The Belgrano Norte line is a commuter rail service in Buenos Aires, Argentina run by the private company Ferrovías since 1 April 1994. This service had previously been run by the state-owned General Belgrano Railway since nationalisation of the railways in 1948. Ferrovías also formed part of the consortium Unidad de Gestión Operativa Ferroviaria de Emergencia (UGOFE) which operated other commuter rail services in Buenos Aires.
The Belgrano Norte line service operates from Retiro station, in the centre of Buenos Aires, through the northern Buenos Aires suburbs to the town of Villa Rosa in Pilar Partido. The metre gauge line was built by the British-owned Córdoba Central Railway which was bought by the State in 1939 and was later integrated into Ferrocarril General Manuel Belgrano in 1948 when the entire Argentine railway network was nationalised.
There are a total of 22 stations along the long railway line and the journey along the entire length of the line takes roughly one hour and twenty minutes for the regular service and one hour and five minutes for the differential service. During peak hours, trains run approximately every 8 minutes and an estimated 42 million passengers are transported each year.
History
First steps and development
The line was part of the Córdoba Central Railway (CCR), specifically the branch from the city of Rosario to Retiro, Buenos Aires. The CCR would become part of General Belgrano Railway network when the Government of Argentina nationalised French and British companies in 1948.
In 1903 the company was authorised to extend the railway to Boulogne Sur Mer in Greater Buenos Aires and work began three years later. In 1909 the line was finally opened. Trains departed from Rosario, finishing the journey in Villa Adelina, named in honour of Adelina Munro Drysdale, the General Manager's granddaughter. The trains stopped at the other four stations in existence at the time: Villa Rosa, Del Viso, Los Polvorines and Don Torcuato.
In 1912, the line was extended to Retiro in central Buenos Aires. Other stations were opened, such as Munro (named in memory of Duncan McKay Munro) and "Kilómetro 14", later renamed "Juan B. Justo" in commemoration of the founder of the Socialist Party of Argentina.
Between Juan B. Justo and Retiro, tracks had to cross over the Maipú Avenue in Vicente López Partido, so a railway bridge was built. This bridge was named "Puente Saavedra". A short time after that, a new station, "Km. 12" was built near the bridge and renamed "Aristóbulo del Valle" in the 1920s.
The current Florida station was initially opened as a railway stop along the way. In 1913, when the San Martín Avenue was paved, a storage property of the Narciso Agüero & Cía company was established there. For that reason, the stop was named "Parada Agüero" for a period.
In 1931, the Juan B. Justo station had its name changed to M.M. Padilla to avoid being confused with the station of the same name that belongs to the Mitre Line, only a few blocks away. During the 1930s, the "Km. 18" station was established and many names were proposed (Ader, Drysdale, La Tahona, among others) until the National Academy of History suggested "Carapachay", which was chosen in 1946.
While the line was operated by the State-owned company Argentine State Railway, in 1938 brand new Ganz Works railcars were acquired to serve on the Retiro-Villa Rosa and Don Torcuato-Campo de Mayo lines. Between 1947 and 1948, 50 coaches made at the Tafí Viejo workshops and 70 Whitcomb diesel locomotives were added to the Belgrano Norte's fleet, sharing duties with the Ganz railcars.
Ferrocarriles Argentinos
Due to Córdoba Central Railway's financial problems, the Government of Argentina took over the company and began operating the trains. In 1949 the line was merged into the then recently created General Belgrano Railway, which incorporated all of the country's rail lines. Local services were run by Ferrocarriles Argentinos under the name "Belgrano Norte" to distinguish it from the Belgrano Sur Line. In 1955, 30 Werkspoor locomotives were acquired and, as a result, Ferrocarriles Argentinos removed the Ganz vehicles from service on the Belgrano Norte line, sending them to Córdoba to serve local railways there.