- Zapala
Zapala is a city in the
Patagonia n province of Neuquén,Argentina with about 32,000 inhabitants according to the census-ar|2001.The city is located at the geographic center of the province at the confluence of national and provincial roads, on a route to the
Andes andChile . The city has an importantcement factory.Zapala is near the
Laguna Blanca National Park and aski resort and is situated in asteppe region, known as Pehuenia, which has smallaraucaria forests and includes the nearby town ofAluminé and other towns.Transport
Zapala was founded on
12 July 1913 around a railway station built by theBuenos Aires Great Southern Railway , a British-owned company taken over by theFerrocarril General Roca after railway nationalisation in 1948 and, since railway privatisation in 1993, in the hands ofFerrosur Roca . The city is split in two by the railways; on one side there is a commercial district with old buildings, and on the other a modern residential area.The station is a terminus at the end of the line from
Bahia Blanca andNeuquén which was meant to continue across the Andes mountains into Chile. Construction was abandoned in the 1920s although resumption of construction was proposed in 2006.References
*
* [http://www.patagonia.com.ar/neuquen/zapala/index.php Patagonia.com.ar] - Portal of the Argentine Patagonia.
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