The Central Argentine Railway, referred to as CA below, (in Spanish: Ferrocarril Central Argentino) was one of the Big Four broad gauge, British companies that built and operated railway networks in Argentina. The company had been established in the 19th century, to serve the provinces of Santa Fe and Córdoba, in the east-central region of the country. It would later extend its operations to Buenos Aires, Tucumán, and Santiago del Estero. The railroad had a complicated relationship with its employees in the 1910s, and then it had a complicated relationship with the government of Argentina in the 1920s.
History
Origins
In 1854, American engineer Allan Campbell sent a proposal to members of the government of the Argentine Confederation. Campbell wanted a study to be done on the construction of a possible railway line between cities of Rosario and Córdoba. The distance estimated was 247 mi (about 398 km) and the costs were in Argentine pesos (£1 = Arg$5). The study that had been done on the CAR revealed a cost of 4,000 sterling per mile built.
The costs estimated by Campbell in the report were the following:
In 1855, the CA was given permission to begin work on a railway line from Rosario to Córdoba. Another American, William Wheelwright, who had been involved in the Copiapó–Caldera line project in Chile, financed and supported the construction of the railroad.
Construction
In 1863, the government of Argentina granted the company, led by engineer William Wheelwright, a concession to build and operate 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.
The construction of the railroad began in 1863 with the establishment of the terminus in Rosario, at the Rosario Central station. The line was built as a broad gauge railway. In 1867 the line reached Villa María, Córdoba. Minister Rawson expressed disagreement for the paralysis of the works while passengers also protested against poor conditions of the service. The works for the Rosario Central station and other intermediate stations had not begun. The company alleged that they could not continue the extension of the line until the pending lands were given.
In September 1867, the government authorized a new disbursement of $1,500,000 to conclude the pending works. In 1870, the railway reached the city of Córdoba, and this completed its original route. The CA was the longest railway system at that time and the first to join two provinces. For 18 years the company did not built any tracks elsewhere; in 1888, the railway system still had 247 mi (about 398 km) of extension.
Progress
The CA supported the concept of agricultural colonies, where people settled and farmed. Bernstadt, Cañada de Gomez, and Carcañal were some of the agricultural colonies. The CA was involved in transporting agricultural products, such as wheat, in the 1870s, and by the late 1880s, Great Britain received large quantities of agricultural products from Argentina.
The CA built a number of stations. Some train stations and the trains themselves possessed British names and influence. In 1891 the CA opened Fisherton station in the west of Rosario, as well as a new branch entering Rosario from the southwest and a stop on the line (Eloy Palacios station). Victoria station was also opened in 1891. Trains to Zelaya and Capilla del Señor departed from Victoria for the first time one year later. The CA also installed the first crossbuck and manually-operated gates in the many level crossings existing by then. During successive years, several new stations were built by the company in Greater Buenos Aires, such as Beccar (1913), La Lucila (1933), Acassuso (1934) and Virreyes (1938).
The CA purchased multiple railroads or merged with them. One of these companies, the Santa Fe Western Railway, or SFWR ("Ferrocarril Oeste Santafesino"), was absorbed by the CA in 1900. The lines handled by SFWR, which served the southwest of Santa Fe Province and the south of Córdoba (up to the city of Cruz Alta), were merged with those of the larger company, and the passenger services handled by Rosario Oeste station were transferred to Rosario Central station, while the former was renamed "Rosario Este."