As part of a national railway privatisation plan, carried out under the presidency of Carlos Menem, a concession to operate the line was granted to the government of Tucumán Province in 1992, that ran a service named El Tucumano, although it did not last so long.

After El Tucumano was definitely cancelled, in 1997 the provincial government called a tender to operate trains to Tucumán.

The company started operating in 1997 with an express service with stopped only in intermediate stations La Banda, Colonia Dorá, and Rosario Norte.

[2] Those politicians, and the financial problems that were being solved resulted in the cancellation of the contract of concession in 2000 therefore passenger services were interrupted.

Two years later, trains from Buenos Aires to Tucumán would be run by NOA Ferrocarriles S.A.,[3] with a service named El Jardín de la República ("Garden of the Republic"), taking about 24 hours to connect both cities.