May 16
Transport Minister Alfredo D’Assi today held a press conference at which he launched the Railways Nationalisation Programme which he outlined in full.
The State Railway will be known as Ferrocarril Argentino and will be split into different geographical Divisions which will absorb the former independent railway networks.
The British-owned Argentine Great Western Railway (AGW) (Ferrocarril Gran Oeste Argentino) that operates a railway network in the provinces of San Luis, San Juan and Mendoza will become the Ferrocarril Argentino Oeste Division.
The British-owned Bahía Blanca and North Western Railway (BB&NW) (Ferrocarril Bahia Blanca al Noroeste) will become the Ferrocarril Argentino Este Division.
The British-owned Central Argentine Railway (CA) (Ferrocarril Central Argentino) which operates a network in the province of Córdoba and lines to Grand Uruguay will be merged with the Córdoba Central Railway (CC) and the Central Northern Railway (FCCN) (Ferrocarril Central Norte) to form the Ferrocarril Argentino Centro Division. The Córdoba Central Railway (CC) has been state-owned since 1939 and operates a large network in the north-west of the country.
The British-owned Central Chubut Railway (Ferrocarril Central del Chubut) in the province of Chubut in Patagonia and the Ferrocarriles del Estado Company operating also operating a network in Patagonia will become merged to become the Ferrocarril Argentino Sur Division.
In addition Ferrocarril Argentino will take a 20% shareholding in the British-owned Argentine Transandine Railway Company.
Transport Minister Alfredo D’Assi outlined that the current owners of the major British-owned firms (except for the Transandine Company) would each receive a 3% share in Ferrocarril Argentino as part of their compensation package. Thus 15% of Ferrocarril Argentino will be in the hands of British investors and hopefully this will provide further investment in terms of money and equipment. This will be vital to carry out the planned modernisation programme the government has planned. Alfredo D’Assi laid out the brief modernisation plan; between 1942 and 1946 all the 1,000mm metre gauge lines will be upgraded to the 1,576mm broad gauge standard across the country requiring much of the current network to be re-laid. Between 1945 and 1947 the suburban railways of Cordoba will be electrified with further inter-city electric lines in the north-west of the county by 1950 and an electric line to Bahia Blanca by 1953.
May 17
The trials of a new tank for the Army began today at the Mechanised Warfare Proving Ground. The new tank is the T-6M41 'Nahuel’ (Tiger) designed by the Arsenal Esteban de Luca during 1940 as a new heavy tank with armour to defeat current and future SAE anti-tank guns and to also serve in the support role with lighter fast tanks. The armour is 80mm thick and sloped on the glacis plate. The 500hp FMA-Lorraine Dietrich 12EB 12-cyl petrol engine is a modified aero engine built under licence by FMA with several changes to increase reliability and to improve cooling. The M40 L/30 gun is the M33 L/24 with a longer barrel and a new AP shell. HE shells can also be fired. Length is 6.22m, width 2.33m and height 2.95m. Vertical volute suspension is used and in general design the tank resembles the American M4. Maximum speed is 24mph and road range is 155 miles. An initial batch of 24 was ordered in late 1940. Production may take place as soon as December this year.