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Mitre Line

CSR electric multiple units in Retiro station, February 2015.
Overview
Service type	Commuter rail
Status	Active
Locale	Buenos Aires Province
Predecessor	Central Argentine
First service	1948; 78 years ago (1948)
Current operator	SOFSE
Former operator	Corredores Ferroviarios
Website	Mitre Line
Route
Termini	Retiro Tigre B. Mitre José L. Suárez Zárate Capilla del Señor
Stops	57
Distance travelled	180 km (110 mi)
Average journey time	Retiro–Tigre: 75 min. Retiro–B.Mitre: 50 min. Retiro–J.L. Suárez: 65 min. J.L. Suárez–Zárate: 120 min. Victoria–Capilla del Señor: 70 min.
Service frequency	Retiro–Tigre: 20 min. Retiro–B.Mitre: 30 min. Retiro–J.L. Suárez: 20 min. J.L. Suárez–Zárate: 70 min. Victoria–Capilla del Señor: 7 trains per day
Technical
Rolling stock	CSR EMUs (electric) Materfer CMM 400-2 (diesel)
Track gauge	1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in)
Track owner	Government of Argentina
Route map Show static map Legend Retiro A. Illia Highway San Martín line L. de la Torre Tres de Febrero Belgrano C M. Carranza Núñez Colegiales Rivadavia Belgrano R L.M. Drago Coghlan General Urquiza Saavedra Pueyrredón Avenida General Paz Belgrano Norte line Miguelete San Martín Vicente López Juan B. Justo Florida San Andrés Olivos Dr. Cetrángolo Maipú Bartolomé Mitre Malaver Tren de la Costa to Delta La Lucila Villa Ballester Martínez Acassuso Chilavert Provincial Route 4 José León Suárez San Isidro C Provincial Route 4 Béccar Camino del Buen Ayre Branch to Capilla del Señor Victoria Belgrano Norte line Virreyes National Route 9 to Tigre San Fernando C Bancalari Carupá Dr. Schweitzer Tigre Reconquista River El Talar General Pacheco López Camelo Benavídez National Route 9 Ingeniero Maschwitz Garín Escobar Maquinista Savio Río Luján Matheu Río Luján Río Luján Ingeniero Otamendi Zelaya Campana Los Cardales Kilometre 83 Provincial Route 6 National Route 12 Capilla del Señor FC Urquiza to Posadas   Zárate end of suburban service Lima to Vagués and Pergamino Baradero San Pedro Ramallo San Nicolás Arroyo del Medio Empalme Villa Constitución Arroyo Saladillo Groenewold Rosario Norte to Santa Fe This diagram: view talk edit Show route diagram

The Mitre line is an Argentine broad gauge commuter rail service in Buenos Aires Province and is part of the Ferrocarril General Bartolomé Mitre division. The service is currently operated by the state-owned company Operadora Ferroviaria Sociedad del Estado after the Government of Argentina rescinded its contract with Corredores Ferroviarios in March 2015.

The first line was built and operated by the Buenos Aires Northern Railway, a British-owned company that ran trains from Central Station (then from Retiro) to Tigre, joining both cities in 1857. The company was then taken over by the Central Argentine Railway in 1888 due to financial problems.

In 1891, Victoria station was inaugurated. Trains to Zelaya and Capilla del Señor departed from Victoria for the first time one year later. In 1916, the Retiro-Tigre line was electrified, becoming the first electrified railway system in South America. New British Thomson-Houston (BTH) multiple units were acquired to run on the line. The CAR also installed the first crossbuck and manually operated gates on the many existing level crossings.

During successive years, several new stations were built by the company, including Beccar (1913), La Lucila (1933), Acassuso (1934) and Virreyes (1938).

When the Government of Argentina led by Juan Perón nationalised British and French railway companies in 1948, the state-owned company Ferrocarriles Argentinos took over all the railway lines in the country.

In 1962, the FIAT 7131, a railcar manufactured by FIAT Concord, made its debut in the Villa Ballester-Zárate and Victoria-Capilla del Señor sections of Ferrocarril Mitre, then managed by Ferrocarriles Argentinos (FA). These light railcars replaced Ganz Works railcars that had run on those lines since 1938.^[1]

The lack of maintenance of the FIAT 7131 coaches meant that some of them went out of service, so in 1987 Ferrocarriles Argentinos acquired new light railcars for the Zárate and Capilla del Señor branches. The company bought 8 units made by Materfer which were soon nicknamed Pitufos (a Spanish translation for "Smurfs" due to their small size). Nevertheless, the limited seating capacity and poor damping of those units mean that the 7131 coaches continued to be used.^[1]

FA operated the trains until 1991 when FEMESA temporarily took over all the urban services prior to the services being privatised. After the Government of Carlos Menem privatised the urban railways services, private company Trenes de Buenos Aires (TBA) took over the Mitre Line.

When the Government of Argentina decided to privative all the urban railway services in 1992, the Mitre Line was given the concession for TBA (which also took over Sarmiento Line) through Decree N° 730/95.

During the first two years of the concession, TBA met the requirements specified in the contract regarding the frequency of service, with an average of 98%. By February 1999 the consortium had invested US$200 million including the reconstruction of 220 Toshiba wagons, and the remodelling of 13 stations and workshops. In addition, a new ticket selling system was introduced with the installation of vending machines.

One of the most notable improvements was the introduction of "Puma" coaches on the Retiro-Tigre branch. These coaches were built by local factory Emprendimientos Ferroviarios S.A. (EMFER) and featured air conditioning, ABS brakes and computer-supervising systems.^[2]

In 1997 the Government decided to modify the contracts of concession with a plan of modernisation worth US$2.5 billion. The future investments included acquiring 492 brand-new electric multiple units, the refurbishing of more than 100 km of existing tracks, and the installation of new signalling, among other improvements.

Nevertheless, the Government of Fernando De la Rúa (which had come to power in 1999) made changes to the original project, reducing the amount of the budget to US$1.3 billion. The State granted subsidies to TBA (and the rest of the private operators) as a way to compensate for the losses arising from the change in plans and to avoid fare increases.

Due to the lack of investment in the Mitre Line, the quality of the service decreased considerably. TBA operated the line until the 2012 Once station rail disaster happened. As a result, the National Government revoked the concession granted to TBA and gave the Mitre and Sarmiento lines to the State operator UGOMS, that then ran the lines until 2014 when it was transferred under concession to Corredores Ferroviarios.^[3][4][5]

On 12 February 2014, the Government of Argentina granted the operation of the line to the private company Corredores Ferroviarios.^[3][4][5] That same year the Government announced the acquisition of new coaches to increase the Mitre Line's rolling stock. The coaches were manufactured by the Chinese company CSR Corporation Limited, with the first coaches arriving in June 2014.^[6][7]

In November 2014, the Retiro-Tigre section of Mitre Line renewed its fleet of electric trains, adding a total of 12 brand new trains for that service. The CSR trains replaced the old Toshiba cars that had been brought to Argentina in the 1960s for the Mitre and Sarmiento lines. The purchase cost $250 million was paid by the National Government.^[8][9]

The branch line to José L. Suárez's fleet was renewed completely with the same Chinese trains in January 2015.^[10][11]

State-owned company Operadora Ferroviaria Sociedad del Estado took over the Mitre line (operated by Corredores Ferroviarios) on 2 March 2015 after the Government of Argentina rescinded the contracts that had been signed with the company. The contract terms specified that the concession could be cancelled with no right to claim compensation.^[12] The agreements had been signed in February 2014 and had committed Argentren and Corredores Ferroviarios to operate the lines.^[13][14][15]

In 2017, the Ministry of Transport announced the construction of a viaduct for the Retiro–Tigre branch of Mitre Line in Buenos Aires. The viaduct would extend from Dorrego Avenue in Palermo to Congreso Avenue in Núñez for 3.9 kilometres. Works began in September 2017. The project also included a total refurbishment of Lisandro de la Torre and Belgrano C stations.^[16] The viaduct was opened to traffic on 10 May 2019 by President Mauricio Macri leading to the removal eight level crossings.

Companies that have operated the Sarmiento Line since it was established after the 1948 nationalisation are:

Mitre Line services as of February 2015:

Retiro-Tigre line
Legend
Retiro Dr. Arturo Illia Highway San Martín Line Jerónimo Salguero Street Ugarteche Junction Maldonado Junction (Trains to B. Mitre and J.L. Suárez) Lisandro de la Torre Avenida del Libertador Belgrano C Nuñez Rivadavia Avenida General Paz Belgrano Norte Line Vicente López Olivos Tren de la Costa La Lucila Martínez Acassuso Provincial Route 4 San Isidro Béccar Victoria Junction Victoria Trains to Capilla del Señor Victoria Depot Virreyes Provincial Route 23 San Fernando Carupá Provincial Route 24 Tigre

Retiro-Bartolomé Mitre line
Legend
Retiro Dr. Arturo Illia Highway San Martín Line Jerónimo Salguero Street Ugarteche Junction Maldonado Junction (Trains to Tigre) Avenida del Libertador Tres de Febrero Ministro Carranza (Platform to Retiro) Viaduct Carranza Ministro Carranza (Platform to B. Mitre and J.L. Suárez) Colegiales Colegiales Depot (Abandoned) Belgrano R Coghlan Junction (Trains to J.L. Suárez) Coghlan Saavedra Avenida General Paz Belgrano Norte Line Juan B. Justo Florida Dr. Cetrángolo Bartolomé Mitre Avenida Maipú Avenida Maipú Tren de la Costa

Retiro-José León Suárez line
Legend
Retiro Dr. Arturo Illia Highway San Martín Line Jerónimo Salguero Street Ugarteche Junction Maldonado Junction (Trains to Tigre) Avenida del Libertador Tres de Febrero Ministro Carranza (Platform to Retiro) Viaduct Carranza Ministro Carranza (Platform to B. Mitre and J.L. Suárez) Colegiales Colegiales Depot (Abandoned) Belgrano R Coghlan Junction (Trains to B. Mitre) Luis María Drago General Urquiza Pueyrredón Avenida General Paz Miguelete Miguelete Train Graveyard San Martín San Andrés Malaver Villa Ballester Chilavert José León Suárez Provincial Route 4 José León Suárez Depot Trains to Zárate

Victoria-Capilla del Señor line
Legend
Trains to Retiro Victoria Junction Victoria Trains to Tigre Victoria Depot National Route A003 Dr. Schweitzer Provincial Route 23 Reconquista River Villa Ballester-Zárate line Bancalari Junction Bancalari C (Closed) Provincial Route 24 El Talar Las Tunas Stream López Camelo Claro Stream National Route 9 Garín Garín Stream Provincial Route 26 Maquinista Savio Pinazo Stream Escobar Stream Provincial Route 25 Matheu Zelaya Luján River Los Cardales Provincial Route 6 Arroyo de la Cruz Capilla del Señor Provincial Route 193 Trains to Pergamino (Abandoned)

Villa Ballester-Zárate line
Legend
Trains to Retiro Villa Ballester Chilavert José León Suárez Provincial Route 4 José León Suárez Depot Camino del Buen Ayre Highway Belgrano Norte Line National Route 9 Provincial Route 23 Bancalari Bancalari Junction Reconquista River Victoria-Capilla del Señor line General Pacheco Provincial Route 24 Las Tunas Stream Claro Stream Benavídez Provincial Route 27 Garín Stream Provincial Route 26 Ingeniero Maschwitz National Route 9 Escobar Stream Provincial Route 25 Escobar Luján River Río Luján Arroyo del Pescado Ingeniero Otamendi National Route A024 Campana Kilometre 83 Provincial Route 6 Arroyo de la Cruz El Potrero Stream National Route 12 Urquiza Railway to Zárate (Abandoned) Zárate Trains to Rosario (Long Distance only)

• 
  Saavedra station
• 
  New Tigre station, opened in 1995
• 
  Facade of Retiro station
• 
  Interior of Retiro station
• 
  EMU arriving at Retiro
• 
  Materfer CMM 400-2 used for diesel services

• Mitre Railway
• Trenes Argentinos
• Corredores Ferroviarios

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mitre Line.

• Official website
• Horarios del Tren Mitre on Trenes Argentinos.net
• Tren Mitre.com.ar