Buenos Aires–Rosario–Córdoba high-speed railway

Cobra ( Project name: Tave ) is a planned Hochgeschwindigkeitszugsystem in Argentina. It should be the first system of its kind on the South American continent and connect as of 2010, the three largest cities in Argentina Buenos Aires, Rosario and Córdoba original; However, the construction was delayed several times. The system is to be operated with double-deck trainsets of the type TGV Duplex with a recommended maximum speed of 320 km / hr.

Operator of the project, the consortium is Veloxia, the ( responsible for rail vehicles) consists of the French company Alstom, the Spanish construction company Isolux and the Argentine IECSA and EMEPA for additional infrastructure.

The project is currently suspended as a realization is uncertain.

Route

The train will use between Buenos Aires and Rosario, the route of Ferrocarril General Manuel Belgrano, which will be completely renovated and converted from narrow gauge to standard gauge. From Rosario to Cordoba which also treaded path of Ferrocarril General Bartolomé Mitre is used, which must be converted from broad gauge to standard gauge. Between Buenos Aires and Rosario, the route is two-lane, his first single track between Rosario and Córdoba.

Breakpoints:

• Buenos Aires, Retiro station
• San Nicolás de los Arroyos / Conesa
• Rosario
• Marcos Juárez
• Bellville
• Villa María
• Córdoba

The train starts in Buenos Aires from Retiro train station. From there he reached after 85 minutes driving time, the city of Rosario ( East Station ) and after a further 90 minutes, the city of Córdoba ( Mitre station ).

History and course of the project

As early as the reign of Carlos Menem, the establishment of a high-speed train in Argentina was announced, yet without concrete details on why it was often viewed as an empty campaign promises. A first concrete project was introduced in the late 1990s for the important, buses very busy route between Buenos Aires and Rosario. It was a strictly private nature, Alstom operator should be common with the Argentine society Trenes de Buenos Aires, which already operated the track itself as well as some regional and suburban routes. Because of the Argentine crisis the project was put on hold and long not discussed in the media, only in the 2003 election campaign, there lived a short time again.

The presentation of the Cobra, then still under the project name Tave (Tren de Alta Velocidad ) was accomplished by relatively surprising by the then President Néstor Kirchner on 26 April 2006., The state takes on large parts of the construction costs, should first ensure a loan from Société Générale be included. The costs were estimated at 1.32 billion U.S. dollars, due to the interest and other fees but it will be raised to at least $ 3 billion U.S. dollars.

In addition, Alstom and Siemens were at the beginning (with its Velaro concept) as well as some smaller competitors interested in the project. Nevertheless, Alstom was the only company that introduced a concrete project plan within the time limit set by the state. On January 16, 2008 Cristina Fernández de Kirchner signed the decree which definitively attributed the construction of the line, after there had been some delays in the run that were related to the availability of credit.

Because of the difficulties that went through the finance company Société Générale in early 2008, the project was delayed until a new financier was found in April with Bank Netaxis. On April 29, the final contract was signed. Construction should be done after the new scheme in early 2009, but was delayed by the financial crisis starting in 2007, which allowed to increase the country risk premium of Argentina, and thus more expensive to finance strong.

Criticism

Frequently in Argentina was criticized in the project, especially from the political opposition and the organizations Salvemos al Tren and Amigos del Ferrocarril al Servicio del País ( Afesepa ), seeking a much cheaper reactivation of the network with low fares. Thus, the spokesman said Afesepa journalism portal Sos Periodista that the project was comparable without an integrated railway policy with a relocated into a new house poor family who would rather buy furniture first a computer.

The fare of the Cobra will be higher than the most expensive bus fares, the aim is a level between bus and fare, which is why many opponents, including the newspaper La Nación, which is considered the mouthpiece of antiperonistischen opposition call it a train for high earners, is also overpriced construction, since the default of 1.32 billion expected by far could not be met. A better alternative would have been according to the critics view of rebuilding a conventional railway network, since a high-speed train for the intended route hardly time advantages of trains traveling at a maximum speed of about 130 km / h which are to realize much cheaper, offer.