The winery town of Palmira received with great expectation the return of the passenger train to Mendoza, after 30 years after the route that
linked Buenos Aires with the province of Cuyo
stopped working .
The reactivation of the San Martín branch to Palmira, 40 kilometers from the Mendoza capital,
is more of an illusion than a concrete opportunity
for progress.
It is a slower train than when it stopped running 30 years ago.
The tour, which starts operating from April, will be on a weekly basis.
It will link the port station of Retiro with the city of Palmira, in the municipality of San Martín de Mendoza.
The train requires
infinite patience
: between 26 and 28 hours on the rails, in sections in which the train runs at
40 kilometers per hour
, to travel a distance of 1,025 kilometers.
In March 1993, the last month before its closure, it took 20 hours.
With almost two hours of delay, guided by the General Motors GT-22CW locomotive No. 9040, the formation stopped at the platform minutes after 2:00 p.m. this Wednesday.
On board the first unit came President Alberto Fernández, Minister of Economy Sergio Massa, after the meeting with bankers to stop the rise of the dollar;
the Minister of Transportation, Diego Giuliano, and the president of Trenes Argentinos, Martín Fabio Marinucci.
It is estimated that the lowest rate will cost about 3 thousand pesos.
Photo: The Andes
The train had left from the Retiro station on Monday at 10 p.m.
The train that arrived has a single sleeping car (with 12 cabins, which is the capacity for each car), and other wagons of the Pullman, First class and dining car category.
"We are celebrating that the train has arrived in Mendoza and it is an achievement. Many
believed that we were going to sell a lie
but here is the train," said Fernández, in front of Kirchner and railway militants who participated in the act in the hot Mendoza midday.
And, although a weekly frequency will not generate many new jobs in the Mendoza town where the train will arrive, the president was happy because: "Palmira
will stop being a ghost town
where jobless people wander."
The president recalled as a critic the sad famous phrase of Carlos Menem "branch that stops branch that closes", and predicted that from the first day his administration proposed that "Argentina be federal".
Route
From Retiro to Mendoza, the train passes through
28 stations
, and covers 55 towns.
The branch of the San Martín Railroad leaves from the City of Buenos Aires to the Pilar station, in the north of the Conurbano, Rufino (Santa Fe), Laboulaye, General Lavalle and Vicuña Mackenna (Córdoba), Justo Daract (San Luis), take the Beazley-La Paz route and culminates in Palmira (Mendoza).
The value of the ticket has not yet been released, but according to current rates
it will be around 3,000 pesos
in the lowest category.
Children between 3 and 12 years old have a
50% discount
, children under 3 go free and retirees receive a 40% discount.
It is estimated that for passengers from Mendoza some 500 tickets will be put on sale each week.
"Today we have to be very happy because this train that crosses the country is a train that is uniting us," said President Fernández.
And
he compared this moment with the liberation campaign of America
: "It is ironic, but this is the train on the San Martín route and once again San Martín returns to Mendoza in the name of the train."
The plan for next year is to recondition the tracks to the Gutiérrez station, in the municipality of Maipú, in Greater Mendoza.
And from there, integrate the trip with the metro tram that reaches the city of Mendoza.
Mendoza. Correspondent
PS
