The Milei Government expanded the RIGI for railway infrastructure renewal works

Through Decree 748/2026, published this Tuesday in the Official Bulletin, the Executive Power modified the regulations of the Incentive Regime for Large Investments (RIGI) with the firm purpose of explicitly incorporating the railway infrastructure sector. This regulation is signed by the President of the Nation, Javier Milei, the Chief of Cabinet, Diego Santilli, and the Minister of Economy, Luis Andrés Caputo.

The initiative arises as a direct response to the deplorable state of the Argentine railway network, built largely several decades ago and today suffering from alarming operational wear due to the neglect of the Kirchnerist administrations.

Facing an infrastructure declared in emergency until mid 2028, the administration of Javier Milei has decided to break with state tutelage and incentivize genuine private investments in renewal, replacement, transformation, and development of the existing railway infrastructure, as well as all necessary accessory infrastructure for national logistics.

According to the very foundations of the regulation, the main objective is to “provide greater precision and predictability to the framework of investments that fall on pre-existing railway infrastructure, addressing the nature of the executed works and their effects on operational conditions and the transport capacity of the infrastructure”.

In this way, the Government fundamentally modifies Decree 749/2024 (which originally regulated the RIGI created under the historic Law of Bases) to grant maximum guarantees of legal security to the capital that decides to invest in the country.

In its vision of turning Argentina into a pole of technological development free from bureaucratic obstacles, Decree 748/2026 also incorporated key benefits for the technology sector. Under the new scheme, the incorporation of a new product will be formally considered as the expansion of a pre-existing project.

To access these advantages, the regulation requires rigorous parameters of innovation and financial seriousness:

The development must involve a real innovation and present differences of at least 50% in its components compared to what already exists.

A minimum computable investment of US$250 million is required.

The product must have a market useful life cycle of up to 10 years.

Unlike the waste of public resources of the past, the new RIGI scheme sets a very strict technical limit: the tasks of conservation and current maintenance are strictly excluded from the regime.

The decree clearly differentiates between works that simply preserve existing conditions and those real capital investments that modify, modernize, or expand the productive capacity of the infrastructure.

Under this technical premise, the railway infrastructure works that qualify for entry into the regime are:

The construction of new railway tracks.

The duplication of tracks on already existing routes.

The comprehensive renewal of tracks.

The rehabilitation of non-operational branches through the incorporation of new track infrastructure.

The comprehensive renewal of bridges, culverts and other works of art in the network.

The installation or comprehensive renewal of automatic or semi-automatic signaling systems.

The installation or renewal of telecommunications and energy systems directly linked to the network.

The electrification of tracks.

The installation of active protection systems at level crossings and the construction of railway crossings at different levels.

Logistics infrastructure works for cargo, such as logistics nodes, dry ports, deconsolidation and cargo transfer centers, as well as maneuvering, interchange, and classification yards.

To avoid any type of discretion or favoritism, the Executive modified article 60 of Annex I of Decree 749/2024.

From now on, for an investment made on a pre-existing network to be formally classified as an “expansion of a pre-existing project” and enjoy the benefits of the RIGI, a verifiable increase in the transport capacity of the pre-existing railway infrastructure must be demonstrated convincingly.

This increase will not be left to the discretion of bureaucrats: the transport capacity must be measured quantitatively based on objective technical parameters, allowing for a scientific audit that directly compares the existing capacity before the execution of the investments with the resulting capacity of the completed works.

This adjustment of the RIGI is not an isolated event, but the prelude to the major market reform that the railway sector has been demanding for decades.

The announcement comes at a crucial moment, as the Government of Javier Milei moves steadily to launch, before the end of the year, the bidding documents for the privatization of the state-owned company Belgrano Cargas.

The ambitious operation designed by the technical teams of the ruling party aims to grant a concession for 50 years for the railway cargo operation. Far from inefficient state gigantism, the new design foresees a scheme divided by lines that will separate the process between the networks of Belgrano, San Martín, and Urquiza.

Additionally, with the goal of maximizing competition and ensuring service efficiency, independent offers will be enabled for the business units of infrastructure, railway operation, and workshops.