Operadora Ferroviaria Sociedad del Estado


Operadora Ferroviaria Sociedad del Estado is an Argentine state-owned company created in 2008 to operate passenger services in Argentina. It is a subsidiary of the Ferrocarriles Argentinos holding company.
Since March 2015 SOFSE has run the Buenos Aires commuter rail services Mitre, San Martín, Roca and Belgrano Sur lines previously operated by private companies.

History

Background

After the Railway privatisation in Argentina at the beginning of the 1990s the railway assets that had not given in concession were taken over by Ferrocarriles Argentinos before being dissolved.
From 1996 to 2000 those assets were administered by "Ente Nacional de Administración de Bienes Ferroviarios" created through a National Decree promulgated by the Presidency of Argentina. On June 1, 2000, ENABIEF merged to Dirección Nacional de Bienes del Estado.
From then on, the "Organismo Nacional de Administración de Bienes" began its activities as an organism created to manage the assets not directly affected to State activities.
Law 26.352 promulgated in 2008 re-organized the railway operations in Argentina creating two State organisms, the "Administración de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias" and the Operadora Ferroviaria. Decree N° 752/08 regulated the activities by the recently established company since then.

Further operations

Although having been established in 2008, SOFSE became active two years later, when the organism took over the railway services in Chaco Province left by Servicios Ferroviarios del Chaco. In 2011 the organism added the regional services of Salta and Buenos Aires Provinces. When the Ministry of Transport was created in 2012, SOFSE took over all the urban services not granted in concession of Greater Buenos Aires. The society also began to operate interurban services such as train services to Córdoba, Tucumán cities and other services previously operated by the Government of Entre Ríos Province.
In June 2013, SOFSE took over the Tren de la Costa when the Government decided the company would be managed by the Argentine State after revoking the contract with Sociedad Comercial del Plata.
In September 2013, the Government of Argentina designed SOFSE to operate the Mitre and Sarmiento lines, after their contracts of concession were revoked to Trenes de Buenos Aires. This decision was officially promulgated through Resolution N° 1083/13.
SOFSE operated temporarily the Mitre line until the Government of Argentina re-privatised it, giving the line in concession to "Corredores Ferroviarios S.A." on February 12, 2014.
In December 2014, brand new trains acquired by the Government of Argentina to Chinese company CNR Dalian, started to run luxury services from Constitución to Mar del Plata. Classic service continued to be operated by Ferrobaires.
In February 2015, services from Buenos Aires to Rufino, Santa Fe were reestablished after 22 years. The service runs with brand-new trains acquired to China on Ferrocarril San Martín tracks. Trains make stops at Chacabuco, Junín, Vedia and Alberdi, among other stations.
In March 2015, SOFSE started to run the CNR CKD8 trains from Retiro to Córdoba. Due to the poor conditions of the tracks, trains took 19 hours to run the between terminus. It was double the time that in 1938, when services operated by Central Argentine took 9 hours to connect both cities with two intermediate stops.

Commuter rail renationalisation

SOFSE took over Belgrano Sur and Roca and Mitre and San Martín lines after the Government of Argentina rescinded the contracts signed with both companies on March 2, 2015. The contract terms specified that the concession could be cancelled with no right to claim compensation. The agreements had been signed in February 2014, committing Argentren and Corredores Ferroviarios to operate the lines.

Current situation

In January 2016, the Ministry of Transport ceased operations over services to La Pampa Province. The Government took the decision based on the low demand of the Santa Rosa–General Pico line and the poor conditions of some bridges that had been deteriorated after the flooding in August 2015.
In June 2016, the Buenos Aires–Rosario service extended operations to Rosario Norte Station instead of Rosario Sur, which had been terminus until then.

Services operated

The following is a list of services operated by Operadora Ferroviaria in Argentina. The list includes urban railways such as Mitre, San Martín, Roca and Belgrano Sur lines previously managed by private companies. The Binational service Posadas-Encarnación is run by Casimiro Zbikoski S.A. through an operation agreement with SOFSE.

Urban

services within the Buenos Aires Province:
Cities runServiceKm.Line
Once – MorenoElectric45Sarmiento
Moreno – MercedesDiesel62Sarmiento
Merlo – LobosDiesel90Sarmiento
Constitución – EzeizaElectric35Roca
Ezeiza – CañuelasDiesel35Roca
Constitución – Alejandro KornElectric45Roca
Alejandro Korn – ChascomúsDiesel93Roca
Constitución – La PlataElectric60Roca
La Plata – Policlínico Diesel4Roca
Constitución – TemperleyElectric19Roca
Temperley – HaedoDiesel30Roca
Constitución – Bosques Electric19Roca
Constitución – Bosques Electric19Roca
Bosques – GutiérrezDiesel7Roca
Cañuelas – LobosDiesel37Roca
Dr. A. Sáenz – González CatánDiesel30Belgrano Sur
Dr. A. Sáenz – Marinos Cruc. BelgranoDiesel43Belgrano Sur
Retiro – TigreElectric30Mitre
Retiro – B. MitreElectric15Mitre
Retiro – José León SuárezElectric27Mitre
Victoria – Capilla del SeñorDiesel60Mitre
Villa Ballester – ZárateDiesel75Mitre
Retiro – Doctor CabredDiesel70San Martín
Maipú – DeltaElectric15Tren de la Costa

Long distance

services along Argentina, as of July 2019:
Province/s coveredCities runKm.Company/Line
Buenos AiresConstitución – Mar del Plata 400Roca
Buenos AiresConstitución – Bahía Blanca637Roca
Buenos AiresOnce – Chivilcoy160Sarmiento
Buenos AiresRetiro – Junín260San Martín
Buenos Aires – CórdobaRetiro - Córdoba695Mitre
Buenos Aires – Santa FeRetiro – Rosario Norte315Mitre
Buenos Aires – TucumánRetiro – S.M. de Tucumán 1,170Mitre
ChacoR.S. Peña – Chorotis185Belgrano
ChacoCacuí – Los Amores153Belgrano
CórdobaCórdoba – Villa María150Mitre
CórdobaAlta Córdoba – Cosquín 150Belgrano
Entre RíosParaná – Colonia Avellaneda13Urquiza
Neuquén, Río NegroNeuquén – Cipolletti 10Roca
MisionesPosadas – Encarnación 8Urquiza
SaltaSalta – General Güemes40Belgrano