Tren de los Pueblos Libres

The Tren de los Pueblos Libres ("Train of the Free Peoples") was an 813-km length rural railway line that connected Argentina and Uruguay, being operated by both the Argentine private company Trenes de Buenos Aires (TBA) on General Urquiza Railway standard gauge rail tracks, and Uruguayan the State-owned State Railways Administration of Uruguay "Administración de Ferrocarriles del Estado" (AFE).

Tren de los Pueblos Libres
Paso de los Toros, terminus in Uruguay
Overview
TypeInter-city
StatusInactive
LocaleArgentina, Uruguay
TerminiPilar
Paso de los Toros
Stations13
Services1
Operation
OpenedSep 2011
ClosedMay 2012 (2012-05)
OwnerGovernment of Argentina
Government of Uruguay
Operator(s) TBA
AFE
Technical
Line length813 km (505 mi)
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Route map

History
Pilar, terminus in Argentina.

The train had run from 1982 to 1985 between cities of Concordia (Argentina) and Salto (Uruguay). After 26 years of being active only for freight trains, the service was officially re-opened on August 11, 2011, in a ceremony held by Presidents of both countries.[1] On 23 September the train made its first journey carrying people from Pilar to Paso de los Toros.

Some intermediate stops were Argentine stations Zárate, Enrique Carbó, Urdinarrain, Basavilbaso, Villaguay, San Salvador and Concordia and Uruguayan Salto, Quebracho and Paysandú. From Pilar to Buenos Aires passengers were carried by bus.

The project included the intention for trains to reach Montevideo in December 2011,[2][3] although it would never be carried out.

On its first official journey, the train only reached Salto due to the Uruguayan Ministry of Transport still not having given authorisation for the service to operate in the country. Therefore, all passengers had to get out in Salto and the train continued without people to Paso de los Toros. The service was finally restarted on 30 September. Nevertheless, the service ran to Paso de los Toros only five times, with the terminus set up in Paysandú from November 2011.[4]

From March 2012, the service was shortened again, setting Salto as terminus of the line. Afterwards, in May 2012 the Government of Argentina revoked the contract of concession to TBA[5] after the Once rail disaster in which 51 people died and at least 703 people were injured on a service operated by the same company.[6] Finally, on 28 May the service was interrupted and subsequently never restarted. The railcars that served the line are currently abandoned in Pilar.[7][8][9][10]

  • Zárate
  • Concordia
  • Basavilbaso
  • Urdinarrain
  • Salto
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See also

References
  1. Tren Binacional - institucional (Archive), 4 Feb 2012
  2. "Habilitan el 'tren de los pueblos libres'", La Gaceta, 30 Aug 2011
  3. "Con clima de campaña electoral argentino, reanudan tren binacional" Archived 2011-09-01 at the Wayback Machine, El País, 30 Ago 2011
  4. "Llegamos hasta la tumba del tren de los pueblos libres", La Prensa, 7 Mar 2014
  5. "Finalmente, el Gobierno le sacó las concesiones del Sarmiento y del Mitre a TBA", Clarín, 24 May 2012
  6. "Argentina train crash in Buenos Aires kills dozens", NBC news, 22 Feb 2012
  7. "Está varado en Pilar el tren binacional", La Nación, 25 Jun 2012
  8. "A tres años del “Tren de los Pueblos Libres” solo queda abandono", Pilar a Diario, 23 Sep 2014
  9. "El tren que unía Argentina y Uruguay dejó de funcionar de modo definitivo", El Día, 28 May 2012
  10. Montevideo.comm: «Un descarrilamiento anunciado: tren binacional ya no está operativo»
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