In 1891, Victoria station was inaugurated. Trains to Zelaya and Capilla del Señor departed from Victoria for the first time one year later. In 1916, the Retiro-Tigre line was electrified, becoming the first electrified railway system in South America. New British Thomson-Houston (BTH) multiple units were acquired to run on the line. The CAR also installed the first crossbuck and manually-operated gates on the many existing level crossings.
During successive years, several new stations were built by the company, including Beccar (1913), La Lucila (1933), Acassuso (1934) and Virreyes (1938).
The lack of maintenance of the FIAT 7131 coaches meant that some of them went out of service, so in 1987 Ferrocarriles Argentinos acquired new light railcars for the Zárate and Capilla del Señor branches. The company bought 8 units made by Materfer which were soon nicknamed Pitufos (a Spanish translation for "Smurfs" due to their small size). Nevertheless, the limited seating capacity and poor damping of those units mean that the 7131 coaches continued to be used.[1]
During the first two years of the concession, TBA met the requirements specified in the contract regarding the frequency of service, with an average of 98%. By February 1999 the consortium had invested US$200 million including the reconstruction of 220 Toshiba wagons, and the remodelling of 13 stations and workshops. In addition, a new ticket selling system was introduced with the installation of vending machines.
One of the most notable improvements was the introduction of "Puma" coaches on the Retiro-Tigre branch. These coaches were built by local factory Emprendimientos Ferroviarios S.A. (EMFER) and featured air conditioning, ABS brakes and computer-supervising systems.[2]
In 1997 the Government decided to modify the contracts of concession with a plan of modernisation worth US$2.5 billion. The future investments included acquiring 492 brand-new electric multiple units, the refurbishing of more than 100 km of existing tracks, and the installation of new signalling, among other improvements.
Nevertheless, the Government of Fernando De la Rúa (which had come to power in 1999) made changes to the original project, reducing the amount of the budget to US$1.3 billion. The State granted subsidies to TBA (and the rest of the private operators) as a way to compensate for the losses arising from the change in plans and to avoid fare increases.
Due to the lack of investment in the Mitre Line, the quality of the service decreased considerably. TBA operated the line until the 2012 Once station rail disaster happened. As a result, the National Government revoked the concession granted to TBA and gave the Mitre and Sarmiento lines to the State operator UGOMS, that then ran the lines until 2014 when it was transferred under concession to Corredores Ferroviarios.[3][4][5]
On 12 February 2014, the Government of Argentina granted the operation of the line to the private company Corredores Ferroviarios.[3][4][5] That same year the Government announced the acquisition of new coaches to increase the Mitre Line's rolling stock. The coaches were manufactured by the Chinese company CSR Corporation Limited, with the first coaches arriving in June 2014.[6][7]
In November 2014, the Retiro-Tigre section of Mitre Line renewed its fleet of electric trains, adding a total of 12 brand new trains for that service. The CSR trains replaced the old Toshiba cars that had been brought to Argentina in the 1960s for the Mitre and Sarmiento lines. The purchase cost $250 million was paid by the National Government.[8][9]
The branch line to José L. Suárez's fleet was renewed completely with the same Chinese trains in January 2015.[10][11]
In 2017, the Ministry of Transport announced the construction of a viaduct for the Retiro–Tigre branch of Mitre Line in Buenso Aires. The viaduct would extend from Dorrego Avenue in Palermo to Congreso Avenue in Núñez for 3.9 kilometres. Works began in September 2017. The project also included a total refurbishment of Lisandro de la Torre and Belgrano C stations.[16] The viaduct was opened to traffic on 10 May 2019 by President Mauricio Macri leading to the removal eight level crossings.
^ abHistoria del Ferrocarril al Norte del Gran Buenos Aires: Ferrocarriles Mitre y Belgrano by Ariel Bernasconi - Dunken Editorial (2012) - ISBN978-9870257691
