General plan of the Argentine Paraguayan International Railway. Circa 1890.

Original plan; ink on canvas. Measurements: 50 x 36 cm / 19.68 x 14.17 in. Indicate concessions with red lines; in black the sections already built, and with a dotted line, those that are still projects. The plan is signed by Francisco Meicotti y Cía. It has a scale of 1: 1,000,000. It dates back to 1887 when the internal branch between Paraguarí and Villarrica was made.

It marks the line concessions from the Argentine Chaco: Peláez Concession from Resistencia to Formosa; Inland Formosa Project (Colonia Laishi, etc); Project N ° 1, Formosa to Asunción through Argentine territory; Project N. 2, from Formosa to Asunción crossing the river, entering Paraguay near Mortero and crossing through Ipané and San Lorenzo before reaching the capital of Paraguay. It has a second Cáceres Project crossing from the interior of Corrientes to Tacuarí, in Paraguay, and from there to Villarrica where it connects with the Asunción - Paraguarí branch, already built by the Paraguayans before the War of the Triple Alliance.

Undoubtedly, it is one of the first projects aimed at articulating the Argentine railway network with the early Paraguayan railway. The section between Asunción and Paraguarí, one of the first in South America, was built between 1857 and 1864 by the Paraguayan State, which hired English engineers. After the war, in 1887 the government sold it to the English company "The Paraguay Central Railway Co" who continued the section to Villarica.

The connection with Argentina through the Argentine Northeast Railroad was later and was made by other sections, when the Paraguayan railroad arrived at Encarnación. In 1910 an attempt was made to articulate with the Misiones region, making it possible to link through Posadas - Encarnación with a Ferry-boat service inaugurated in 1913. This forced the retraction of the narrow gauge railway network of Paraguay to adapt it to the Argentine network, which made communication between Asunción and Buenos Aires possible. Although the project presented in this 19th century plan did not materialize, it shows the search for better connection alternatives.

S.O.IX-LBM