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Sarmiento Line

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This article is about the commuter rail line. For the national railway company, see Domingo Faustino Sarmiento Railway.
Sarmiento Line
A CSR electric multiple unit that runs the line.
Overview
Service typeCommuter rail
StatusActive
LocaleBuenos Aires Province
PredecessorBuenos Aires Western Railway
First service1948
Current operator(s)Trenes Argentinos Operaciones
Former operator(s)TBA
Ridership53,005,152 (2019)[1]
Websiteargentina.gob.ar/sarmiento
Route
TerminiOnce
Moreno
Lobos
Mercedes
Stops40
Distance travelled167 km
Average journey time
List
Service frequency
List
Technical
Rolling stockCSR EMUs
Track gauge1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in)
ElectrificationThird rail
800 V (DC)
Track owner(s)Government of Argentina

The Sarmiento line is a broad gauge commuter rail service in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, run by the state-owned Trenes Argentinos since 11 September 2013.[2]

The line is part of Domingo Sarmiento Railway, running trains departing from Once de Septiembre station in the Balvanera neighborhood of Buenos Aires to the cities of Moreno, Lobos, and Mercedes in Buenos Aires Province. The line has a total of 167 kms and 40 stations. As of 2018, a total of 101,453 services had been run, with 85,946,312 passengers carried.[3]

History

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Toshiba EMU at the port of Buenos Aires in 1961

Since nationalisation of the Argentine railways in 1948, the line was run by state-owned company Ferrocarriles Argentinos. In 1961, the old wooden coaches (that had debuted when the service was electrified in 1923) were replaced by Toshiba multiple units, that would run on the line for more than 50 years.[4][5]

FA operated the trains until 1991 when residual company FEMESA temporarily took over all the urban services prior to be privatized. After the Government of Carlos Menem privatized the urban railways services, consortium Trenes de Buenos Aires (TBA) took over the Sarmiento and Mitre lines.[6]

TBA operated the line until the 2012 Once station rail disaster happened.[6] As a result, the National Government revoked the concession granted to TBA and gave the Mitre and Sarmiento to UGOMS, that operated the line until 2014 when it was re-privatised and given under concession to "Corredores Ferroviarios S.A."[7][8][9]

CSR EMU replaced Toshiba units in 2014

In 2014 the Government announced the acquisition of new trains to replace the existing Sarmiento Line rolling stock. The cars were manufactured by Chinese company CSR Corporation, with the first arriving in June 2014.[10][11] The incorporation of the rolling stock was also accompanied by the replacement of rails between Once and Moreno.[12]

During 2015 a series of improvement works were conducted and completed on the line. These included remodelling stations, new signaling and other infrastructure improvements such as replacing track and third rail segments, as well as the refurbishing of workshops.[13] The works, which also included the installation of a communications-based train control system, meant that the line was closed on Sundays from February to June of that year on its electrified segment, with replacement bus services operating during that time.[12]

Tunnels

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Entrance to the tunnel in Puerto Madero which extends to Once station
Freight train operated by Ferrosur Roca running on tracks in the Puerto Madero neighborhood area

The line has two underground segments not currently in use for passenger services. The first of these is an underground station within the Plaza Miserere Buenos Aires Underground station, which formerly provided a direct connection with Line A alongside its platforms, rather than passengers transferring from Once railway station to the line using underground passages. In May 2014, this connection was being restored with tracks replaced in order to restore the line's service to the Underground.[14]

The second is a tunnel which runs directly from Once railway station to Puerto Madero in the centre of the city. Nowadays it is only used for freight to the Port of Buenos Aires, being operated by private company Ferrosur Roca; however, it was briefly used for passenger services in the 1990s.[15] The tunnel is around 5 km (3.1 mi) long and runs through the middle of the city below Line A. Construction of the tunnel had been initiated by the Buenos Aires Western Railway in 1912; however, it was not completed until 1916 due to delays caused by the First World War.[16] As of November 2015, Trenes Argentinos Operaciones was replacing pipes in the Puerto Madero tunnel with no plan of reopening it for passenger services.[17]

Historic operators

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

Operator Period
Ferrocarriles Argentinos 1948–1991
FEMESA 1991–1995
Trenes de Buenos Aires 1995–2012
UGOMS 2012–2013
SOFSE 2013–2014
Corredores Ferroviarios 2014–2015
Trenes Argentinos 2015–pres.

Sarmiento tunnelling

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Works at the Sarmiento line tunnel in November 2016

The performance of the Sarmiento line was to be greatly improved by drilling a new tunnel. Under plans announced in 2006, a 33 km tunnel would be bored between Moreno and Caballito in order to replace the surface alignment of the Sarmiento commuter route. According to the Minister of the Interior and Transport, the first stage was to cost 11·5bn pesos, removing many level crossings which would "avoid many accidents and much loss of life". The new underground alignment would increase the service frequency to every 3 minutes, increasing capacity from 100 million to 280 million passenger-journeys a year. The tunnel segment would have 13 underground stations.

Drilling took place for a few months in 2012, was suspended, resumed in 2016, and suspended again in July 2019 due to lack of funds; as of January 2020 the government is studying its options regarding contract cancellation.[18] During the construction, service on the surface line will continue.[19]

Train services

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Start End Time Type
Once Moreno 72 min Electric
Moreno Mercedes 90 min Diesel
Merlo Lobos 130 min

[20]

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See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b Once–Moreno
  2. ^ a b Merlo–Lobos
  3. ^ a b Moreno–Mercedes

References

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  1. ^ https://servicios.transporte.gob.ar/gobierno_abierto/detalle.php?t=acancelaciones&d=linea. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. ^ "El gobierno nacional estatizó los ferrocarriles Sarmiento y Mitre". Infobae. 11 September 2012.
  3. ^ Informe estadístico 2018 - Sarmiento on Argentina.gob.ar
  4. ^ "Desembarco de los coches Toshiba" on Crónica Ferroviaria, 24 Feb 2012
  5. ^ Tres formaciones para el Mitre on Página12, 7 Jun 2013
  6. ^ a b Tres meses después de la tragedia de Once, el Gobierno le rescindió el contrato a TBA on La Política Online, 24 May 2012
  7. ^ "Trenes: le dan a Roggio el Mitre y el San Martín y a Emepa, el Roca y el Belgrano Sur". La Nación. 12 February 2014.
  8. ^ "Las privadas volverán a operar la mayoría de las líneas ferroviarias". Clarín. 12 February 2014.
  9. ^ "El Gobierno estableció un nuevo régimen de operaciones de las líneas ferroviarias". Telam. 12 February 2014.
  10. ^ "CSR fleet enters service in Buenos Aires". Railway Gazette International. 10 June 2013.
  11. ^ "Ya está en viaje la primera de las 25 formaciones para la línea Sarmiento". Telam. 7 January 2014.
  12. ^ a b "El tren Sarmiento no prestará servicio los domingos por obras durante 90 días". Telam. 22 February 2015.
  13. ^ "El Sarmiento Vuelve a Operar los Domingos". InfoNews. 20 June 2015.
  14. ^ "Sarmiento: renovación de vías en Plaza Miserere". Taringa. 27 May 2014.
  15. ^ "Desde Puerto Madero a Castelar en 20 minutos". La Nacion. 8 August 1997.
  16. ^ "Un nuevo tren irá por un viejo túnel". Clarin. 28 July 1997.
  17. ^ Obras en Ejecucion%5d on Sofse (archived, 27 Mar 2015) https://web.archive.org/web/20150327110255/https://www.sofse.gob.ar/servicios/pdf/obras-ejecucion-sarmiento.pdf Obras en Ejecucion] on Sofse (archived, 27 Mar 2015). {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  18. ^ Centenera, Mar (2020). "El soterramiento del tren Sarmiento, la obra maldita de Buenos Aires". El País. Retrieved 2020-01-15.
  19. ^ "Ceremony marks start of Sarmiento tunnelling". Railway Gazette International. 2012. Retrieved 2012-07-05.
  20. ^ "Horarios y tarifas Línea Sarmiento". SOFSE. 29 December 2017.
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