Neuquén railway station

Amid the expansion of the Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway to connect the Neuquén National Territory with Buenos Aires in view of a potential armed conflict with Chile, the railway bridge over the Neuquén River was finished in 1902 and the station was opened the same year.^[3] The train connection with the national capital was one of the key factors when governor Bouquet Roldán decided to move the National Territory capital from Chos Malal in the north to the then-newly founded town on the confluence of the Neuquén and Limay rivers, which had existed since the last decades of the 19th century under the name Paraje Confluencia.^[2] The city started growing around the train station, situated in the area which is the current Central Park.^[4]

Neuquén became an intermediate station on the line running from Constitución station to Zapala via Bahía Blanca for both freight and passenger services, the latter being discontinued in 1991 during the nationwide railway privatisation. From 1916 to 1931 there was the intercity passenger line between Neuquén and Chichinales, which was resumed in 2015 only between Neuquén and Cipolletti with plans of being expanded from Plottier to the old east end station.^[5]

The station was officially declared a building of historic interest by the National Government in 2014.^[1] It was built at the beginning of the 20th century by the British-owned company Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway, which designed it in the style of a British railway building of the time. Some of its characteristics are facede with exposed brick walls, galvanized sheet roofing, spruce floors, green flagstone baseboards and different wooden structures, such as doors, windows and platform eaves.^[6] Some of the original structures and other elements have been kept since its construction in 1901, such as the clock, ticket offices and waiting rooms.^[7]