Argentina has the largest railway network in all of South America and the 8th largest in the entire world, with 22,970 miles of track. The network serves all 23 provinces, as well as Buenos Aires. However, financial issues and the use of four different gauges make the trains inefficient and contribute to their declining use. While some services were privatized in the early 1990s, they were re-nationalized in 2008. Commuter services are operated in the cities of Buenos Aires, Mendoza, Cordoba, Resistencia, Paraná, La Plata, Santiago del Estero and Salta.
Buenos Aires used to have one of the largest tram networks in the world, extending over 500 miles at its peak. However, tram lines were discontinued and replaced with buses in the 1950s and 1960s. A modern tram line, the PreMetro, opened in 1987, and a 1.2 mile long historic tram operates on weekend afternoons. Buenos Aires also has the first subway to be constructed in Latin America and in the Southern Hemisphere. The Buenos Aires Underground, or Subte, first opened in 1913 and now has over 80 stations and nearly 34 miles of track on 6 lines. The Underground Line A’s original rolling stock, known as the La Brugeoise cars, operated continuously for 100 years, from 1913 until 2013. Plaza de los Virreyes Station on Line E has the distinction of being the world’s southernmost subway station.
