferroviario
  41. ↑ Córdoba - Villa María on Satélite Ferroviario
  42. ↑ Servicio local: Paraná a Oro Verde, V. Fontana y C. Avellaneda - Satelite Ferroviario
  43. ↑ Salta - Güemes - Satelite Ferroviario
  44. ↑ Las Distancias.com
  45. ↑ Resolución 1281/2015 - Ministry of Transport, Official Bulletin, 16 Jul 2015
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