Antártida Argentina railway station

Antártida Argentina railway station is a former train station located in Rosario, province of Santa Fe, Argentina, in the western neighbourhood of Fisherton (intersection of Morrison Avenue and Wilde St.). The railroad and the station, then known as Fisherton Station, were built by the company Ferrocarril Central Argentino, of British origin, at the beginning of the 1890s. The neighbourhood, originally built to house the company's workers, grew around the station.Asociación Rosarina Amigos del Riel. [http://www.arar.org.ar/CT_HTFC.html "Historia de los Ferrocarriles de Rosario"] (History of Rosario's Railways).]

The station was an intermediate stop of the line that started at Rosario Central Station. The trip from this terminus to Fisherton took no more than 15 minutes (a comparable bus trip at present may take 45 minutes). After leaving Fisherton, in the periphery of Rosario's urban area, the line served towns west of the city and reached the city of Córdoba. Around 1935–1940, immediately after the "golden age" of Argentine railways, the station managed around 100,000 passengers a year. [La Capital, 10 April 2005. [http://www.lacapital.com.ar/2005/04/10/seniales/noticia_185404.shtml "Rieles que corren sobre la memoria y el porvenir"] .]

In 1948 the government of Juan Perón nationalised the Argentine railway network and fused several companies. The station was renamed as "Estación Antártida Argentina" (Argentine Antarctica), and was left under the control of the Ferrocarril General Bartolomé Mitre company.

In 1977 most passenger train services of Argentina were eliminated, and Antártida Argentina Station was shut down. The building was left largely abandoned.

The station was restored in the 1990s, though it underwent modifications that have been criticized (e.g. the removal of a protective layer of brick, which may greatly reduce the durability of the building). [Lexia.com.ar, [http://www.lexia.com.ar/estacion.htm "Estación Rosario Central - Ataque al corazón de la ciudad"] .] The facilities were left in charge of the Nuevo Central Argentino railway company. As of 2007, the building functions as the seat of a neighbourhood culture centre. [Municipality of Rosario. [http://www.rosario.gov.ar/sitio/lugaresVisual/verLugar.do?id=1707 "Centro Cultural Fisherton"] .]

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