As part of its privatization plan, the Argentine Government is moving forward with the concession of the Belgrano Cargas railway system. It plans to issue the call for tenders in the coming days, with the goal of completing the entire process by early December. However, some potential bidders have already expressed concerns about the way the bidding process will be conducted.Infobae has learned that national authorities communicated this timeline to interested business leaders during one of the sessions of Argentina Week, which took place in mid-March in New York City.In that setting, the libertarian administration outlined the main guidelines of the plan, its deadlines, and estimates of the investments that would flow into the country as a result of the project — projected at nearly 800 million dollars.During the event, several officials, including Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno and Economy Minister Luis “Toto” Caputo, held meetings with representatives of various companies that could compete for the operation of the railway network.The presentation, held at the Argentine Consulate General, began with an analysis of the current state of the system by the Belgrano Cargas team. According to official data, the network has a cargo density of 0.63 million ton-kilometers per kilometer of track. This contrasts sharply with Brazil’s 3.40 and is far behind Australia’s 24.20.One of the graphs presented by national authorities showing the current figures of the cargo system.According to the presentation’s graphs, the Argentine system has not been able to absorb the expansion of agricultural production, as the volume transported by rail has remained around 25 million tons per year for more than five decades.The current model, described as a “vicious circle” of low cargo volumes and insufficient resources for maintenance, has resulted in degraded infrastructure and weak logistical capacity.The proposal presented by the Government in the United States seeks to transform the current “vertical concession” management model into an “open access” system (Open Access), in which the administration of railway infrastructure would be separated from train operations.The scheme contemplates three main pillars:

• An infrastructure manager responsible for traffic control, maintenance, and slot allocation;
• Private cargo operators that will compete for the service by paying tolls;
• Railway workshop concessionaires with 50-year contracts for the maintenance of rolling stock.

Current model vs. the model the Government wants to implement.The scope of the privatization covers 7,594 operational kilometers across the Belgrano, San Martín, and Urquiza lines. These lines run through 16 provinces and connect to five international border crossings (Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil, and Uruguay).The rolling stock will be auctioned separately, with two lots of locomotives and two lots of wagons offered for each of the three lines mentioned.The contract does not include state fees or subsidies. Instead, the concessionaire will generate revenue through tolls charged to operators and the commercial exploitation of real estate adjacent to the railway lines, including silos and logistics parks.The plan requires investments of 755 million dollars: 420 million for the San Martín line, 260 million for the Belgrano line, and 75 million for the Urquiza line. A financing limit of 435 million dollars has been set for the entire project.The agreement includes legal protection mechanisms for the concessionaire, including the right to renegotiate terms in the event of legal changes or extraordinary events. It also incorporates international arbitration clauses under UNCITRAL rules and “step-in” rights for creditors, allowing them to intervene in case of defaults before the State terminates the contract.The official timeline establishes that the tender will be launched at the end of March. From that point, bidders will have 90 days to submit their proposals.The award and signing of the contract are scheduled between June and July, followed by a 90-day transition period for inventories and staff transfer. The goal is for the new private operators to take effective control of the service in December.Government-estimated timeline.During Argentina Week, representatives of Grupo México — one of the companies that has already publicly announced its interest in participating in the tender — reiterated their criticisms of the “Open Access” system to government officials.The company, which already operates in Mexico and in several parts of the United States, is seeking to have the rolling stock, infrastructure (workshops), and operations included in a single bid. This would allow them to take over the complete system. In exchange, they are promising an investment of around 3 billion dollars for the Belgrano and Urquiza lines — significantly more than the nearly 800 million dollars estimated by the Government.“Everywhere else it is done this way, because the open access mechanism was only implemented in England and it failed. As it is currently structured, the plan is only thinking about the agricultural market, when the network could also benefit mining and other important sectors of the economy. For that, a more comprehensive plan is needed,” sources familiar with the Mexican position told this outlet.Last February, representatives of the group traveled to Argentina to meet with the new Transport Secretary, Fernando Herrmann, and to reiterate their request to review the format of the tender.For now, the structure proposed by the Executive Branch for this process remains divided into two parts: Offer A for the concession of tracks and infrastructure only, and Offer B for the concession of tracks plus the acquisition of rolling stock.