Estrella del Norte

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The Estrella del Norte was a train and a connection between Buenos Aires ( Argentina ) and La Paz in Bolivia . It was the longest passenger service in South America .

prehistory

Since February 28, 1891, there was continuous train service between Buenos Aires and San Miguel de Tucumán (often short: Tucumán). The train stopped at all stations and the journey took 36 hours. From 1896 an express train ran once a week, which reduced the travel time to 26 hours. At about the same time, Tucumán station was connected to the narrow-gauge network of Ferrocarril Central Norte , which at the time extended to San Salvador de Jujuy ( Jujuy for short) and Salta , a first step towards extending the connection to Bolivia.

history

In the heyday of the railroad, several express trains were offered on the connection, including a train since 1914 that ran under the name Estrella del Norte from 1930 and left Buenos Aires in the afternoon. Other trains between Buenos Aires and Tucumán were the Expreso Buenos Aires Tucumán , the Panamericano (1929–1942), also with a connection to Bolivia, and El Tucumano (1939–1964), a day connection between Buenos Aires and Tucumán.

The journey in the Estrella del Norte took about three days according to the timetable in the 1970s, but in reality it often took longer. Delays of 12 hours were not uncommon. Both the railway infrastructure and the vehicles were in poor condition at the time.

When all long-distance rail traffic in Argentina was discontinued in 1993, the Estrella del Norte was also given up.

business

service

Originally the train ran once a week, later on at times daily. He stopped along the route in the stations of the larger cities: La Banda , Forres , Fernández , Herrera , Colonia Dora , Pinto , Ceres , Rafaela , Gálvez and Rosario Norte , with Rosario and La Banda - apart from the start and destination stations - the with the greatest number of travelers. In Tucumán there was a connection to trains to and from Bolivia. The Estrella del Norte was a conventional train, its prices were lower than those of the better equipped trains. From 1953 only diesel locomotives were pre-tensioned north of Rosario .

The Estrella del Norte initially led sleeping cars from English production, "Pullmann cars " and a dining car . In the 1960s, in addition to sleeping cars ( class D) , the train also had 1st (class P) and 2nd class ("tourist class" / CT) seating cars and dining cars. Apart from the English sleeping cars, the other vehicles were newer and from Dutch production. At the end of the 1970s, the old sleeping cars were replaced by new ones and Pullman cars were again discontinued. In the 1980s, the sleeping car service was then given up.

The train usually had 18 or 20 cars. It was so popular that it even ran in two units in the summer months of 1976/1977: All cars except the tourist class and the baggage car ran in the planned timetable. They were sent afterwards on a second train that drove an hour later, carrying 17 or 18 tourist-class cars and an additional dining car.

Accidents

On February 1, 1970, a car on the train burned out. It was necessary to uncouple it from the train beforehand so that the rest of the train would not be damaged.

On February 25, 1978, the Estrella del Norte was involved in the second worst railway accident in the history of Argentina. It was the train from Tucumán to Buenos Aires, which was occupied by 2,130 passengers. At Sa Pereira in the province of Santa Fe , the train collided with the trailer of a truck on a level crossing. The locomotive derailed and two cars pushed into one another; 55 people died and 56 were also injured.

literature

  • Hans-Otto Meissner: Railway Safari. On rails through five continents . Bertelsmann, Munich 1980, pp. 62-88.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ This probably means sleeping cars in the style of Pullman, i.e. open plan cars in which the seats can be pushed together to form a bed in the night position and another one can be folded down over the window.
  2. ↑ There are different spellings of the place name, such as "Pereya" or "Sa Pereyra".

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ramos: `` Expreso Buenos Aires Tucuman ''.
  2. ↑ Meissner.
  3. ↑ Ramos: `` Expreso Buenos Aires Tucuman ''.
  4. ↑ Meissner.
  5. ↑ Ramos: `` Expreso Buenos Aires Tucuman ''.
  6. ↑ Ramos: `` Expreso Buenos Aires Tucuman ''.
  7. ↑ Ramos: `` Expreso Buenos Aires Tucuman ''.
  8. ↑ Ramos: `` Expreso Buenos Aires Tucuman ''.
  9. ↑ Ramos: `` Expreso Buenos Aires Tucuman ''.