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The Rosario Tramway is a planned mass transit tramway network in Rosario, Argentina currently in the bidding process stages. The project was assessed by Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat Valenciana and is largely inspired by the network the company runs in Valencia, though at one point a metro system was envisioned. The municipal and provincial governments have already undertaken discussions with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China for financing the project, as well as Siemens to provide the rolling stock.〔(Licitarán tranvía para Rosario ) - EnElSubte, 22 July 2015.〕 Once the project is complete, it will be the first time trams have run in the city on a mass scale since the closure of the city's tramway network in 1963, which had reached a maximum extension of 192 km. ==Background== The project was first put forward as a metro network which, upon the completion of the Córdoba Underground, would mean that the city would have become the third in the country with an underground network as currently only the Buenos Aires Underground is in operation. An underground system for the city had first been proposed in 1930 following the success of the Subte in Buenos Aires, though this was never carried-out with trams being favoured instead.〔(Bonfatti: “El subte en Rosario es inviable” ) - EnElSubte, 21 July 2015.〕 The contemporary project to build a Metro in Rosario first appeared in 2008, but was dropped in 2010. 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.〔(Reimpulsan la construcción de un Subte en Rosario ) - EnElSubte, 29 July 2014.〕 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. Both an overground and underground network were put forward to the companies, while the chosen project would be carried-out on a turnkey basis.〔(Empresas chinas CITIC y CMEC compiten por construir Subte en Rosario ) - EnElSubte, 10 November 2014.〕 The Metro proposal saw the creation of 20km of tunnels starting from the recently rebuilt Rosario Sur Station at a cost of USD 620 million.〔("Acompañé a empresas chinas interesadas en el subte de Rosario y no tuve respuesta" ) - Agencia Fe, 14 July 2015.〕 The rolling stock would consist of 35 trains with 4 cars each, while the frequency of services would be one train every 4 minutes. The proposal received the backing of the Ministry of the Interior and Transport on a national level, as well as politicians on a provincial level, but was opposed by delegates from the Socialist Party who favoured a tram system over a metro.〔(Se discute la construcción de un subte en Rosario ) - El Intran Siguiente, 13 July 2015.〕 Another proposal was a broader ''Sistema Integrado de Movilidad Urbana'' (Integrated System of Urban Mobility, or SIMU) which would combine street level transport with underground transport, monorails, the existing trolleybus network and other initiatives such as bicycle lanes and was deemed less costly than a Metro system by its proponents.〔(Como opción al subte en Rosario, proponen SIMU: Sistema Integrado de Movilidad Urbana ) - Impulso, 17 July 2015.〕 The governor of Santa Fe Province Antonio Bonfatti (also of the Socialist Party) also opposed the Metro plan, favouring instead an urban tramway system. He stated that a Metro system was unnecessary in a city whose population is not expected to grow significantly in the future, while a tramway system also has the advantages of being cheaper and is more feasible to run 24 hours a day in a country which has considerable nocturnal activity.〔(Para Bonfatti el subterráneo en Rosario es inviable ) - Rosario Net, 21 July 2015.〕 In Contrast, the ''Asociación Amigos del Riel de Rosario'' (Association of Friends of the Rail of Rosario) responded by saying that the soil in the city is very suitable for the building of tunnels and supported the construction of a Metro system, though the organisation had some reservations on the project's time frame saying that it should be a long-term aim and only be carried-out after a series of commuter rail lines are established and the Rosario trolleybus network is improved along with the re-establishment of the former tram network. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Rosario Tramway」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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