Railway System Neglected In Argentina

[Hybrid Ambassador]

OK got it. So you lived in Japan in the go-go staring bubble days of the 70's.! Yep, the Hikari~Kodamas 1st gen trains in their seating capacity it was very tight, especially for westerners phisical sizes! They were tailored to the pint Japanese sizes bodies...Correct you saying in even the "green class" the seatings were not too generous in spaces I recall, but I liked the "sleeper green class coaches" Took one from Aomori to Osaka and it was very good to sleep some throughout at night travel. Last time back home, was invited to taste the trains of future, the Levi II trains, due to come online circa 2025? The Nozomi class are almost devoid of discernible noise/vibration nor one can feel the trains negotiating the curves at its hyper speed in excess of 300 kph.. It cants/tilts the entire train a few degrees in each sides whilst negotiating the curves so one can not feel the gravity!

 

[sergio]

A bit of nostalgia about train travel on the "Super Chief" in the 1950's USA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dl_LoQ4vHDc

And some Argentine nostalgia (1970's?) about the "Rayo del Sol" train to Cordoba:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFdPrM-3DKg

 

[PhilipDT]

A bit of nostalgia about train travel on the "Super Chief" in the 1950's USA

And some Argentine nostalgia (1970's?) about the "Rayo del Sol" train to Cordoba:

How did we go from that to this?

 

[sergio]

You have to at least make the comparison with ACELA Business Class with its 2-1 seating. I get your point though. Lifestyles have changed. TGV for example has no dining-cars, just airline style meals at your seat or cafe cars serving sandwiches and possibly a few hot items you carry back toyour seat.

 

[Hybrid Ambassador]

Hmmm, no local culinary delights to be offered whilst train stops from provinces to provinces or county to another? Air Line type of meals? I really like and enjoy the diverse "Eki-Bens" as the meals avilable to all passengers traveling by trains all over Japan.
Heck, one can savour the different foods of each provinces as your train trip progresses. Each province of Japan prides itself in offering the best and freshest ingredients that the locals produce and catches.
http://justbento.com/handbook/bento-culture/all-about-ekiben-japanese-train-station-bentos

 

[sergio]

Hmmm, no local culinary delights to be offered whilst train stops from provinces to provinces or county to another? Air Line type of meals? I really like and enjoy the diverse "Eki-Bens" as the meals avilable to all passengers traveling by trains all over Japan.
Heck, one can savour the different foods of each provinces as your train trip progresses. Each province of Japan prides itself in offering the best and freshest ingredients that the locals produce and catches.
http://justbento.com...-station-bentos

They are unique, aren't they? I actually remember in the late 1970's when the Shinkansen had a dining-car which was catered by the Imperial Hotel! Imperial Hotel catering was later dropped. Don't know about the dining-cars. Probably gone.

One problem with those box lunches though was the lack of regulation. They are often made in some old lady's kitchen. There were newspaper reports from time to time of serious food poisoning.

 

[bkoustav]

I am visiting Mendoza region on this long weekend and made a day trip to Uspallata & Pte del Inca. Soon after entering the hilly terrain I found an abandoned meter gauge railway tracks all along.

Later googled and found below link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transandine_Railway

Although above wiki link says service were stopped in 1984, another source mentioned 1977.

Any fortunate member in this group to ride on that route?

 

[ajoknoblauch]

Here's a short answer to a question that deserves better;
During the term of President Eisenhower in the US, then President Menem traveled to the US and saw the plans for an interstate highway project that would lower dependence on trains for hauling freight and passengers. Returning to Argentina, Menem proceeded to privatize the RR and most of it was liquidated. Surely many politicians gained from the process as is pointed out in the video "The Last Station" as it tells the story in Spanish. However, Menem and following administrations then forgot to build the impressive highway system he saw in the US.
Many of the large estancias had what amounted to 'company towns' that were supported by the RR. When the trains stopped running these towns began to die and those without work (and perhaps with no education) fled to the cities and the favelas began to appear. This coincided with the implementation of machinery which replaced many of the jobs on the farms and ranches.
Interestingly, the British designed much of the RR system here, as I suspect they did in India. In Argentina if you look at the layout of the track, they didn't run from production centers to fabrication centers. The train system was designed to siphon all the resources out of the country for shipment to Europe. England and other countries who were ahead in the manufacturing process and didn't particularly want any South American completion, would finish the products and ship them back to Argentina for sale. To this day, there is little manufacturing in Argentina or Latin America. A very good explanation of this appears in a book by Galliano; "Open Veins of Latin America."

President Menem could not possibly have traveled to the US during the term of President Eisenhower, who left the presidency in 1961 and died in 1969.

 

[Hybrid Ambassador]

If Iam able to take the trains for my travelling in the foreign coutries, I would like every country to offer what Japan rails does for people it beats the Buses and Airplanes usage.Nice blog here: http://factsanddetails.com/japan.php?itemid=852 http://www.spencerfreelance.co.uk/Shinkansen.htm

 

[GS_Dirtboy]

I am visiting Mendoza region on this long weekend and made a day trip to Uspallata & Pte del Inca. Soon after entering the hilly terrain I found an abandoned meter gauge railway tracks all along.

Later googled and found below link

http://en.wikipedia....sandine_Railway

Although above wiki link says service were stopped in 1984, another source mentioned 1977.

Any fortunate member in this group to ride on that route?

I rode the Routa 7 trip to Chile by motorcycle probably 20 times. Once, I camped and explored the rail tracks for four days between Mendoza and the Paso Christo. It was one of the coolest experiences.

http://i1348.photobucket.com/albums/p721/JeffreyHarth/022_zpsf7fddcba.jpg

http://i1348.photobucket.com/albums/p721/JeffreyHarth/055_zps0b351360.jpg

http://i1348.photobucket.com/albums/p721/JeffreyHarth/056_zps5429f266.jpg

http://i1348.photobucket.com/albums/p721/JeffreyHarth/026_zps15b277c3.jpg