Summary - TST 15
TRANSPORTES, SERVICIOS Y TELECOMUNICACIONES
Mario Justo López
El problema ferroviario argentino y la nacionalización de las compañías de capital británico en 1948
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Key words:
Railways; Argentina; nationalization; anglo-argentine
relationship.
[ Abstract ]
By the year 1930, Argentina used to have a large and efficient railway system. It was the most important in Latin America. But, after the Crisis, the foreign private railway companies became unable to manage the system. Although they continued satisfying the demands of traffic until the end of World War II, they could not get the necessary capital to renovate tracks and face the problem from road transport competition. Between 1946 and 1948, after negotiation with Great Britain, when the bilateral relationship and its problems were discussed, Argentina bought all the railway lines owned by British companies. The British Government carried out the negotiation with the help of an expert civil servants team that gave advice on aims and strategies. On the contrary, the Argentine Government left the responsibility on just one man, the Central Bank President, with no advisory teams and without considering important subjects that must have interested. As a result, the country did not obtain the best possible goals. It wasted the opportunity to constitute a private-public railway company, it paid an unnecessary cash price, quite expensive, for the railways assets, it did not worry about railway companies future balances, it reduced Central Bank gold reserves sharply and did not pay attention on future exports. The improvisation of the Argentine Government led to the railway system decay because it did not face properly the problems that had begun after de 1930 Crisis.
[ Abstract ]
By the year 1930, Argentina used to have a large and efficient railway system. It was the most important in Latin America. But, after the Crisis, the foreign private railway companies became unable to manage the system. Although they continued satisfying the demands of traffic until the end of World War II, they could not get the necessary capital to renovate tracks and face the problem from road transport competition. Between 1946 and 1948, after negotiation with Great Britain, when the bilateral relationship and its problems were discussed, Argentina bought all the railway lines owned by British companies. The British Government carried out the negotiation with the help of an expert civil servants team that gave advice on aims and strategies. On the contrary, the Argentine Government left the responsibility on just one man, the Central Bank President, with no advisory teams and without considering important subjects that must have interested. As a result, the country did not obtain the best possible goals. It wasted the opportunity to constitute a private-public railway company, it paid an unnecessary cash price, quite expensive, for the railways assets, it did not worry about railway companies future balances, it reduced Central Bank gold reserves sharply and did not pay attention on future exports. The improvisation of the Argentine Government led to the railway system decay because it did not face properly the problems that had begun after de 1930 Crisis.