Rosario Norte Station

The Rosario Norte Railway Station is a train station in Rosario, province of Santa Fe, Argentina. It is located on Aristóbulo del Valle Avenue, at the junction with Callao St., north of the city center, in the neighbourhood known as Barrio Pichincha.

The station was a terminus of the Ferrocarril Buenos Aires y Rosario company. The railway line was opened in 1885 and was the first to join Rosario and Buenos Aires (about 300 km south-southeast). From Rosario Norte the line continued to the northwest, crossing several provinces of Argentina to reach Tucumán. In 1908, after the merging of the Ferrocarril Buenos Aires y Rosario and the Ferrocarril Central Argentino companies, the station was set aside to handle long-distance and express services. Around 1935–1940, a few years after the "golden age" of the Argentine railway system, Rosario Norte served 326,000 passengers per year (more than 800 daily).Asociación Rosarina Amigos del Riel. [http://www.arar.org.ar/CT_HTFC.html "Historia de los Ferrocarriles de Rosario"] (History of Rosario's Railways).] [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 1977 almost all of the local and mid-distance passenger services were cancelled. Rosario Norte was left in charge of the few remaining ones. Starting in 1991, passenger train services were eliminated throughout the country, while cargo lines were privatized. The Rosario Norte—Retiro (Buenos Aires) line was shut down in July 1992, and the services going from Rosario Norte to Tucumán suffered the same fate in March 1993.

Rosario Norte was reactivated in October 1997, as the exploitation of a new passenger service between Tucumán and Buenos Aires was granted by the government of Tucumán to the firm Tucumán Ferrocarriles. At the same time, the municipality of Rosario took over most of the building and began to reform it for administrative use. In June 1999 the Municipal Secretariat of Culture and Education was installed there, sharing the facilities with Tucumán Ferrocarriles and with a cargo train company (Buenos Aires al Pacífico/América Latina Logística).

After the turn of the millennium, restoration and maintenance of the station's infrastructure, overdue by about two decades continued, and new services were added. As of 2007, Rosario Norte manages two passenger services from Buenos Aires, a weekly one run by Trenes de Buenos Aires (TBA), and another one (four days a week) run by Ferrocentral. The latter company also has a weekly service to Tucumán and one to Córdoba. These services are considerably slower than going by bus, but also safer and much cheaper. [Satélite Ferroviario. Train schedules, [http://www.sateliteferroviario.com.ar/horarios/santafe.htm Retiro–Rosario–Santa Fe] .] [La Capital, 26 March 2006. [http://www.lacapital.com.ar/2006/03/26/ciudad/noticia_280516.shtml "La Estación Rosario Norte se lava la cara"] .]

References