The Rosario trolleybus system () is part of the public transport network in Rosario, the largest city in the province of Santa Fe, Argentina.Webb, Mary (ed.) (2009). Jane's Urban Transport Systems 2009-2010, p. 6. Coulsdon, Surrey (UK): Jane's Information Group. .
Opened in 1959, the trolleybus system presently comprises one route, designated as line K. A second route Q operated between 2017 and 2023 using new Trolza Megapolis trolleybuses with traction batteries, and thus did not require any new overhead wires.Trolleybus Magazine No. 335 (September–October 2017), p. 186. National Trolleybus Association (UK). .
History Early years The Rosario system opened on 24 May 1959.Murray, Alan (2000). World Trolleybus Encyclopaedia, p. 81. Yateley, Hampshire, UK: Trolleybooks. .Morrison, Allen (2017). The Trolleybuses of Latin America in 2017. Retrieved 24 December 2017. It replaced the old Rosario electric tramway network, which had been in existence since 1910. Initially, the system was operated by 10 German-made MAN trolleybuses. They worked the first line G, which linked the Plaza Sarmiento with the intersection of Avenida San Martín and Saavedra, where there was a mini terminal for connections to the south. Over time, the line was extended to the intersection between Salta and Paraguay, then to Calle San Nicolás, and, two years later, to the Mariano Moreno bus station.
In late 1959, 40 trolleybuses were acquired from the Italian Fiat - Alfa Romeo - CGE consortium. On 15 April 1960, line H was opened, with a route running from the Plaza Sarmiento to the city's northern boundary, with Granadero Baigorria. Between August and December 1961, brand new Fiat trolleybuses arrived in Rosario, allowing network expansion with the creation of new lines. To reinforce the line H service, line J was opened in September 1961, and linked Plaza Sarmiento with Plaza Alberdi.
On 3 December 1961, line K began operating, from the corner of Necochea and Avenida Pellegrini to the corner of Mendoza and Nicaragua. Its fleet was composed entirely of Fiat units.
As with line H, line K experienced strong demand, which led to the opening of line L on 8 January 1962. Line L connected Pellegrini and Necochea with Bv. Avellaneda and Mendoza. At the request of residents, it was extended in 1964 to the corner of Paraná and 9 de Julio, in front of the Rosario Oeste railway station of the Ferrocarril General Manuel Belgrano.
In 1967, to optimize fleet utilization, lines G and J were merged, and line M opened to connect San Martín and Muñoz with the Santa Fe–Cafferata bus terminal. Following these changes, lines M, H and K were operating with 45 trolleybuses in total.
Decline
On 16 September 1969, during the protest movement known as the Rosariazo, eight Fiat vehicles were destroyed, and three MAN and 14 other vehicles were damaged to varying degrees. Following these events, services on line H were suspended, because the 32 surviving units could only cover the requirements of lines K and M.
In 1970, 23 Mercedes-Benz trolleybuses manufactured in 1953–54 were acquired, 12 from the transport company of Buenos Aires, where the trolleybus system had closed in 1964, and 11 from the Mendoza trolleybus system, where they had been withdrawn from service in 1963 and subsequently stored. The arrival of these 23 units enabled the reintroduction of services on line H in 1971. Two additional used Mercedes-Benz trolleybuses were acquired a few years later, these being ones also built around 1954 for a planned system in the city of Bahía Blanca that was built in 1957 but never opened, and this brought the total number of Mercedes-Benz trolleybuses in Rosario's fleet to 25.
In 1979, during the military dictatorship (1976–1983), the trolleybus system was privatised. The new operator was Empresa Martín Fierro SRLTrolleybus Magazine No. 111 (March 1980), p. 44. National Trolleybus Association. (the Martin Fierro Company, or EMF). Only two trolleybus routes were still operating at that time, K and M. Route H reopened in March 1980,Trolleybus Magazine No. 113 (July 1980), p. 92. National Trolleybus Association. but it was merged with route M on 10 September 1980.Antenore (2004), pp. 29–30. EMF began rebuilding some of the trolleybuses.Antenore (2004), p. 27.
Around May 1980, concessionaire EMF acquired five large Soviet ZiU trolleybuses with three doors, but these vehicles had been poorly maintained, and were in service in Rosario for a very short time before being scrapped in 1984. During their limited time in service, they nevertheless created a favorable impression, due to their size and interior capacity, and air suspension. They had a front entrance door and two exit doors: one in the middle and another at the rear of the vehicle. Shortly after being put into service, the middle door was closed off.
Rebuilding of older vehicles was not found to be cost-effective, and EMF instead proceeded to construct a fleet of new trolleybuses, using new chassis purchased from Mercedes-Benz Argentina, new bodies constructed in EMF's own workshops, and electrical equipment recycled from old Mercedes-Benz trolleybuses withdrawn in the 1970s. A total of 15 such vehicles were built, in 1980–1983 (numbered 10–24).Trolleybus Magazine No. 193 (January–February 1994), p. 17. National Trolleybus Association. .
Trolleybus service on line M (composed of former lines H and M) ended on 3 November 1984, its trolleybuses being transferred to line K.Antenore (2004), p. 39. This left only route K, which was in length,Morgan, Steve (November–December 1986). "Survivors in Rosario". Trolleybus Magazine No. 150, pp. 122–129. National Trolleybus Association. in operation.
After a long series of vicissitudes and mismanagement by the private concessionaire, the trolleybuses on the system were declining in quality of service and maintenance. They had been gradually replaced by diesel-powered units, and one of two the two trolleybus lines had been converted to buses.
On 31 December 1992, trolleybus service ceased on line K, the last Rosario trolleybus line still in operation, after the municipal transport authority revoked the Martín Fierro Company's concession for the service. Only four trolleybuses were active at the time. The EMF-built vehicles were placed in storage, and eventually were scrapped.
Revival Following a new call for tenders, the concession to operate line K was awarded in late November 1992 to a joint venture () composed of Capse SA (public lighting concessionaire) and Molino Blanco SRL (concessionaire of urban passenger transport lines 133 and 143). The joint venture then went on to be called Eco-Bus. Its concession was for a 15-year term, with an option for 5 more years.
The concessionaires were required to operate 20 trolleybuses, renovate feeder substations and make good the overhead wire network. They were also expected to extend the route network: Ciudad Universitaria at one end and Mendoza and Wilde at the other; the latter was only partially realised initially, as far as Calle Sánchez de Loria. Initially, the joint venturers were granted a period of 180 days to begin operating new trolleybuses, but that period had to be extended.
The new trolleybuses arrived in late 1993 in the form of 20 units with Volvo chassis, bodywork by Brazil's Marcopolo and electrical equipment by Powertronics. Although technically second-hand vehicles, having been manufactured in 1987 for a planned trolleybus system in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, that ultimately was never completed and opened, they had been stored continuously since the cancellation of the Belo Horizonte project and thus, effectively, were new vehicles when they arrived in Rosario. During the 1993 suspension of trolleybus service, construction of the planned extensions proceeded, east to Ciudad Universitaria and west to Calle Sánchez de Loria.
After a suspension of more than a year, the trolleybus system reopened on 25 January 1994, now with an entirely new fleet, a new operator (Ecobus) and extended at both ends of the single route, still line K, which now operated from Ciudad Universitaria to the intersection of Calle Mendoza and Calle Sánchez de Loria.Trolleybus Magazine No. 195 (May–June 1994), pp. 75–77. National Trolleybus Association. The new trolleybuses entered service still wearing the red-and-cream livery they had been given when built, for Belo Horizonte,Trolleybus Magazine No. 200 (March–April 1995), p. 41. but this was short-lived. In the second quarter of 1994, the entire fleet was repainted into a modified livery with green replacing red along the skirt of each vehicle and green also applied to the roof-mounted equipment.Trolleybus Magazine No. 199 (January–February 1995), p. 17.
On 15 July 2003, route K was extended farther at its west end, by around 500 metres, to a roundabout at Bulevar Wilde,Trolleybus Magazine No. 252 (November–December 2003), p. 130. National Trolleybus Association. making its overall length 12.6 km end-to-end.
After more than a decade of operations, and following the crisis of 2002, Ecobus declared bankruptcy due to an inability to pay workers' arrears. Trade union disputes coupled with a poor relationship between the concessionaire and the municipality were the triggers for the termination of the concession in October 2004. On the 25th of that month, line K passed back into municipal control through Sociedad del Estado Municipal para el Transporte Urbano de Rosario (SEMTUR).
By June 2005, about half of the fleet of 20 trolleybuses had been repainted in SEMTUR's grey and orange colors. During the same month, one trolleybus that had been damaged by fire in 1995 and been in storage ever since, returned to service after being repaired by SEMTUR.Trolleybus Magazine No. 263 (September–October 2005), p. 116. National Trolleybus Association. Eventually, the fleet was recomposed with 14 units operating the Semtur service in place of the 20 that had comprised the whole fleet.
Expansion
In 2017, the first major expansion to the system in many years took place, with the opening of new line Q: Ciudad Universitaria – Centro Municipal de Distrito Sudoeste "Emilia Bertolé". Of the new route's length, half is shared with line K. Line Q's other half (along Avenida Francia) lacks any overhead wires, and to serve it, SEMTUR placed an order in March 2016 with the Russian manufacturer Trolza for 12 "Megapolis"-model trolleybuses capable of operating in regular service away from the trolleybus wires part of the time.Trolleybus Magazine No. 327 (May–June 2016), p. 84. National Trolleybus Association. The choice of manufacturer and model was influenced by the fact that another Argentine trolleybus system, the Córdoba system, had recently purchased the same type of trolleybuses; they entered service in February 2016.
Although new line Q did not require any new overhead wires, the project did require the purchase and installation of four additional traction substations. The 12 Trolza trolleybuses were delivered between mid-April 2017 and mid-May 2017.Trolleybus Magazine No. 334 (July–August 2017), p. 146. National Trolleybus Association. A public ceremony to celebrate the "inauguration" of new line Q was held on 13 July 2017, with all 12 new trolleybuses on display, and service began on 14 July.
Line Q was discontinued in January 2023 due to the traction batteries overheating on hot summer days. It was reinstated in May, but discontinued again, this time permanently, in December 2023.
In May 2019 a new trolleybus model called REBUS, built locally from a Tatsa Puma D12 diesel bus, was presented to the public. Between 2022 and 2025 further 14 trolleybuses were built using bodies of Metalpar Iguazu diesel buses. They are the result of a cooperation between Movi Rosario, National University of Rosario and technology company Inventu.
Routes The system currently comprises one route, designated as Line K (12.6 km long). K: Ciudad Universitaria – Bulevar Wilde