President Javier Milei’s government has launched the process to privatise state-owned freight railway company Belgrano Cargas y Logística, calling a tender to hand private operators 50-year concessions for its Belgrano, San Martín and Urquiza freight rail lines.
The tender covers 7,594 kilometres of operational track across 16 provinces, with mandatory investment requirements and eligibility for benefits under the Régimen de Incentivo para Grandes Inversiones (RIGI), the Milei administration’s hit incentive regime for major investments.
Under the concession model, private operators will manage the infrastructure and traffic while the state retains regulatory and oversight functions.
Caputo announced the move on X, saying the government would call a national and international public tender to concession the three lines for half a century.
"Belgrano Cargas' privatisation is advancing to unlock its value," wrote the minister, adding that the network links 16 provinces to the country's main ports as well as Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay.
Local media reports say that among the tender conditions is a rule barring national or provincial state companies, along with firms controlled directly or indirectly by foreign governments, a clause that excludes Chinese state firms with a significant presence in Argentina's rail system in recent years.
Although widely described as an "anti-China clause" in local media, the restriction does not name China specifically and applies legally to any company under foreign state control, as well as related holding or subsidiary firms.
Contracts will run for 50 years from the date of possession, with no provision for a general extension. Mandatory works must be completed within the first five years, while optional works proposed by bidders will be taken into account in the award process and may be carried out over up to 15 years.
Caputo defended private-sector involvement, arguing decades of state administration had failed despite rising costs to taxpayers. Since 1970, he said, agricultural output, the service's main source of demand, has multiplied sixfold, yet Belgrano Cargas carries less freight today than it did then, which he framed as proof the problem lay in incentives and management rather than demand.
Milei’s government has proposed a so-called ‘Open Access’ model, permitting use of train tracks even ahead of formal possession, as well as vertical disintegration, whereby leases for operating trains and maintaining infrastructure do not necessarily end up in the same hands.
The concession will preserve "open access", allowing different operators to use the tracks on payment of a toll, while the concessionaire manages infrastructure upkeep and traffic under transparent, non-discriminatory terms. The state will retain regulatory, inspection and oversight functions. Bidders investing at least US$200 million in track renewal will qualify for RIGI benefits. Officials say the process could mobilise around US$1 billion across the three lines.
Winners will not be chosen solely on the basis of payments offered to the state but through a formula weighing proposed toll caps against investment commitments, favouring bidders who offer lower tolls and higher investment.
Interested parties may bid for infrastructure alone or opt to purchase the rolling stock assigned to each line. Proceeds from the sale and auction of locomotives and wagons will go into a dedicated trust to partially finance mandatory works, although acquiring the rolling stock will confer no advantage in the concession award.
"This is one more step in the transformation of the rail sector and the government's privatisation programme," Caputo said.
– TIMES/PERFIL/NA
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