The Argentine Railrway

the argentine railways were built by the British with heavy argentine government subsidies and grants, it was at the beginning of the 20th century one of the largest in the world.

In Apri 1946 some British companies executives, started to make the arrangements for the sale of their companies to the Argentine state. A commission arrived in Buenos Aires during the winter of 1946. The Argentine Government approved the creation of a joint company to operate British railways, re-establishing the tax exemptions that had been in force during Law n° 5,315, also named "Mitre Law".

On December 17, 1946, a contract was signed by Miguel Miranda, president of Instituto Argentino de Promoción del Intercambio and the ambassador Wladimir D'Ormesson for the sale of French companies in Argentina at a global price of A$ 182,796,173 (about US$45 million). That included Compañía General de Buenos Aires, Province of Santa Fe and Rosario and Pto. Belgrano Railways.

Two weeks after the agreement signed with French companies, the Government made an offer of £ 125 million to British companies although the railways were finally acquired at £150 million. The acquisition would be paid by Argentina with exports of meat and cereal to Great Britain, which would transfer the money to the former owners of the rail companies. On March 1, 1948, the Argentine government led by president Juan Perón took over the British railways. The acquisition of the foreign railways was shown by the government as an act of sovereignty that would contribute to development of Argentine industry.

After the nationalisation, the Argentine network continued expansion until 1954, when it reached a peak of 47,000 kilometres (29,000 mi) length, the most in its history.

Unfortunately, today there are at most 5000 kilometres of operational railroads, even with an effort of the latest governments to resurrect some stations and routes.