The captain's return.

Argentina's mass transit sector is getting a shot of competition. After a decade's hiatus, Trenes Especiales Argentinos renewed service for passengers from Buenos Aires to the provinces as part of a government plan to revive train service across the country. The inaugural trip of the train, called El Gran Capitan, lasted 24 hours and made eight stops between the capital and Misiones province, a mute closed--as were all Argentine train lines--in 1993. "This was a necessity for the Argentine people," says Hugo Vallone, an advisor to the country's rail transport subsecretary. "It had been closed for political reasons and now we have to reconnect the country's provinces." El Gran Capitan has seating for 400 and will make two trips a week from Buenos Aires to Misiones. Tickets are US$12 and $20, half the cost of bus fare, Vallone says. Although the government plans to reopen all of the old train lines, there will be some delays as lines are repaired. The lines to Bariloche, Mendoza, Cordoba and the remaining provinces should be operating by the beginning of 2004.