Railway expansion has played a very important part in the development of the Republic. It was in 1854 that Buenos Aires granted the first railway concession in Argentina. It was for merely thirteen miles of line running westward from the capital, and it began working in 1857. Between that date and 1909 the railway mileage increased to 16,000 miles, this representing an average construction of a new line at the rate of 319 miles per annum. La Pampa is the territory with the greatest mileage in railways, and it is estimated that this mileage is likely to be doubled at no distant date. the total railroad mileage of the country is 22,310 miles.
