Belgrano Cargas is currently renewing 1700km of track as part of a $US 2.9bn investment which also includes the renewal of rolling stock, with 107 locomotives and 3500 new wagons. The project also includes improvements to the ports of Rosario and a new bypass line for the city of Santa Fe.
The 1180km journey from Joaquín V González, Salta, to Timbúes, Gran Rosario, now takes eight days, compared with the 18 it took in 2015. Annual freight volumes have also more than doubled from 411,324 tonnes to 883,176 tonnes. Following the completion of track renewal and port access improvements in 2020, it is expected that the transit time will be reduced to two days, with 1.6 million tonnes transported on the route.
In total, the three lines operated by the state company Argentinean Trains Cargo, under the Ministry of Transport, transported 391,569 tonnes during July, the best for the month since 2013. It is also a 66% increase on July 2015, when 234,767 tonnes was carried. In the first seven months of 2018, the three networks have transported a total of 2.3 million tonnes of freight.
