The Minister of Transport, Alexis Guerrera, and the president of Trenes Argentinos, Martín Marinucci, confirmed to Télam that it is expected that, by the end of next year, the national State will regain control of the entire railway line in the country, and in this way “to be able to make the necessary investments for the recovery of the railway system”.
In an interview with Télam aboard the “White March” formation that marked the return of passenger service to the 9 de Julio, Carlos Casares and Pehuajó stationsGuerrera and Marinucci explained the steps to take to advance in the recovery of the railway system.
“The resolution that we issued this year, 211, establishes the expiration of all the tenders for the end of next year, including some extensions that we were giving to adapt ourselves to the fact that someone did not appear for a new tender, so by then they would be passing all the roads to the national StateWarrior said.
“From there there will be no concessions”affirmed the minister, and explained that “tenders for services and sections will be held for all those who want to participate, which will establish that the concessionaire must bear 50% of the maintenance of the roads, while the other 50% will be in the hands of the State, which will have control of the system“.
Guerrera explained that “in these 30 years that has not happened, the investment in maintenance was less and with a great loss than what they received. That is going to change radically.”
In that sense, he remarked: “Getting the train running is a way of giving the initial kick to recover the lost section. The important thing is to start the process so that the concessionaires that today have the tracks restore control to us. That way we can make heavy investments, because we take them out of the concession and they return to the national heritage”.
For his part, Marinucci highlighted: “The proof of this is the service to Rosario, which was 8 hours and, after regaining control of that section, we have reduced the time to 6 hours, 15 minutes. I am sure that before the end of the year we are going to be at five hours, with which, in addition, we are going to reduce the trip to Córdoba, the trip to Tucumán, by three hours”.
“The important thing is to start the process so that the concessionaires that today have the roads restore control to us. That way we can make strong investments, because we take them out of the concession and they return to the national heritage”Alexis Guerrero, Minister of Transport
Asked by Télam about how the system recovers in a context of crisis, Guerrera indicated that “all this is done by political decision and seeking the resources. First of all there has to be a political decision and there has been since the beginning of the administration, when Marinucci took over the presidency of Trenes Argentinos Operacións, and with the decision of our political boss, who understood that a country in order to develop has to to have a modern, efficient system, because it is the key, not only for the transfer of people, but also the key for lowering logistics costs, reaching regional productions, in order to generate greater growth and development”.
“This is done, apart from the political decision, with the search for financing, resources; every year, every time a budget is drawn up and built, we have the support of the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Sergio Massa, so that the necessary infrastructure works can be carried outso that stations and tracks can be improved, incorporating technology so that Trenes Argentinos Cargas can continue to expand and improve its transport and logistics,” he stressed.
“I have no doubt that, sustained over time, as a State policy, we are going to recover an enormous amount of power lines in Argentina”Martín Marinucci, president of Trenes Argentinos
“Trenes Argentinos Cargas could not have gone from 3.8 million tons of cargo to 8 million last year, if there had been no investment. And it is not just the investment in infrastructure and rolling stock, recovering rolling stock that had been left behind. aside and today they are becoming operational again, but there is also the search for international financing,” the minister assured.
“And the other question, which we also defend, which has to do with the permanent accusation of the opposition, Regarding the incorporation of more personnel and the deficit of state companies, it is that we are growing, we have reached today 40 locations that were not reached before; we have installed 4,500 security cameras with new monitoring centers that require staffing 24 hours a day,” he assured.
For his part, Marinucci pointed out that “in this matter of always looking at the most developed countries to take as an example, it is not about seeing if they have prettier and faster trains than ours, but how those railway systems work and in most of developed countries the railway system is also subsidized”.
“Because there it is not understood as a business unit -he explained-, but rather it is understood as the capacity to generate productive development of the country. Those countries, which have strongly developed their railway systems, have a substantial participation of their States”, he asserted. .
“In order to develop, a country must have a modern, efficient system, because it is the key, not only for the transfer of people, but also the key for logistics costs to drop, for us to reach regional productions, to be able to generate more growth and development”Alexis Guerrero, Minister of Transport
remembered that “In 2011, 2012, the decision was made to expand the railway system and there were train services in the province of Buenos Aires, in Misiones, in Entre Ríos; then, during the Macrismo administration there was a decision to roll back those services” .
“We understand the deadlines, the economic need and that is why we can recover services, a development is being carried out on tracks, tendering and buying locomotives, we went to a bidding process for the purchase of spare parts, because the macrismo had canceled the tenders, were 7 million dollars in spare parts, which allowed us to recover 20 of the 42 passenger cars that were stopped”.
Finally, Marinucci stressed that “the accompaniment of the opposition is necessary, because the investments in trains that we are making today are based on the Budget that the opposition approved in 2020 and allowed us to advance in all this, and I have no doubt that, sustained over time, as a State policy, we are going to recover an enormous amount of power lines in Argentina”.
