at the same time, the buenos aires central railway company, headed by the argentine businessman federico lacroze, opened a standard gauge railway line between buenos aires and pilar in buenos aires province in 1888, with an extension to zárate that same year. in 1906 the line was extended to entre ríos and a traffic-sharing agreement signed between the argentine and british rail companies, effectively joining the provinces of corrientes and misiones to buenos aires by rail for the first time. for some years the paraná river was crossed using a train ferry, however bridges and viaducts were later built.