Battle of Salta Battle of Salta The Battle of Salta took place on February 20, 1813 on the plains of Castañares, north of the present-day Argentina city of Salta, during the Argentine War of Independence. The Army of the North, under the command of general Manuel Belgrano, defeated for the second time the royalist troops of general Pío de Tristán, after their victory in the previous September at the Battle of Tucumán. The unconditional surrender of the royalist troops ensured Argentine control over most of the northern territories of the former Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. Belgrano had taken advantage of
Salta–Antofagasta railway ("train to the clouds"), running between Salta and La Polvorilla. Nowadays, apart from some suburban trains running from Salta to Campo Quijano, the "Tren a las Nubes" is the only passenger train serving the line, after the cancellation of the "Tren Mixto" Salta-Socompa, that once linked Socompa with Tucumán and Buenos Aires (Retiro Station), via Córdoba and Rosario. The Chilean part of the line, also served only by freight trains, was the site of a proposed commuter rail line on the route running through Antofagasta. Salta–Antofagasta railway The Salta–Antofagasta railway, also named Huaytiquina, is a non-electrified single track railway line