Central Argentine Railway | |||
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Retiro station, inaugurated in 1915.
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Overview | |||
Native name | Ferrocarril Central Argentino | ||
Type | Private | ||
Status | Company defunct; railway line active as FC. Mitre | ||
Locale | Argentina | ||
Termini |
Buenos Aires Tucumán |
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Stations |
Rosario Central Rosario Norte Córdoba Santiago del Estero |
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Operation | |||
Opened | 1863 | ||
Closed | 1948 | ||
Technical | |||
Track gauge | 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) | ||
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The Central Argentine Railway (CA) (in Spanish: Ferrocarril Central Argentino) was one of the Big Four broad gauge, 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm), private companies, owned by an american bussinessman, that built and operated railway networks in Argentina. The company was established in the 19th century, to serve the provinces of Santa Fe and Córdoba, in the east-central region of the country.
On September 5, 1854, American Engineer Alan Campbell proposed to then President of Argentine Confederation, Justo José de Urquiza, to make a studio for a possible railway line between cities of Rosario and Córdoba.
In November 1855 the report (written entirely in English) was presented in Rosario. Campbell had been the engineer in the New York-Harlem railway line and been hired by William Wheelwright to make and study for the projecto of the Copiapó-Caldera line in Chile.
The costs estimated by Campbell in the report, were the following:
The distance estimated was 396 km and the costs were in Argentine Peso (GBP 1 = $5). The studio revealed a costos of GBP 4,000 per mile built. A decree promulgated on April granted the company "the lands to build roads, docks, stations and stops, that will be given to the company in perpetuity and free of lines."
In 1863, the government of Argentina granted the company, led by engineer William Wheelwright, a concession to build and exploit a railway line between the cities of Rosario (a major port in southern Santa Fe, on the Paraná River) and Córdoba (a large city near the geographical center of Argentina, and the capital of the province of the same name). The grant included a clause to populate the lands along and around the railway that were given to the company by the national state.