Call for tenders for the renewal of the concession of two passenger trains

These companies are Urquiza and Belgrano Norte, respectively operated by the Roggio and Emepa groups; their leaders have admitted to paying bribes to the cause of the notebooks

The
Argentine train system will keep
two private operators for
your pbadenger lines and
the rest will remain in the hands of the stateas it works today. After an internal debate at the Ministry of Transport, attended by President Mauricio Macri, on the possibility of nationalizing or not branches
Urquiza and
Belgrano Norte (the only ones still in the hands of private entrepreneurs), the decision was to maintain the current system. The call for bids to replace the current operators of these two agencies has already begun to take its course.

The concessions of
the Urquiza and Belgrano Norte railways have expired since this month and are currently operating with a temporary extension.

In the debate that took place within the government, there were essentially three positions: several officials claimed that it was prudent to deliver the two lines that terminate their concession contract to the rail operator, a State company (created under the Kirchner administration) which manages branches San Martín, Miter, Roca, Belgrano Sur and Sarmiento.

Others, for example, have argued that a new call for tenders should be launched, but that this state company could also participate as the other bidder, as this is the case in several countries, where public companies participate in tenders elsewhere.

Finally, although the legal structure that will be the subject of the next concession has not yet been designed, the option chosen was to keep the two branches in private hands.

The reasons were many, but the decision to have a parameter to compare and encourage the efficiency of the management of the operator of the state railways prevailed.

Private concessions

The two concessions have a special feature: they are in the hands of two groups of companies who have already admitted having returned to former employees of the Kirchner administrations 5% of the funds received as a grant.

The
Emepa Group, the businessman Gabriel Romero, is the owner of Ferrovías, the company that still has the operation Belgrano Norte. The branch of colored trains, which runs between the Retiro and Villa Rosa terminals, in the Pilar area, is the most necessary investment, both for the trace of this line and for the rolling stock it uses.

The other is Urquiza (which links the Federico Lacroze station in Chacarita to General Lemos in the San Miguel district), whose operator is the
Roggio Group, another repentant in the cause of
notebooks of bribes, which is handled by Judge Claudio Bonadio.

This last branch, in better condition than the Belgrano Norte, has suffered much in recent years from the partial closure of San Martin, a train whose route only reached the city from the station of Domingo Cabred, in the district of Luján, allow the progress of the works of the elevated viaduct in a good part of the road leaving Retiro. Once the stretch to Retiro opened, the line operated by the company Metrovías (Roggio group) is back to normal.

The new call for tenders, published through the
Decree 423/2019 includes the operation of trains and personnel management, maintenance and a work plan for both railway lines for a period of 15 years.

According to the first shots that occurred during the development of the contest, the contractual regulation will be different from that which governed until now. In the 90s, during the privatization of the railway system, under the administration of President Carlos Menem, a pure concession system was used.

The concessionaire (Ferrovías or Metrovías, in the cases in question) manages the trains, bills a ticket (with rates fixed by the State), receives a subsidy in compensation and operates the train commercially.

This regime was broken in 2002 with the fall of the convertibility regime. Since then, it has evolved between patches and fixes over successive governments.

We will now look for another system in which there are prizes and rewards for the achieved goals. At first, a
data room, a presentation space allowing potential interested parties to consult each other on the technical aspects of the specifications.

Metrovías has already shown its intention to participate again in the call for bids. For example, when he presented the proposal he had made to the Buenos Aires government regarding the Buenos Aires metro system, he explained in detail a consulting agreement with the German company Deutsche Bahn Engineering & Consulting, the international branch of the German railway company DB. They then proceeded on the intention to present themselves together to manage not only the subway, but also the Urquiza branch in a future call for tenders.

The Emepa group has not yet revealed its strategy.

In government, they say, they will not prevent any of the two companies that have confessed to paying bribes to be subject to the bidding process. Provided that there are no formal obstacles, such as property or taxes, if there is no court order that the prevents, there will be no blockage for these groups.

The era of the new rail system (for example, how soon is the new concession expected to be delivered to private individuals) is still unknown. Like many official decisions taken in 2019, the electoral calendar will be placed on the agenda of the administration.

The numbers of each branch

Urquiza line

75,000 pbadengers a day

• This is the usual transport volume of the line that connects Gral. Lemos to Federico Lacroze

28.9 million pbadengers

• Users were transported in 2018 due to the limitation of the San Martín branch

25 kilometers

• It is the road between Federico Lacroze and Gral. Lemos, with a total of 23 stations

Belgrano Nord Line

95,000 pbadengers a day

• This is the number of users that transports between Retiro and Villa Rosa, in Pilar's group

25.06 million pbadengers

• Have users been transported in 2018, according to official statistics

54 kilometers

• It is the road between Retiro and Villa Rosa, with a total of 22 stations

IN ADDITION