Transportation in Argentina

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Transportation in Argentina is mainly based on a complex net of routes, crossed by relatively inexpensive long-distance buses and by cargo trucks. The country also has a number of national and international airports. The importance of the long-distance train is minor today, though in the past it was widely used. Fluvial transport is mostly used for cargo.

Within the urban areas, the main transportation system is usually the bus or colectivo; bus lines transport millions of people every day in the larger cities and their metropolitan areas. Buenos Aires additionally has an underground, the only one in the country, and Greater Buenos Aires is serviced by a system of urban trains.

1 Urban transport
- 1.1 By road
- 1.2 By railroad
2 Long distance transport
- 2.1 The railway system
3 Fluvial transport
4 Statistics

[edit] Urban transport

[edit] By road

A majority of people employ public transport rather than personal cars to move around in the cities, especially in common business hours, since parking can be both difficult and expensive. Public transport is subsidized by the state, which makes it usually inexpensive; the subsidy for buses amounts to an important reduction of the effective price of diesel fuel.

The colectivo (urban bus) lines cover the cities with numerous lines. Fares might be fixed for the whole city, or they might depend on the destination. Colectivos often cross municipal borders into the corresponding metropolitan areas. In some cases there are diferenciales (special services) which are faster, air-conditioned versions, and notably more expensive. Bus lines in a given city might be run by different private companies and/or by the municipal state, and they might be painted in different colours for easier identification. The quality of the service varies widely according to the city, line, and time of the day.

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Besides the usual autonomous units, trolleybuses (buses powered by overhead electric wires) are operated in Córdoba, Mendoza and Rosario. Trams (streetcars), once common, were retired as public transportation in the 1960s.

Taxis are very common and relatively accessible price-wise. They have different colours and fares in different cities, though a highly contrasted black-and-yellow design is common to the largest conurbations. Call-taxi companies (radio-taxis) are very common and safe; illegal taxis are common in big cities, and robberies have been reported in those cases. The remisse is another form of hired transport: they are very much like call-taxis, but do not share a common design, and trip fares are agreed beforehand, although there are often fixed prices for common destinations.

Bicycles are not very used in big cities, as there are few bicycle-paths, making it difficult to move with them other than in recreational areas.

[edit] By railroad

Urban trains connect Buenos Aires city with the Greater Buenos Aires. Every day more than 1 million people commute to the Argentine capital for work and other business. These urban trains work between 5 AM and 1 AM. Most of the lines are electric, but there are still a few running on diesel.

The only other city in Argentina with a system of urban and sub-urban trains is Resistencia, the capital of Chaco Province. In Mendoza, there is a train line being planned.^{[citation needed]}

Buenos Aires is the only Argentine city with an underground system. Most of its lines connect the centre (Micro-centro) with areas in the outskirts. The Buenos Aires Metro (Subterráneo de Buenos Aires) has currently five working lines, each labelled with a letter from A to E. There is a modern tram line (Premetro) lines E1 and E2 that work as a fedeer of E line at their outer terminus. At Caballito district, there is an heritage tramway maintained by tram fans that operates on weekends, near the Primera Junta metro station (A line). There is a suburban modern tramway line between the Bartolomé Mitre suburban railway station and Tigre (Tren de la Costa). As of 2006, line H is under construction, and three additional lines (F, G, I) are planned.

[edit] Long distance transport

Argentina being almost 4,000 kilometres long, and more than 1,000 km wide, long distance transportation is an important issue. Besides a few toll highways, there are lots of national and provincial routes that spread thought the country, and that are used by cars and long distance buses. Argentine's routes are usually simple one-lane-per-side roads, driving on the right-hand-side. There are a few highways between some important cities, such as the Panamerican Argentina Highway 9 Buenos Aires - Rosario and Buenos Aires - Córdoba (still under construction). The Argentine road system, although extensive, does not cover the country entirely; for instance, the Ruta 40 from El Chaltén to Esquel is still being paved. South sea-side backbone Ruta Nacional 3 runs from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia.

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Argentine long distance buses are fast, affordable and comfortable. With three different services regarding the number of stops and type of seats, called Regular, Semi-cama (semi-bed), and Cama (bed), with Cama being similar to an airline's business class. Some services have also on-board dinner, while others stop at canteens by the road. Long and middle-distance buses cover almost all paved-accessible cities and towns, and most of the other towns and villages.

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Though expensive in comparison with the other means of transportation, airflights are being used more and more often. Every provincial capital has its own airport, and there are many other working, specially in tourist areas such as Bariloche and El Calafate. Most companies have several daily flights to the most popular destinations, and daily or less frequent flights to other destinations. Even though Buenos Aires is the most important flight hub, both because of economical and geographical reasons, there are flights between important cities, such as Córdoba, Rosario and Mendoza. The national airline is Aerolíneas Argentinas.

[edit] The railway system

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Services on Argentina's passenger railway system, once extensive and prosperous, were greatly reduced in 1993 following the break-up of Ferrocarriles Argentinos (FA), the now-defunct state railroad corporation. By that time, the company was losing an estimated US$ 1 million per day. Small towns that had depended on the railroad were severely damaged economically by these cutbacks.

Since the mid-1990s, however, several private railway companies have been created and have resurrected some of the major passenger trains that FA once operated. Still, the railroad network is far smaller than it once was, and of the approximately 30,000 km of rails once used, only 2,500 km are still in service today. Although these trains are heavily used by many Argentines, they cost the government roughly $1 million a day in subsidies.

Trenes de Buenos Aires (TBA), Ferrocentral, Ferrobaires, Tren Patagónico, and Ferrovías are some of the private companies which now manage Argentina's passenger rail network. The following is a list of most of the current long distance passenger trains in operation (Plaza Constitucion, Once and Retiro are stations located in Buenos Aires):

Plaza Constitución - Pinamar: twice a week R
Plaza Constitución - Mar del Plata: three trains daily, other added Friday. R
Plaza Constitución - Miramar: once a week R
Plaza Constitución - Ayacucho - Tandil: once a week
Plaza Constitución - Azul - Olavarría: five days a week R
Plaza Constitución - Bahía Blanca (Lamadrid route): three times a week R, D
Plaza Constitución - Bahía Blanca (Pringles route): two times a week R
Plaza Constitución - Carmen de Patagones: once a week R
Plaza Constitución - Saladillo - General Alvear: twice a week
Plaza Constitución - 25 de Mayo - Bolívar: five days a week
Plaza Constitución - Daireaux: once a week
Once - Chivilcoy - Bragado: daily
Once - Los Toldos - Lincoln: once a week
Once - 9 de Julio - Carlos Casares: four days a week
Once - Pehuajó: three times a week
Retiro - Junín: daily
Retiro - Rosario - Santa Fe: once a week
Retiro - Rosario - La Banda - Tucumán: once a week R, D
Retiro - Rosario - Córdoba: twice a week R, D
Córdoba - Villa Maria: twice a week
Viedma - San Antonio Oeste - S. C. de Bariloche: thrice weekly R, D
Ing. Jacobacci - San Carlos de Bariloche: thrice weekly
Federico Lacroze - Concordia - Monte Caseros - Posadas: twice a week R, D
Basavilbaso - Villaguay Central - Concordia: five days a week
Resistencia - La Sabana - Los Amores: to La Sabana daily, to Los Amores three days a week
Roque Sáenz Peña - Pinedo - Chorotis: daily
Resistencia suburban service: several trains daily

R = Restaurant, at least in most of the trip.

D= Sleeping car

There are also a number of tourist trains (La Trochita from Esquel, the Southern Fuegian Railway in Ushuaia and others from San Carlos de Bariloche, in Río Negro Province), and the seasonal Tren de las nubes in the province of Salta, running from Salta to San Antonio de los Cobres, that runs only from October to March (at present this service is suspended until further notice). These services are mostly the remainder of a much larger built or planned network that extended to the south of Patagonia but largely closed from the 1960s to the 1990s.

The national government is planning to build a high-speed rail and to set up a high-speed conventional train to link Buenos Aires, Rosario and Córdoba. Four European firms are competing for the contract. Works are to last from the beginning of 2007 until the end of 2009. See Buenos Aires-Rosario-Córdoba high-speed railway for details.

[edit] Fluvial transport

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Fluvial transport is not often used for people, with the exception of those who cross the Río de la Plata from Buenos Aires to Colonia del Sacramento and Montevideo, both in Uruguay. Other services are exclusively used as river crossing, such as those in Tigre.

River traffic is mostly made up of cargo, especially on the Paraná River, which is navigable by very large ships (Panamax kind) downstream from the Greater Rosario area. This area produces and/or ships most of the agricultural exports of Argentina.

[edit] Statistics

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Transport in Argentina

Railways

Total: 38,326 km (160 km electrified)
Broad gauge: 24,481 km 1676mm gauge (134 km electrified)
Standard gauge: 2,765 km 1435mm gauge (26 km electrified)
Narrow gauge: 11,080 km 1000mm gauge (1999)

City with metro: Buenos Aires (subte). There are two modern tram lines (E2 and "Tren de la Costa") and a heritage tramway in the Caballito district that operates on weekends.

International links:

Bolivia - 1000mm gauge.
Chile - IRJ of March 2005 reports start of reconstruction of the South Trans-Andean Railway. 1000mm gauge.
Paraguay - 1435mm gauge.
Uruguay - 1435mm gauge.
Brazil - 1435mm gauge (Argentina), 1000mm gauge (Brazil).

Highways

Total: 215,434 km
Paved: 63,553 km (including 734 km of expressways)
Unpaved: 151,881 km (1998 est.)

Waterways

10,950 km navigable

Pipelines

Crude oil: 4,090 km
Petroleum products: 2,900 km
Natural gas: 9,918 km

Ports and harbors

Merchant marine

Total: 26 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 218,540 GRT/333,413 DWT
Ships by type:
- Cargo ships: 9
- Petroleum tankers: 11
- Railcar carrier: 1
- Refrigerated cargo: 2
Roll-on/roll-off: 1
Short-sea passenger: 2 (1999 est.)