at the beginning of the 20th century the government of argentina had established the argentine state railway, which focused on building railway lines in several regions of argentina. with the purpose of helping to populate patagonia and to contribute to the commercial development of the argentina's southern provinces, the asr built lines there through its subsidiary ferrocarriles patagónicos. the first railway built was the puerto deseado railway, opened in 1911 in order to contribute to the commercialization of wool in the region.