The Central Northern Railway was the first 1,000 mm railway built by the Argentine State Railway. Its aim was to extend the existing British-owned Central Argentine 5 ft 6 in broad gauge) railway from Córdoba to Tucuman and metre gauge was chosen for economic reasons.

The Central Argentine Railway, referred to as CA below, was one of the Big Four broad gauge, 5 ft 6 in British companies that built and operated railway networks in Argentina. The company had been established in the 19th century, to serve the provinces of Santa Fe and Córdoba, in the east-central region of the country. It would later extend its operations to Buenos Aires, Tucumán, and Santiago del Estero. The railroad had a complicated relationship with its employees in the 1910s, and then it had a complicated relationship with the government of Argentina in the 1920s.