Servicios Ferroviarios del Chaco

Servicios Ferroviarios del Chaco S.A. (also known for its acronym SEFECHA) (in English: "Chaco Railway Services") was a State-owned railway company which operated passenger rail services in the Chaco Province of Argentina

Those services had been previously run by the state-owned company Ferrocarriles Argentinos since railway nationalization of 1948.

History

As part of railway privatization, carried out during the presidency of Carlos Menem, a concession to operate the services was granted to the government of Chaco Province in 1992, being later transferred to "Servicios Ferroviarios del Chaco" (also known for its acronym "SEFECHA") in August 1999.

The Government of Chaco carried out a plan to rehabilitate some branches within the Province, being the first the Cacuí-La Sabana line, re-opened in December 1997 running railcars by MAN.

In March 1998 another service was added, the Sáenz Peña-Taco Pozo line, with 3 trains a week. The 319-km path included the north of Santiago del Estero Province. That same year SEFECHA re-opened the 190-km length Sáenz Peña-Chorotis branch.

The Cacuí-Resistencia-Barranqueras line (which service was named Metropolitano) was reestablished in August 1999, using remodeled Ferrostaal railcars.

In May 2010, the Government of Argentina took over services previously operated by SEFECHA, which was dissolved.^[1] Nowadays those services, together with those of Tren de las Sierras in Córdoba Province, are the only ex-FCGB passenger services in the interior of the country that are still in operation.

Services

Two 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 ³⁄₈ in) metre gauge services were run by SEFECHA until 2010:

See also

• Ferrocarril Belgrano
• Trenes Argentinos

References