The Buenos Aires and Rosario Railway (BA&R) was a British-owned railway company that built and operated a broad gauge

Indian gauge

Indian gauge is a track gauge commonly used in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Argentina and Chile. It is also the gauge that is used on BART , in northern California.- Scotland :...

  railway network in 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...

, where it was known as the Ferrocarril Buenos Aires y Rosario.

On 10 September 1870 the Buenos Aires Province

Buenos Aires Province

The Province of Buenos Aires is the largest and most populous province of Argentina. It takes the name from the city of Buenos Aires, which used to be the provincial capital until it was federalized in 1880...

 awarded Guillermo E. Matti the concession to build a line from 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...

  to Campana

Campana, Buenos Aires

Campana is a city in the Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, in the Campana Partido. It is located about from Buenos Aires City, on the right-hand margin of the Paraná River, Its population is 84,000 inhabitants as per the ....

, a port on the River Paraná. In April 1874 Matti formed the Compañia del Ferrocarril a Campana (in English: Buenos Aires and Campana Railway), the line was opened on 8 April 1876, and later a further concession was granted to the company for an extension to Zárate

Zárate, Buenos Aires

Zárate is a city in the northeast of the . It lies on the western shore of the Paraná River, from Buenos Aires. Its population as per the is 101,271 inhabitants. It is the head town and the only city in the partido of the same name....

 and Rosario

Rosario

Rosario is the largest city in the province of Santa Fe, Argentina. It is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the western shore of the Paraná River and has 1,159,004 residents as of the ....

. On 9 May 1885 the company changed its name to the BA&R. The first train between Buenos Aires and Rosario (North Station) ran on 1 February 1886, a momentous occasion because until this time railway developments in Argentina had centred around the cities of Buenos Aires and Rosario but now, for the first time, the cities were linked.

From this point on the rate of expansion of the company increased and from Rosario the line was extended to Gálvez

Gálvez

Gálvez is a village in the province of Toledo and autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha, Spain.-References:...

 (October 1886), Rafaela

Rafaela

Rafaela is a city in the province of Santa Fe, Argentina, about 96 km from the provincial capital. It is the head town of the Castellanos Department. It has a population of 99,150 per the ....

 (March 1887), Sunchales (June 1887), La Banda (September 1890) and Tucumán (February 1891). Branch lines were built from San Lorenzo

San Lorenzo, Santa Fe

San Lorenzo is a city in the south of the province of Santa Fe, Argentina, located 23 km north of Rosario, on the western shore of the Paraná River, and forming one end of the Greater Rosario metropolitan area...

 to Puerto San Martín and Puerto Cerana (1889), from Bernardo de Irigoyen

Bernardo de Irigoyen, Santa Fe

Bernardo de Irigoyen is a town in the center-east of the province of Santa Fe, Argentina. It has 1,899 inhabitants as per the . It is located south-southwest from the provincial capital Santa Fe, on Provincial Route 10....

 to Santa Fe

Santa Fe, Argentina

Santa Fe is the capital city of province of Santa Fe, Argentina. It sits in northeastern Argentina, near the junction of the Paraná and Salado rivers. It lies opposite the city of Paraná, to which it is linked by the Hernandarias Subfluvial Tunnel. The city is also connected by canal with the...

 (1892), Gálvez to San Francisco

San Francisco, Córdoba

San Francisco is a city located at the far east border of the province of Córdoba, Argentina, and parts of the city are beyond the border into the province of Santa Fe. In the city National Routes 19 and 158 intersect...

 (1890), from La Banda to Santiago del Estero

Santiago del Estero

Santiago del Estero is the capital of Santiago del Estero Province in northern Argentina. It has a population of 244,733 inhabitants, making it the twelfth largest city in the country, with a surface area of 2,116 km². It lies on the Dulce River and on National Route 9, at a distance of...

 (February 1891), and from Cevil Pozo to El Chañar

El Chañar

El Chañar is a settlement in Tucumán Province in northern Argentina....

 (1896).
On 9 August 1890 the company acquired a 22 km line from Coghlan

Coghlan, Buenos Aires

Coghlan is a barrio , of the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina.It is the name of a middle class neighbourhood located between Belgrano, Saavedra, Núñez and Villa Urquiza; it was originally inhabited by Irish and English immigrants....

 junction, on the main line, to Tigre

Tigre, Buenos Aires

Tigre is a town in the Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, situated in the north of Greater Buenos Aires, north of Buenos Aires city. Tigre lies on the Paraná Delta and is an important tourist and weekend attraction, easily reached by bus and train services, including the scenic Tren de la Costa...

, which put the company in direct competition with the Central Argentine Railway

Central Argentine Railway

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

 (CA).

By the mid 1890s the BA&R was the second largest British-owned railway company in Argentina and was effectively challenging the CA’s monopoly of the north-west of the country. On 20 September 1900 the BA&R bought the 490 km metre gauge

Metre gauge

Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland...

 rail network built by the British-owned company Santa Fe and Córdoba Great Southern Railway

Santa Fe and Córdoba Great Southern Railway

The Santa Fe and Córdoba Great Southern Railway was a British-owned railway company that built and operated a broad gauge railway network in Argentina, where it was known as the Gran Ferrocarril del Sud de Santa Fe y Córdoba....

 (SF&CGS). The sale included a concession already granted to the SF&CGS for the extension of their network from La Carlota

La Carlota, Córdoba, Argentina

La Carlota is a city in the south of the province of Córdoba, Argentina, about 110 km south of Villa María and 240 km from Córdoba City. It has 11,490 inhabitants as per the ....

 to Río Cuarto

Río Cuarto, Córdoba

-References:* - Official website....

which the BA&R opened on 26 March 1902.

In 1908 the company was taken over by the Central Argentine Railway.