The Roca line is a commuter rail service in the city of Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

, Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

, run by the private company Transportes Metropolitanos General General Roca S.A. (TMR), a subsidiary of Metropolitano

Metropolitano

Metropolitano S.A. was a privately owned consortium formed in 1994 to take over concessions granted by the Argentine government, through the state-owned company FEMESA as part of railway privatisation during the presidency of Carlos Menem for the operation of commuter rail services in Buenos Aires...

, between 1 January 1995 and 22 May 2007. This service had previously been run by the state-owned Ferrocarril General Roca

Ferrocarril General Roca

Ferrocarril General Roca , named after the former Argentine president Julio Argentino Roca, was one of the six state-owned Argentine railway companies formed after President Juan Perón's nationalisation of the railway network in 1948...

 since nationalisation

Railway Nationalisation in Argentina

In 1948, during President Juan Perón’s first term of office, the seven British-owned and three French-owned railway companies then operating in Argentina, were purchased by the state...

 of the railways in 1948.

The Roca line operates from the city-centre terminus of Constitución railway station south to Alejandro Korn

Alejandro Korn, Buenos Aires

Alejandro Korn is a city in the Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, located in the San Vicente Partido.The settlement was founded on August 14, 1865 and renamed in honour of Argentine physician, philosopher and reformist, Alejandro Korn ....

, Cañuelas, and La Plata

La Plata

La Plata is the capital city of the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and of La Plata partido. According to the , the city proper has a population of 574,369 and its metropolitan area has 694,253 inhabitants....

, and west to Haedo along broad gauge

Broad gauge

Broad-gauge railways use a track gauge greater than the standard gauge of .- List :For list see: List of broad gauges, by gauge and country- History :...

 lines built by the British-owned Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway

Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway

The Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway was one of the Big Four broad gauge, , British-owned companies that built and operated railway networks in Argentina...

. The intermediate stations connecting the different branch lines are Avellaneda

Avellaneda

Avellaneda is a port city in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the seat of the Avellaneda Partido, whose population was 328,980 as per the ....

, Bosques and Temperley

Temperley

Temperley is a city in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, located in the south of Lomas de Zamora Partido. It forms part of the Greater Buenos Aires metro area.- History:...

.

The line consists of 198 kilometers of track (55 of which are electrified), 70 stations, 146 grade crossings, 907 daily services through its different branches, and carries half a million passengers daily.

In spite of the large government subsidies received by TMR a serious decline in the standard of their rail services has led to the original concession being revoked and the service is now operated by the consortium UGOFE

Unidad de Gestión Operativa Ferroviaria de Emergencia

Unidad de Gestión Operativa Ferroviaria de Emergencia is a temporary consortium of Argentine companies formed on 7 January 2005 by Ferrovías, Metrovías and Trenes de Buenos Aires to take over the running of commuter railway services in Buenos Aires after concessions granted to Metropolitano in...

.

Currently there are plans under way for a major investment to modernize the line with the electrification of the whole system, a new maintenance yard in the town of Tolosa in La Plata, several new bridges and tunnels at road crossings and improved grade crossings, all new concrete sleepers and welded rail joints for the entire line, the remodeling of 50 stations and the purchase of 200 electric coaches of the latest technology. Presently electrification of Avellaneda-Quilmes and Temperley-Bosques sections are under way.

Train services

Urban

• Constitución-Temperley-Ezeiza (Electric)
• Ezeiza-Cañuelas (Diesel)
• Constitución-Temperley-Alejandro Korn (Electric)
• Constitución-Berazategui-La Plata (Diesel)
• Constitución-Berazategui-Bosques (Diesel)
• Constitución-Temperley-Bosques (Diesel)
• Constitución-Temperley-Gutierrez (Diesel)
• Constitución-Temperley-Claypole (Electric)
• Temperley-Haedo (Diesel)

Interurban

• Constitución-Saladillo
• Constitución-General Alvear

External links

• Roca line Constitución - Ezeiza in YouTube, 30 km time-lapse
  Time-lapse
  Time-lapse photography is a cinematography technique whereby the frequency at which film frames are captured is much lower than that which will be used to play the sequence back. When replayed at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and thus lapsing...
  
  .