Rosario Tramway

[1][2] The project was assessed by Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat Valenciana and was largely inspired by the network the company runs in Valencia, though at one point a metro system was envisioned.

The municipal and provincial governments undertaken discussions with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China for financing the project, as well as Siemens to provide the rolling stock.

After 4 years of silence on the project, it was again put on the table in July 2014 but was approached with caution, evaluating all possibilities before undertaking expensive underground works.

[6] By November of that year, the Chinese companies CITIC Group and China Machinery Engineering Corporation both showed interest in the project and both had invested in Argentine infrastructure before, in the purchase of CITIC-CNR cars for the Buenos Aires Underground and investment in infrastructure on the Belgrano Cargas network operated by the state-owned freight company Trenes Argentinos Cargas y Logística.

[7] The Metro proposal saw the creation of 20 km of tunnels starting from the recently rebuilt Rosario Sur Station at a cost of US$620 million.

[10] The governor of Santa Fe Province Antonio Bonfatti (also of the Socialist Party) also opposed the Metro plan, favouring instead an urban tramway system.

[3] The governor of the province said that more concrete plans would be announced by the end of the month and whether the network would maintain its original route or not, though it was confirmed that Siemens and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China would put forward bids.

The total cost is expected to be a US$360 million and connect together the city's main bus and rail terminals, with an estimated completion year set at 2019 should this phase of the project remain on schedule.