Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway

The Ferrocarril del Sud was one of the " Big Four " railway companies in British possession, which have route networks built and operated in Argentina in Indian broad gauge. The company was founded in 1862 by Edward Lumb as Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway ( BAGS ). Your first Director General was Edward Banfield, Banfield after the station ( opened in 1873 ) and grown at this station around southern suburbs of Buenos Aires are named. With the nationalization of the railways in Argentina by President Juan Perón in 1948, the Ferrocarril del Sud went to General Roca in the Ferrocarril.

History

A ceremony on 7 March 1864 with the participation of President Bartolomé Mitre participated, construction began on the site of today's terminal station at Plaza Constitución in Buenos Aires, and in 1865 the 114 km long distance to Chascomús was finished. The Plaza Constitución railway station was repeatedly rebuilt and expanded. On September 19, 1925 submitted to the Prince of Wales during his official visit to Argentina laid the foundation for today's reception building.

Growth

By 1930 the company had grown into a huge company, possibly the largest of its kind in the southern hemisphere. She had more than 8000 km single-track routes, mostly in broad gauge, 504 stations, 857 locomotives, 955 passenger cars, 16,602 freight cars and employed more than 30,000 people. Their influence on the life and development of the province of Buenos Aires was considerable. The network was designed to serve the traffic between cities within the province and the capital city and to transport the agricultural products of the inland, many of which were intended for export to the ports of Buenos Aires, Necochea and Bahia Blanca.

Additional amenities

The Company and its subsidiaries owned and operated a number of additional facilities. These included facilities for grain handling, an agricultural experimental farm in Cinco Saltos in the Rio Negro Valley, a power plant in Bahia Blanca, the Argentine Fruit Distributors Company, a Fernbusunternehmen as well as several hotels (one with golf course).

Ports

One of the ports in Bahía Blanca, Puerto Ingeniero White, was built by the railway company, which in 1908 installed there two grain elevators, to cope with the increasing grain transport, and built a dock for four steamships. Together with the other railway companies in British possession, she was involved in the Compañía de Ferrocarriles Petróleo in Comodoro Rivadavia, whose sources provided a large part of the fuel oil for the locomotives of this railroad companies. They also operated the South Dock in Buenos Aires at the mouth of the Riachuelo.

Traffic

A large proportion of freight transport, including the transport of grain and livestock, and fruit from the valley of the Río Negro, was also dependent on the season as the summer holiday traffic to Mar del Plata, Miramar and Necochea. In addition to the suburban services around Buenos Aires and Bahia Blanca, the largest volume of traffic was due to the connection between these two cities via three different routes: the direct route through Las Flores, Olavarría and Coronel Pringles with the branch line from Olavarría about General La Madrid and Saavedra and the branch line from Las Flores on Tres Arroyos. The people across Bahía Blanca addition - after Zapala in the province of Neuquen and Bariloche in the province of Río Negro - was initially served by coaches that were set in train to Bahia Blanca, but soon grew so strong that additional through trains from Buenos Aires were required.

Extensions

A 1906 proposed extension of the line of Zapala, 115 km from the border with Chile, across the Andes to Chile in Lonquimay failed for lack of capital. This would have been a second rail link between the two countries, in addition to the 1910 Trans- Andean railway opened between Mendoza in Argentina and Los Andes in Chile.

Other major routes running from Buenos Aires via Bolívar after Carhué, on Maipú to Tandil, about Parque Chas and Ayacucho to Necochea and from Bahia Blanca to Toay in the province of La Pampa and after Huinca Renanco in the province of Córdoba.

Locomotives

Except during the Second World War, most steam locomotives were - almost all from a British production - heated with oil, as Argentina was almost self-sufficient in relation to this commodity. Suitable locomotive coal does not occur in the country and had to be imported. The heaviest freight trains that could reach into the harvest period over 2000 tons, were often pulled by Garratt locomotives.

Workshops

The main workshop of the railway company was built in 1901 in Remedios de Escalada, 11 km from Plaza Constitucion. She was the largest in South America, and employed nearly 3,000 people. Although primarily repairs were carried out, each part of a locomotive or a wagon could be produced here. Another factory town in Bahia Blanca came in 1925 with the acquisition of Bahía Blanca and North Western Railway added.

Competition from road transport

In 1930, the company was at the height of their prosperity, but towards the end of this year, the negative effects of the increasing devaluation of the Argentine peso became noticeable, and the labor costs increased significantly. In addition, the company saw increased competition faced by the traffic on the expanding road network.