The Transandine Railway was first projected in 1854, but construction work did not begin until 1887, with the first section opening between Mendoza and Uspallata on 22 February 1891. The entire line was first opened to traffic in 1910, the company having been taken over by the British-owned Argentine Transandine Railway Company. The Transandine completed a 1,408 km (875 mi) rail link between the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires and the Chilean port of Valparaiso, and provided the first rail route linking the southern Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. The railway has been out of service since 1984.