Zapala

Zapala
—  City  —
Estación de Zapala
Zapala Location of Zapala in Argentina
Coordinates: 38°54′S 70°04′W
Country	Argentina
Province	Neuquén
Department	Zapala
Government
• Mayor	Edgardo Sapag (MPN)
Elevation	1,012 m (3,320 ft)
Population
• Total	31,534
Time zone	ART (UTC-3)
CPA base	Q8340
Dialing code	+54 2942

Zapala is a city in the Patagonian province of Neuquén, Argentina with about 32,000 inhabitants according to the 2001 census [INDEC].

The city is located at the geographic center of the province at the confluence of national and provincial roads, on a route to the Andes and Chile. The city has an important cement factory.

Zapala is near the Laguna Blanca National Park and a ski resort and is situated in a steppe region, known as Pehuenia, which has small Araucaria forests and includes the nearby town of Aluminé and other towns.

Transport

Zapala was founded on 12 July 1913 around a railway station built by the Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway, a British-owned company taken over by the Ferrocarril General Roca after railway nationalisation in 1948 and, since railway privatisation in 1993, in the hands of Ferrosur Roca. The city is split in two by the railways; on one side there is a commercial district with old buildings, and on the other a modern residential area.

The station is a terminus at the end of the line from Bahía Blanca and Neuquén which was meant to continue across the Andes mountains into Chile. Construction was abandoned in the 1920s although resumption of construction was proposed in 2006.

See also

• South Trans-Andean railway

References

• Municipal information: Municipal Affairs Federal Institute (IFAM), Municipal Affairs Secretariat, Ministry of Interior, Argentina. (Spanish)
• Patagonia.com.ar - Portal of the Argentine Patagonia.

External links

• MSN Map