in 1873 the british-owned east argentine railway opened a line between concordia and mercedes, extending these services northwards outside entre ríos to corrientes for the first time. in november 1886, congress approved the line's expansion to misiones province, taking it from monte caseros in corrientes to posadas. in 1898 the company's owner john e. clark transferred his concession to the argentine north eastern railway, which opened the monte caseros - posadas line in 1890.