Chascomús railway and bus station

Chascomús is a railway station and bus terminus in the homonymous city of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. Construction began on his station in 1983 when Raúl Alfonsín was President of Argentina but works were interrupted and finally cancelled until they were resumed in 2014 and the station was finished and opened to public on December 19. Station's facilities and services include railway platforms, bus garages, accessible toilets and a coffeehouse.

Chascomús
Inter-city
Side view of the station building
LocationBalcarce and González Chávez, Chascomús
Argentina
Coordinates35.5791°S 57.9826°W / -35.5791; -57.9826
Operated byFerrobaires (Standard service)
Trenes Argentinos (Express service)
Line(s)Roca
Distance113 km (70 mi) from Buenos Aires
Bus stands7
Construction
Platform levels5
Other information
Fare zoneBuenos Aires Province
History
OpenedDecember 19, 2014 (2014-12-19)

Therefore, Chascomús original station (inaugurated in 1865) fell into disuse and was closed.

History
Station hall.
Location of the new station, at the west from the old one.

Chascomús was one of the main stations of the Constitución - Mar del Plata railway service. The BAGSR (then "Ferrocarril del Sud") operated the line until the Railway nationalization of 1948 when the Argentine state purchased all the British and French-owned railway companies. Since then, Ferrocarriles Argentinos ran all the services to Mar del Plata until 1993 when the Province of Buenos Aires took over the services through its company Ferrobaires and has been running services to date.[1][2]

Nevertheless, the original route to Mar del Plata used tracks that crossed downtown Chascomús, with more than 17 level crossings existing.[3] That also meant trains had to run at very low speed when crossing Chascomús in order to prevent accidents, generating significant delays in the time of journey. To put an end to this, a new building that operated as both railroad and bus terminus, was projected during the Presidency of Raúl Alfonsín. The original project included construction of a new route for the tracks, moving them to a suburban area of the city to prevent accidents. The successive economic crisis in Argentina halted construction, until the station was indefinitely abandoned without being finished.[4]

Almost 20 years later, the project was put into discussion again by the Argentine state, with only two level crossings projected.[5] Finally, four level crossings were allowed to be opened.[6]

Works to move tracks were committed to Spanish company COMSA EMTE in 2013.[6][7] The company built a new line of 20 km length to avoid the big amount of level crossings of the old route.[8][9]

When the new railway/bus terminus was inaugurated on December 19, 2014, the old station was closed.[10][11][12]

In December 2014, brand new trains acquired by the Government of Argentina from the Chinese company CSR, started to run luxury services from Constitución to Mar del Plata,[13][14] operated by the national state-owned company SOFSE. Standard service continued to be operated by now defunct company Ferrobaires.[1]

Nevertheless, in 2015 long-distance services from Constitución to Mar del Plata were suspended due to the bad conditions to run trains. Tracks and sleepers broken, a deficient signalling system, poor visibility in level crossings, and bad conditions of the communication systems, where some of the reasons alleged.[15] In July 2016, local services between Alejandro Korn and Chascomús were cancelled by the Ministry of Transport.[16] In July 2017, the Constitución–Mar del Plata service was reestablished, with four daily services that include a stop in Chascomús.[17]

See also

References
  1. "Constitución - Mar del Plata". Satélite Ferroviario.
  2. "Horarios y Tarifas". Ferrobaires. Archived from the original on 2015-02-09. Retrieved 2015-01-23.
  3. "Randazzo: ramal rehabilitado tiene que dar buen servicio". Presidency of Argentina. December 13, 2014. Archived from the original on February 9, 2015.
  4. Gilardi, Juan. "Las ruinas de la estación Chascomús". Todo Tren. Archived from the original on 2015-02-10. Retrieved 2015-01-23.
  5. "Propician sólo dos pasos a nivel en la nueva traza ferroviaria". El Cronista Diario. March 6, 2014. Archived from the original on January 24, 2015.
  6. "Tema solucionado: serán cuatro los pasos a nivel en Chascomús". VN24. May 15, 2014. Archived from the original on July 20, 2014. Retrieved January 23, 2015.
  7. "COMSA mejorará la conexión ferroviaria de Chascomús (Argentina)". COMSA Ente. 2013. Archived from the original on December 9, 2013.
  8. "La española Comsa se adjudicó obras ferroviarias en Chascomús". El Cronista. October 24, 2013.
  9. "En la prensa española se refleja la obra del desvío ferroviario, que ejecutará una empresa de ese origen". El Argentino. October 24, 2013. Archived from the original on January 24, 2015.
  10. "Estación Chascomús - F.C. Sud (1865-2014)". Museo Ferroviario Ranchos.
  11. "Se trabaja en el acondicionamiento de la nueva estación". El Argentino. December 18, 2014. Archived from the original on January 24, 2015.
  12. "Hoy correrá el primer servicio ferroviario por la nueva traza". El Fuerte Diario. December 19, 2014.
  13. "Los nuevos trenes a Mar del Plata funcionarán desde este viernes". Telam. December 19, 2014.
  14. "Realizará su primer viaje el tren chino que unirá Buenos Aires con Mar del Plata". MinutoUno. November 21, 2014.
  15. El tren a Mar del Plata en vía muerta, Página/12, 5 Jan 2017
  16. A seis meses de la suspensión, el tren de Chascomús no volvería a funcionar, Diario Sur, 2 Feb 2017
  17. El 3 de julio vuelve a funcionar el tren Buenos Aires-Mar del Plata, La Nación, 15 Jul 2017
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