Puente Alsina is an Argentine former railway station in the Greater Buenos Aires neighbourhood of Valentín Alsina in the Lanús partido of Buenos Aires Province. The station took its name from the nearby bridge of Puente Alsina over the Riachuelo River. On the other side of this bridge lies the neighbourhood of Nueva Pompeya within the city of Buenos Aires.
The station has remained inactive since August 2017 following the closure of the entire Puente Alsina–Aldo Bonzi line due to a derailment.Se cumplen cinco años de la clausura del ramal Puente Alsina – Aldo Bonzi at Enelsute.com.ar, 4 Aug 2022
History
Built by the British-owned Buenos Aires Midland Railway, the station was opened in 1908 as the terminus for their metre gauge line to Carhué, in the southwest of the province. The original plan was to boost the importance of the line by extending it from Puente Alsina into the centre of the nearby city. However, the fact that the company held a concession from the province, meant that it was unable to enter the Federal Capital. When the entire Argentine railway network was nationalized in 1948, during Juan Peron's presidency, the BAMR became part of the state-owned company Ferrocarril Belgrano.
As part of the privatization of the whole Argentine railway network in the early 1990s, private company Metropolitano was granted a concession to operate the service, part of the Linea Belgrano Sur, as far as General Belgrano, from 1 May 1994. In spite of the large state subsidies received by the company, a serious decline in the standard of its services led to the concession being revoked on 22 May 2007,"", La Nación, 22 May 2007Decreto 591/07: "Sobre Servicios Ferroviarios de Pasajeros" at Infoleg websiteDecreto 592/07 "Sobre Servicios Ferroviarios de Pasajeros" at Infoleg website after which the line was run by UGOFE, a consortium formed by private companies Ferrovías, Metrovías and Trenes de Buenos Aires."La UGOFE se hará cargo de los servicios de las dos líneas ferroviarias", La Prensa
In March 2015 the station started to be operated by state-owned Trenes Argentinos, after the Government rescinded the contract with private company Argentren signed one year before."Ya está lista la ley que prevé más control estatal sobre los trenes", Clarín, 5 Mar 2015"Estado rescindió contrato de trenes a privados y avisó que no pagará indemnizaciones", Ambito Financiero, 2 Mar 2015"Buenos Aires commuter routes renationalised", Railway Gazette, 3 Mar 2015Resolution N° 171/2015 - Official Bulletin of Argentina Nevertheless, after two years of service under Trenes Argentinos, in August 2017 the Government closed the entire Puente Alsina - Aldo Bonzi line due to a derailment.Hace 50 días que no circulan trenes entre Alsina y Bonzi on Diario Popular, 25 Sep 2017 Since then, there have not been plans for the reactivation of services in the line.
Historic operators Operator Period Buenos Aires Midland Railway 1911–1948 Ferrocarriles Argentinos 1948–1991 FEMESA 1991–1994 Metropolitano 1994–2007 UGOFE 2007–2014 Argentren 2014–2015 Trenes Argentinos 2015–2017 Notes
Bibliography British Railways in Argentina 1857-1914: A Case Study of Foreign Investment by Colin M. Lewis, Athlone Press (University of London), 1983 British Railways in Argentina 1860-1948 by H.R. Stones - P.E. Waters & Associates, Bromley, Kent, England, 1993
References