Line A (Buenos Aires)
Encyclopedia
Line A is the oldest line of the Buenos Aires Metro
. This historic line runs from Plaza de Mayo
to Carabobo
, and is scheduled to be extended towards San Pedrito station.
Opened to the public on 1 December 1913, becoming the first in South America
, the Southern Hemisphere and the entire Spanish-speaking world and Buenos Aires
became the thirteenth city in the world to have a underground transport service.
It stretches 10.7 km from Plaza de Mayo
and Carabobo
and runs under all of the Avenida de Mayo
and part of the Avenida Rivadavia and is being used by 216,000 people a day.
Carabobo station serves as a temporary terminal for the line, as two more stations are under construction that will extend the route of the line to the west. They are Flores and Nazca which once completed will be the definitive end of the line. The line continues to retain its old La Brugeoise cars
from Belgium built during the 1910s.
The construction, completely carried out under the open sky, was finished with distinguished details that made it the most secure, comfortable and modern in the world. A smart natural ventilation system, as well as a unique interior visual identity system for each station –to help passenger identification–, stairways built with granite one-block steps, its perfect illumination... it all came together to reflect the splendour of Buenos Aires in those times. The first day of open-public service (December 18, 1913), it carried 220,000 awed passengers. Today Line 1 has become an icon of the city of Buenos Aires and still uses the same cars
used at its inauguration. These cars were built by Belgian company La Brugeoise
starting in 1913 and were refurbished in 1926 when their wooden structure was modified for underground only use. In 1915 the trains were extended to the intersection of Avenidas Lacarra and Rivadavia, in this section the trains ran at street level until 1926. A peculiarity of the original "pantograph
" cars on the "underground tramway" is that they had, until 1926, both low doors at the ends for boarding from the street and high doors in the middle for loading from platforms in the tunnel. For this reason, "Subte" Line A might also be considered one the continent's first "light rail metro".
At present two new stations after Carabobo are under construction: San José de Flores and San Pedrito (formerly Nazca), the new future terminal. Newer metro carriages are slowly being introduced to handle the increased ridership and demand. Line A transports +190,000 passengers per working day
Near the Primera Junta metro station, in the neighbourhood of Caballito
, there is a Historical Tramway museum maintained by tram fans that operates on city streets on weekends.
Because it was necessary to create new forms of mass transit
, Congress
awarded in 1909, by Law 6,700, the Ferrocarril del Oeste (FCO) (Buenos Aires Western Railway
) to build a two-way underground railway that would join the main route of the Ferrocarril del Oeste, (currently Ferrocarril Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
) near Sadi Carnot Street (now Mario Bravo) with the port
. But on 28 December of that year the Municipality of the City of Buenos Aires
gave a concession to the Compañía de Tranvías Anglo-Argentina (CTAA) (Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company), which operated 80% of the tram system-being perhaps the greatest in the world- to build a underground passenger rail service. The project included in its route the Plaza de Mayo
-Plaza Miserere
section in its stretch which had been granted to the railroad.
After a dispute, it was agreed that the Western Railway built the line for freight but only one track at a depth that would allow the passage of the passenger line CTAA build on a higher plane. Thus, the 15 September 1911 began the construction of Anglo-Argentina Line, being the contractor the German company Philipp Holzmann & Cia.
. The construction of this line involved the hiring of 1,500 workers and the use of 31 million bricks, 108,000 bars of 170 kg
of cement
, 13,000 t
of iron braces and 90 thousand square metres of insulating layer. The line obtained its current name, Line A, as recently as February 17, 1939.
The Plaza de Mayo-Plaza Miserere subway section was inaugurated on 1 December 1913. On the following day it was opened to the public, carrying 170,000 passengers who enjoyed the first subway in South America
. Buenos Aires
thus became the thirteenth city to have this service, behind London
, Athens
, Istanbul
, Vienna
, Budapest
Glasgow
, Paris
, Boston
, Berlin
, New York
Philadelphia and Hamburg
. Each station had a length of 100 metres and had frieze
s of specific colours for easy identification, taking into account the high level of illiteracy that existed at the time.
The construction of the Plaza Miserere station
was performed by the two companies, CTAA and FCO. At that time the station had two tracks for the railroad, who were in the middle, and two pairs of lines for the metro, which were on the laterals. The outside southern track of the subway was eliminated in 1926 and it was decided to extend the platform to make the rail-subway transfer more convenient.
The route was extended to Río de Janeiro Station
on 1 April 1914 and on 14 July of that year to the Caballito station renamed in 1923 as Primera Junta Station
. Following the Primera Junta Station a ramp was built in the center of Rivadavia Avenue between the Cachimayo and Emilio Mitre streets. This ramp was used to carry trains and move them up at the Polvorín workshop located on the Emilio Mitre and José Bonifacio streets, covering a surface loop shared with streetcar traffic until 1963 . This 2 km route is used since 1980 by Asociación Amigos del Tranvía (Association of Friends of the Tram) to run the Tramway Histórico de Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires Historical Tramway). The ramp created in 1915, was also used by surface passenger to the intersection of Lacarra and Rivadavia Avenues, a service that was canceled on 31 December 1926.
The investment to build the line was m$n
17 million. m$n 3 million is invested in the excavation of the tunnel, m$n 7 million in the construction, m$n 2.5 million in the initial 50 trains and m$n 2 million for the Polvorín workshop.
are near their final withdrawal from service. On 23 December 2008, two new stations were inaugurated on Line A: Puan and Carabobo. The increased demand could be absorbed by the current fleet, with the reinforcement of two trains Fiat Materfer taken from the line D. A total of 95 La Brugeoise cars operate on Line A.
Spare parts for these trains are no longer available in the market so they have to be custom-made by request at Polvorín workshop, where La Brugeoise units and other Buenos Aires metro rolling stock are maintained and repaired by highly skilled and qualified personnel. According to Metrovías, Buenos Aires Metro private operator, every 20 days units undergo a routine check-up, while every four years heavy maintenance is performed. Despite their 96 years of uninterrupted service, La Brugeoise trains have one of the lowest mechanical failure averages in the network: 19 every 100,000 km.
It is hoped that these surviving vintage formations
continue operating as a tourist attraction
on holidays and Sundays, a development that is becoming popular across the world.
. This historic line runs from Plaza de Mayo
to Carabobo
, and is scheduled to be extended towards San Pedrito station.
Opened to the public on 1 December 1913, becoming the first in South America
, the Southern Hemisphere and the entire Spanish-speaking world and Buenos Aires
became the thirteenth city in the world to have a underground transport service.
It stretches 10.7 km from Plaza de Mayo
and Carabobo
and runs under all of the Avenida de Mayo
and part of the Avenida Rivadavia and is being used by 216,000 people a day.
Carabobo station serves as a temporary terminal for the line, as two more stations are under construction that will extend the route of the line to the west. They are Flores and Nazca which once completed will be the definitive end of the line. The line continues to retain its old La Brugeoise cars
from Belgium built during the 1910s.
The construction, completely carried out under the open sky, was finished with distinguished details that made it the most secure, comfortable and modern in the world. A smart natural ventilation system, as well as a unique interior visual identity system for each station –to help passenger identification–, stairways built with granite one-block steps, its perfect illumination... it all came together to reflect the splendour of Buenos Aires in those times. The first day of open-public service (December 18, 1913), it carried 220,000 awed passengers. Today Line 1 has become an icon of the city of Buenos Aires and still uses the same cars
used at its inauguration. These cars were built by Belgian company La Brugeoise
starting in 1913 and were refurbished in 1926 when their wooden structure was modified for underground only use. In 1915 the trains were extended to the intersection of Avenidas Lacarra and Rivadavia, in this section the trains ran at street level until 1926. A peculiarity of the original "pantograph
" cars on the "underground tramway" is that they had, until 1926, both low doors at the ends for boarding from the street and high doors in the middle for loading from platforms in the tunnel. For this reason, "Subte" Line A might also be considered one the continent's first "light rail metro".
At present two new stations after Carabobo are under construction: San José de Flores and San Pedrito (formerly Nazca), the new future terminal. Newer metro carriages are slowly being introduced to handle the increased ridership and demand. Line A transports +190,000 passengers per working day
Near the Primera Junta metro station, in the neighbourhood of Caballito
, there is a Historical Tramway museum maintained by tram fans that operates on city streets on weekends.
Because it was necessary to create new forms of mass transit
, Congress
awarded in 1909, by Law 6,700, the Ferrocarril del Oeste (FCO) (Buenos Aires Western Railway
) to build a two-way underground railway that would join the main route of the Ferrocarril del Oeste, (currently Ferrocarril Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
) near Sadi Carnot Street (now Mario Bravo) with the port
. But on 28 December of that year the Municipality of the City of Buenos Aires
gave a concession to the Compañía de Tranvías Anglo-Argentina (CTAA) (Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company), which operated 80% of the tram system-being perhaps the greatest in the world- to build a underground passenger rail service. The project included in its route the Plaza de Mayo
-Plaza Miserere
section in its stretch which had been granted to the railroad.
After a dispute, it was agreed that the Western Railway built the line for freight but only one track at a depth that would allow the passage of the passenger line CTAA build on a higher plane. Thus, the 15 September 1911 began the construction of Anglo-Argentina Line, being the contractor the German company Philipp Holzmann & Cia.
. The construction of this line involved the hiring of 1,500 workers and the use of 31 million bricks, 108,000 bars of 170 kg
of cement
, 13,000 t
of iron braces and 90 thousand square metres of insulating layer. The line obtained its current name, Line A, as recently as February 17, 1939.
The Plaza de Mayo-Plaza Miserere subway section was inaugurated on 1 December 1913. On the following day it was opened to the public, carrying 170,000 passengers who enjoyed the first subway in South America
. Buenos Aires
thus became the thirteenth city to have this service, behind London
, Athens
, Istanbul
, Vienna
, Budapest
Glasgow
, Paris
, Boston
, Berlin
, New York
Philadelphia and Hamburg
. Each station had a length of 100 metres and had frieze
s of specific colours for easy identification, taking into account the high level of illiteracy that existed at the time.
The construction of the Plaza Miserere station
was performed by the two companies, CTAA and FCO. At that time the station had two tracks for the railroad, who were in the middle, and two pairs of lines for the metro, which were on the laterals. The outside southern track of the subway was eliminated in 1926 and it was decided to extend the platform to make the rail-subway transfer more convenient.
The route was extended to Río de Janeiro Station
on 1 April 1914 and on 14 July of that year to the Caballito station renamed in 1923 as Primera Junta Station
. Following the Primera Junta Station a ramp was built in the center of Rivadavia Avenue between the Cachimayo and Emilio Mitre streets. This ramp was used to carry trains and move them up at the Polvorín workshop located on the Emilio Mitre and José Bonifacio streets, covering a surface loop shared with streetcar traffic until 1963 . This 2 km route is used since 1980 by Asociación Amigos del Tranvía (Association of Friends of the Tram) to run the Tramway Histórico de Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires Historical Tramway). The ramp created in 1915, was also used by surface passenger to the intersection of Lacarra and Rivadavia Avenues, a service that was canceled on 31 December 1926.
The investment to build the line was m$n
17 million. m$n 3 million is invested in the excavation of the tunnel, m$n 7 million in the construction, m$n 2.5 million in the initial 50 trains and m$n 2 million for the Polvorín workshop.
are near their final withdrawal from service. On 23 December 2008, two new stations were inaugurated on Line A: Puan and Carabobo. The increased demand could be absorbed by the current fleet, with the reinforcement of two trains Fiat Materfer taken from the line D. A total of 95 La Brugeoise cars operate on Line A.
Spare parts for these trains are no longer available in the market so they have to be custom-made by request at Polvorín workshop, where La Brugeoise units and other Buenos Aires metro rolling stock are maintained and repaired by highly skilled and qualified personnel. According to Metrovías, Buenos Aires Metro private operator, every 20 days units undergo a routine check-up, while every four years heavy maintenance is performed. Despite their 96 years of uninterrupted service, La Brugeoise trains have one of the lowest mechanical failure averages in the network: 19 every 100,000 km.
It is hoped that these surviving vintage formations
continue operating as a tourist attraction
on holidays and Sundays, a development that is becoming popular across the world.
. This historic line runs from Plaza de Mayo
to Carabobo
, and is scheduled to be extended towards San Pedrito station.
Opened to the public on 1 December 1913, becoming the first in South America
, the Southern Hemisphere and the entire Spanish-speaking world and Buenos Aires
became the thirteenth city in the world to have a underground transport service.
It stretches 10.7 km from Plaza de Mayo
and Carabobo
and runs under all of the Avenida de Mayo
and part of the Avenida Rivadavia and is being used by 216,000 people a day.
Carabobo station serves as a temporary terminal for the line, as two more stations are under construction that will extend the route of the line to the west. They are Flores and Nazca which once completed will be the definitive end of the line. The line continues to retain its old La Brugeoise cars
from Belgium built during the 1910s.
The construction, completely carried out under the open sky, was finished with distinguished details that made it the most secure, comfortable and modern in the world. A smart natural ventilation system, as well as a unique interior visual identity system for each station –to help passenger identification–, stairways built with granite one-block steps, its perfect illumination... it all came together to reflect the splendour of Buenos Aires in those times. The first day of open-public service (December 18, 1913), it carried 220,000 awed passengers. Today Line 1 has become an icon of the city of Buenos Aires and still uses the same cars
used at its inauguration. These cars were built by Belgian company La Brugeoise
starting in 1913 and were refurbished in 1926 when their wooden structure was modified for underground only use. In 1915 the trains were extended to the intersection of Avenidas Lacarra and Rivadavia, in this section the trains ran at street level until 1926. A peculiarity of the original "pantograph
" cars on the "underground tramway" is that they had, until 1926, both low doors at the ends for boarding from the street and high doors in the middle for loading from platforms in the tunnel. For this reason, "Subte" Line A might also be considered one the continent's first "light rail metro".
At present two new stations after Carabobo are under construction: San José de Flores and San Pedrito (formerly Nazca), the new future terminal. Newer metro carriages are slowly being introduced to handle the increased ridership and demand. Line A transports +190,000 passengers per working day
Near the Primera Junta metro station, in the neighbourhood of Caballito
, there is a Historical Tramway museum maintained by tram fans that operates on city streets on weekends.
Because it was necessary to create new forms of mass transit
, Congress
awarded in 1909, by Law 6,700, the Ferrocarril del Oeste (FCO) (Buenos Aires Western Railway
) to build a two-way underground railway that would join the main route of the Ferrocarril del Oeste, (currently Ferrocarril Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
) near Sadi Carnot Street (now Mario Bravo) with the port
. But on 28 December of that year the Municipality of the City of Buenos Aires
gave a concession to the Compañía de Tranvías Anglo-Argentina (CTAA) (Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company), which operated 80% of the tram system-being perhaps the greatest in the world- to build a underground passenger rail service. The project included in its route the Plaza de Mayo
-Plaza Miserere
section in its stretch which had been granted to the railroad.
After a dispute, it was agreed that the Western Railway built the line for freight but only one track at a depth that would allow the passage of the passenger line CTAA build on a higher plane. Thus, the 15 September 1911 began the construction of Anglo-Argentina Line, being the contractor the German company Philipp Holzmann & Cia.
. The construction of this line involved the hiring of 1,500 workers and the use of 31 million bricks, 108,000 bars of 170 kg
of cement
, 13,000 t
of iron braces and 90 thousand square metres of insulating layer. The line obtained its current name, Line A, as recently as February 17, 1939.
The Plaza de Mayo-Plaza Miserere subway section was inaugurated on 1 December 1913. On the following day it was opened to the public, carrying 170,000 passengers who enjoyed the first subway in South America
. Buenos Aires
thus became the thirteenth city to have this service, behind London
, Athens
, Istanbul
, Vienna
, Budapest
Glasgow
, Paris
, Boston
, Berlin
, New York
Philadelphia and Hamburg
. Each station had a length of 100 metres and had frieze
s of specific colours for easy identification, taking into account the high level of illiteracy that existed at the time.
The construction of the Plaza Miserere station
was performed by the two companies, CTAA and FCO. At that time the station had two tracks for the railroad, who were in the middle, and two pairs of lines for the metro, which were on the laterals. The outside southern track of the subway was eliminated in 1926 and it was decided to extend the platform to make the rail-subway transfer more convenient.
The route was extended to Río de Janeiro Station
on 1 April 1914 and on 14 July of that year to the Caballito station renamed in 1923 as Primera Junta Station
. Following the Primera Junta Station a ramp was built in the center of Rivadavia Avenue between the Cachimayo and Emilio Mitre streets. This ramp was used to carry trains and move them up at the Polvorín workshop located on the Emilio Mitre and José Bonifacio streets, covering a surface loop shared with streetcar traffic until 1963 . This 2 km route is used since 1980 by Asociación Amigos del Tranvía (Association of Friends of the Tram) to run the Tramway Histórico de Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires Historical Tramway). The ramp created in 1915, was also used by surface passenger to the intersection of Lacarra and Rivadavia Avenues, a service that was canceled on 31 December 1926.
The investment to build the line was m$n
17 million. m$n 3 million is invested in the excavation of the tunnel, m$n 7 million in the construction, m$n 2.5 million in the initial 50 trains and m$n 2 million for the Polvorín workshop.
are near their final withdrawal from service. On 23 December 2008, two new stations were inaugurated on Line A: Puan and Carabobo. The increased demand could be absorbed by the current fleet, with the reinforcement of two trains Fiat Materfer taken from the line D. A total of 95 La Brugeoise cars operate on Line A.
Spare parts for these trains are no longer available in the market so they have to be custom-made by request at Polvorín workshop, where La Brugeoise units and other Buenos Aires metro rolling stock are maintained and repaired by highly skilled and qualified personnel. According to Metrovías, Buenos Aires Metro private operator, every 20 days units undergo a routine check-up, while every four years heavy maintenance is performed. Despite their 96 years of uninterrupted service, La Brugeoise trains have one of the lowest mechanical failure averages in the network: 19 every 100,000 km.
It is hoped that these surviving vintage formations
continue operating as a tourist attraction
on holidays and Sundays, a development that is becoming popular across the world.
. This historic line runs from Plaza de Mayo
to Carabobo
, and is scheduled to be extended towards San Pedrito station.
Opened to the public on 1 December 1913, becoming the first in South America
, the Southern Hemisphere and the entire Spanish-speaking world and Buenos Aires
became the thirteenth city in the world to have a underground transport service.
It stretches 10.7 km from Plaza de Mayo
and Carabobo
and runs under all of the Avenida de Mayo
and part of the Avenida Rivadavia and is being used by 216,000 people a day.
Carabobo station serves as a temporary terminal for the line, as two more stations are under construction that will extend the route of the line to the west. They are Flores and Nazca which once completed will be the definitive end of the line. The line continues to retain its old La Brugeoise cars
from Belgium built during the 1910s.
The construction, completely carried out under the open sky, was finished with distinguished details that made it the most secure, comfortable and modern in the world. A smart natural ventilation system, as well as a unique interior visual identity system for each station –to help passenger identification–, stairways built with granite one-block steps, its perfect illumination... it all came together to reflect the splendour of Buenos Aires in those times. The first day of open-public service (December 18, 1913), it carried 220,000 awed passengers. Today Line 1 has become an icon of the city of Buenos Aires and still uses the same cars
used at its inauguration. These cars were built by Belgian company La Brugeoise
starting in 1913 and were refurbished in 1926 when their wooden structure was modified for underground only use. In 1915 the trains were extended to the intersection of Avenidas Lacarra and Rivadavia, in this section the trains ran at street level until 1926. A peculiarity of the original "pantograph
" cars on the "underground tramway" is that they had, until 1926, both low doors at the ends for boarding from the street and high doors in the middle for loading from platforms in the tunnel. For this reason, "Subte" Line A might also be considered one the continent's first "light rail metro".
At present two new stations after Carabobo are under construction: San José de Flores and San Pedrito (formerly Nazca), the new future terminal. Newer metro carriages are slowly being introduced to handle the increased ridership and demand. Line A transports +190,000 passengers per working day
Near the Primera Junta metro station, in the neighbourhood of Caballito
, there is a Historical Tramway museum maintained by tram fans that operates on city streets on weekends.
Because it was necessary to create new forms of mass transit
, Congress
awarded in 1909, by Law 6,700, the Ferrocarril del Oeste (FCO) (Buenos Aires Western Railway
) to build a two-way underground railway that would join the main route of the Ferrocarril del Oeste, (currently Ferrocarril Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
) near Sadi Carnot Street (now Mario Bravo) with the port
. But on 28 December of that year the Municipality of the City of Buenos Aires
gave a concession to the Compañía de Tranvías Anglo-Argentina (CTAA) (Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company), which operated 80% of the tram system-being perhaps the greatest in the world- to build a underground passenger rail service. The project included in its route the Plaza de Mayo
-Plaza Miserere
section in its stretch which had been granted to the railroad.
After a dispute, it was agreed that the Western Railway built the line for freight but only one track at a depth that would allow the passage of the passenger line CTAA build on a higher plane. Thus, the 15 September 1911 began the construction of Anglo-Argentina Line, being the contractor the German company Philipp Holzmann & Cia.
. The construction of this line involved the hiring of 1,500 workers and the use of 31 million bricks, 108,000 bars of 170 kg
of cement
, 13,000 t
of iron braces and 90 thousand square metres of insulating layer. The line obtained its current name, Line A, as recently as February 17, 1939.
The Plaza de Mayo-Plaza Miserere subway section was inaugurated on 1 December 1913. On the following day it was opened to the public, carrying 170,000 passengers who enjoyed the first subway in South America
. Buenos Aires
thus became the thirteenth city to have this service, behind London
, Athens
, Istanbul
, Vienna
, Budapest
Glasgow
, Paris
, Boston
, Berlin
, New York
Philadelphia and Hamburg
. Each station had a length of 100 metres and had frieze
s of specific colours for easy identification, taking into account the high level of illiteracy that existed at the time.
The construction of the Plaza Miserere station
was performed by the two companies, CTAA and FCO. At that time the station had two tracks for the railroad, who were in the middle, and two pairs of lines for the metro, which were on the laterals. The outside southern track of the subway was eliminated in 1926 and it was decided to extend the platform to make the rail-subway transfer more convenient.
The route was extended to Río de Janeiro Station
on 1 April 1914 and on 14 July of that year to the Caballito station renamed in 1923 as Primera Junta Station
. Following the Primera Junta Station a ramp was built in the center of Rivadavia Avenue between the Cachimayo and Emilio Mitre streets. This ramp was used to carry trains and move them up at the Polvorín workshop located on the Emilio Mitre and José Bonifacio streets, covering a surface loop shared with streetcar traffic until 1963 . This 2 km route is used since 1980 by Asociación Amigos del Tranvía (Association of Friends of the Tram) to run the Tramway Histórico de Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires Historical Tramway). The ramp created in 1915, was also used by surface passenger to the intersection of Lacarra and Rivadavia Avenues, a service that was canceled on 31 December 1926.
The investment to build the line was m$n
17 million. m$n 3 million is invested in the excavation of the tunnel, m$n 7 million in the construction, m$n 2.5 million in the initial 50 trains and m$n 2 million for the Polvorín workshop.
are near their final withdrawal from service. On 23 December 2008, two new stations were inaugurated on Line A: Puan and Carabobo. The increased demand could be absorbed by the current fleet, with the reinforcement of two trains Fiat Materfer taken from the line D. A total of 95 La Brugeoise cars operate on Line A.
Spare parts for these trains are no longer available in the market so they have to be custom-made by request at Polvorín workshop, where La Brugeoise units and other Buenos Aires metro rolling stock are maintained and repaired by highly skilled and qualified personnel. According to Metrovías, Buenos Aires Metro private operator, every 20 days units undergo a routine check-up, while every four years heavy maintenance is performed. Despite their 96 years of uninterrupted service, La Brugeoise trains have one of the lowest mechanical failure averages in the network: 19 every 100,000 km.
It is hoped that these surviving vintage formations
continue operating as a tourist attraction
on holidays and Sundays, a development that is becoming popular across the world.
. This historic line runs from Plaza de Mayo
to Carabobo
, and is scheduled to be extended towards San Pedrito station.
Opened to the public on 1 December 1913, becoming the first in South America
, the Southern Hemisphere and the entire Spanish-speaking world and Buenos Aires
became the thirteenth city in the world to have a underground transport service.
It stretches 10.7 km from Plaza de Mayo
and Carabobo
and runs under all of the Avenida de Mayo
and part of the Avenida Rivadavia and is being used by 216,000 people a day.
Carabobo station serves as a temporary terminal for the line, as two more stations are under construction that will extend the route of the line to the west. They are Flores and Nazca which once completed will be the definitive end of the line. The line continues to retain its old La Brugeoise cars
from Belgium built during the 1910s.
The construction, completely carried out under the open sky, was finished with distinguished details that made it the most secure, comfortable and modern in the world. A smart natural ventilation system, as well as a unique interior visual identity system for each station –to help passenger identification–, stairways built with granite one-block steps, its perfect illumination... it all came together to reflect the splendour of Buenos Aires in those times. The first day of open-public service (December 18, 1913), it carried 220,000 awed passengers. Today Line 1 has become an icon of the city of Buenos Aires and still uses the same cars
used at its inauguration. These cars were built by Belgian company La Brugeoise
starting in 1913 and were refurbished in 1926 when their wooden structure was modified for underground only use. In 1915 the trains were extended to the intersection of Avenidas Lacarra and Rivadavia, in this section the trains ran at street level until 1926. A peculiarity of the original "pantograph
" cars on the "underground tramway" is that they had, until 1926, both low doors at the ends for boarding from the street and high doors in the middle for loading from platforms in the tunnel. For this reason, "Subte" Line A might also be considered one the continent's first "light rail metro".
At present two new stations after Carabobo are under construction: San José de Flores and San Pedrito (formerly Nazca), the new future terminal. Newer metro carriages are slowly being introduced to handle the increased ridership and demand. Line A transports +190,000 passengers per working day
Near the Primera Junta metro station, in the neighbourhood of Caballito
, there is a Historical Tramway museum maintained by tram fans that operates on city streets on weekends.
Because it was necessary to create new forms of mass transit
, Congress
awarded in 1909, by Law 6,700, the Ferrocarril del Oeste (FCO) (Buenos Aires Western Railway
) to build a two-way underground railway that would join the main route of the Ferrocarril del Oeste, (currently Ferrocarril Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
) near Sadi Carnot Street (now Mario Bravo) with the port
. But on 28 December of that year the Municipality of the City of Buenos Aires
gave a concession to the Compañía de Tranvías Anglo-Argentina (CTAA) (Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company), which operated 80% of the tram system-being perhaps the greatest in the world- to build a underground passenger rail service. The project included in its route the Plaza de Mayo
-Plaza Miserere
section in its stretch which had been granted to the railroad.
After a dispute, it was agreed that the Western Railway built the line for freight but only one track at a depth that would allow the passage of the passenger line CTAA build on a higher plane. Thus, the 15 September 1911 began the construction of Anglo-Argentina Line, being the contractor the German company Philipp Holzmann & Cia.
. The construction of this line involved the hiring of 1,500 workers and the use of 31 million bricks, 108,000 bars of 170 kg
of cement
, 13,000 t
of iron braces and 90 thousand square metres of insulating layer. The line obtained its current name, Line A, as recently as February 17, 1939.
The Plaza de Mayo-Plaza Miserere subway section was inaugurated on 1 December 1913. On the following day it was opened to the public, carrying 170,000 passengers who enjoyed the first subway in South America
. Buenos Aires
thus became the thirteenth city to have this service, behind London
, Athens
, Istanbul
, Vienna
, Budapest
Glasgow
, Paris
, Boston
, Berlin
, New York
Philadelphia and Hamburg
. Each station had a length of 100 metres and had frieze
s of specific colours for easy identification, taking into account the high level of illiteracy that existed at the time.
The construction of the Plaza Miserere station
was performed by the two companies, CTAA and FCO. At that time the station had two tracks for the railroad, who were in the middle, and two pairs of lines for the metro, which were on the laterals. The outside southern track of the subway was eliminated in 1926 and it was decided to extend the platform to make the rail-subway transfer more convenient.
The route was extended to Río de Janeiro Station
on 1 April 1914 and on 14 July of that year to the Caballito station renamed in 1923 as Primera Junta Station
. Following the Primera Junta Station a ramp was built in the center of Rivadavia Avenue between the Cachimayo and Emilio Mitre streets. This ramp was used to carry trains and move them up at the Polvorín workshop located on the Emilio Mitre and José Bonifacio streets, covering a surface loop shared with streetcar traffic until 1963 . This 2 km route is used since 1980 by Asociación Amigos del Tranvía (Association of Friends of the Tram) to run the Tramway Histórico de Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires Historical Tramway). The ramp created in 1915, was also used by surface passenger to the intersection of Lacarra and Rivadavia Avenues, a service that was canceled on 31 December 1926.
The investment to build the line was m$n
17 million. m$n 3 million is invested in the excavation of the tunnel, m$n 7 million in the construction, m$n 2.5 million in the initial 50 trains and m$n 2 million for the Polvorín workshop.
are near their final withdrawal from service. On 23 December 2008, two new stations were inaugurated on Line A: Puan and Carabobo. The increased demand could be absorbed by the current fleet, with the reinforcement of two trains Fiat Materfer taken from the line D. A total of 95 La Brugeoise cars operate on Line A.
Spare parts for these trains are no longer available in the market so they have to be custom-made by request at Polvorín workshop, where La Brugeoise units and other Buenos Aires metro rolling stock are maintained and repaired by highly skilled and qualified personnel. According to Metrovías, Buenos Aires Metro private operator, every 20 days units undergo a routine check-up, while every four years heavy maintenance is performed. Despite their 96 years of uninterrupted service, La Brugeoise trains have one of the lowest mechanical failure averages in the network: 19 every 100,000 km.
It is hoped that these surviving vintage formations
continue operating as a tourist attraction
on holidays and Sundays, a development that is becoming popular across the world.
Image:Buenos Aires - Subte Estación Piedras - 20061207a.jpg|Piedras entrance
Image:Buenos Aires - Subte - Pasco 3.jpg|Original signage
Image:LINEA A MR.jpg|Primera Junta Station
Line A is the oldest line of the Buenos Aires Metro
. This historic line runs from Plaza de Mayo
to Carabobo
, and is scheduled to be extended towards San Pedrito station.
Opened to the public on 1 December 1913, becoming the first in South America
, the Southern Hemisphere and the entire Spanish-speaking world and Buenos Aires
became the thirteenth city in the world to have a underground transport service.
It stretches 10.7 km from Plaza de Mayo
and Carabobo
and runs under all of the Avenida de Mayo
and part of the Avenida Rivadavia and is being used by 216,000 people a day.
Carabobo station serves as a temporary terminal for the line, as two more stations are under construction that will extend the route of the line to the west. They are Flores and Nazca which once completed will be the definitive end of the line. The line continues to retain its old La Brugeoise cars
from Belgium built during the 1910s.
The construction, completely carried out under the open sky, was finished with distinguished details that made it the most secure, comfortable and modern in the world. A smart natural ventilation system, as well as a unique interior visual identity system for each station –to help passenger identification–, stairways built with granite one-block steps, its perfect illumination... it all came together to reflect the splendour of Buenos Aires in those times. The first day of open-public service (December 18, 1913), it carried 220,000 awed passengers. Today Line 1 has become an icon of the city of Buenos Aires and still uses the same cars
used at its inauguration. These cars were built by Belgian company La Brugeoise
starting in 1913 and were refurbished in 1926 when their wooden structure was modified for underground only use. In 1915 the trains were extended to the intersection of Avenidas Lacarra and Rivadavia, in this section the trains ran at street level until 1926. A peculiarity of the original "pantograph
" cars on the "underground tramway" is that they had, until 1926, both low doors at the ends for boarding from the street and high doors in the middle for loading from platforms in the tunnel. For this reason, "Subte" Line A might also be considered one the continent's first "light rail metro".
At present two new stations after Carabobo are under construction: San José de Flores and San Pedrito (formerly Nazca), the new future terminal. Newer metro carriages are slowly being introduced to handle the increased ridership and demand. Line A transports +190,000 passengers per working day
Near the Primera Junta metro station, in the neighbourhood of Caballito
, there is a Historical Tramway museum maintained by tram fans that operates on city streets on weekends.
Because it was necessary to create new forms of mass transit
, Congress
awarded in 1909, by Law 6,700, the Ferrocarril del Oeste (FCO) (Buenos Aires Western Railway
) to build a two-way underground railway that would join the main route of the Ferrocarril del Oeste, (currently Ferrocarril Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
) near Sadi Carnot Street (now Mario Bravo) with the port
. But on 28 December of that year the Municipality of the City of Buenos Aires
gave a concession to the Compañía de Tranvías Anglo-Argentina (CTAA) (Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company), which operated 80% of the tram system-being perhaps the greatest in the world- to build a underground passenger rail service. The project included in its route the Plaza de Mayo
-Plaza Miserere
section in its stretch which had been granted to the railroad.
After a dispute, it was agreed that the Western Railway built the line for freight but only one track at a depth that would allow the passage of the passenger line CTAA build on a higher plane. Thus, the 15 September 1911 began the construction of Anglo-Argentina Line, being the contractor the German company Philipp Holzmann & Cia.
. The construction of this line involved the hiring of 1,500 workers and the use of 31 million bricks, 108,000 bars of 170 kg
of cement
, 13,000 t
of iron braces and 90 thousand square metres of insulating layer. The line obtained its current name, Line A, as recently as February 17, 1939.
The Plaza de Mayo-Plaza Miserere subway section was inaugurated on 1 December 1913. On the following day it was opened to the public, carrying 170,000 passengers who enjoyed the first subway in South America
. Buenos Aires
thus became the thirteenth city to have this service, behind London
, Athens
, Istanbul
, Vienna
, Budapest
Glasgow
, Paris
, Boston
, Berlin
, New York
Philadelphia and Hamburg
. Each station had a length of 100 metres and had frieze
s of specific colours for easy identification, taking into account the high level of illiteracy that existed at the time.
The construction of the Plaza Miserere station
was performed by the two companies, CTAA and FCO. At that time the station had two tracks for the railroad, who were in the middle, and two pairs of lines for the metro, which were on the laterals. The outside southern track of the subway was eliminated in 1926 and it was decided to extend the platform to make the rail-subway transfer more convenient.
The route was extended to Río de Janeiro Station
on 1 April 1914 and on 14 July of that year to the Caballito station renamed in 1923 as Primera Junta Station
. Following the Primera Junta Station a ramp was built in the center of Rivadavia Avenue between the Cachimayo and Emilio Mitre streets. This ramp was used to carry trains and move them up at the Polvorín workshop located on the Emilio Mitre and José Bonifacio streets, covering a surface loop shared with streetcar traffic until 1963 . This 2 km route is used since 1980 by Asociación Amigos del Tranvía (Association of Friends of the Tram) to run the Tramway Histórico de Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires Historical Tramway). The ramp created in 1915, was also used by surface passenger to the intersection of Lacarra and Rivadavia Avenues, a service that was canceled on 31 December 1926.
The investment to build the line was m$n
17 million. m$n 3 million is invested in the excavation of the tunnel, m$n 7 million in the construction, m$n 2.5 million in the initial 50 trains and m$n 2 million for the Polvorín workshop.
are near their final withdrawal from service. On 23 December 2008, two new stations were inaugurated on Line A: Puan and Carabobo. The increased demand could be absorbed by the current fleet, with the reinforcement of two trains Fiat Materfer taken from the line D. A total of 95 La Brugeoise cars operate on Line A.
Spare parts for these trains are no longer available in the market so they have to be custom-made by request at Polvorín workshop, where La Brugeoise units and other Buenos Aires metro rolling stock are maintained and repaired by highly skilled and qualified personnel. According to Metrovías, Buenos Aires Metro private operator, every 20 days units undergo a routine check-up, while every four years heavy maintenance is performed. Despite their 96 years of uninterrupted service, La Brugeoise trains have one of the lowest mechanical failure averages in the network: 19 every 100,000 km.
It is hoped that these surviving vintage formations
continue operating as a tourist attraction
on holidays and Sundays, a development that is becoming popular across the world.
Image:Buenos Aires - Subte Estación Piedras - 20061207a.jpg|Piedras entrance
Image:Buenos Aires - Subte - Pasco 3.jpg|Original signage
Image:LINEA A MR.jpg|Primera Junta Station
Line A is the oldest line of the Buenos Aires Metro
. This historic line runs from Plaza de Mayo
to Carabobo
, and is scheduled to be extended towards San Pedrito station.
Opened to the public on 1 December 1913, becoming the first in South America
, the Southern Hemisphere and the entire Spanish-speaking world and Buenos Aires
became the thirteenth city in the world to have a underground transport service.
It stretches 10.7 km from Plaza de Mayo
and Carabobo
and runs under all of the Avenida de Mayo
and part of the Avenida Rivadavia and is being used by 216,000 people a day.
Carabobo station serves as a temporary terminal for the line, as two more stations are under construction that will extend the route of the line to the west. They are Flores and Nazca which once completed will be the definitive end of the line. The line continues to retain its old La Brugeoise cars
from Belgium built during the 1910s.
The construction, completely carried out under the open sky, was finished with distinguished details that made it the most secure, comfortable and modern in the world. A smart natural ventilation system, as well as a unique interior visual identity system for each station –to help passenger identification–, stairways built with granite one-block steps, its perfect illumination... it all came together to reflect the splendour of Buenos Aires in those times. The first day of open-public service (December 18, 1913), it carried 220,000 awed passengers. Today Line 1 has become an icon of the city of Buenos Aires and still uses the same cars
used at its inauguration. These cars were built by Belgian company La Brugeoise
starting in 1913 and were refurbished in 1926 when their wooden structure was modified for underground only use. In 1915 the trains were extended to the intersection of Avenidas Lacarra and Rivadavia, in this section the trains ran at street level until 1926. A peculiarity of the original "pantograph
" cars on the "underground tramway" is that they had, until 1926, both low doors at the ends for boarding from the street and high doors in the middle for loading from platforms in the tunnel. For this reason, "Subte" Line A might also be considered one the continent's first "light rail metro".
At present two new stations after Carabobo are under construction: San José de Flores and San Pedrito (formerly Nazca), the new future terminal. Newer metro carriages are slowly being introduced to handle the increased ridership and demand. Line A transports +190,000 passengers per working day
Near the Primera Junta metro station, in the neighbourhood of Caballito
, there is a Historical Tramway museum maintained by tram fans that operates on city streets on weekends.
Because it was necessary to create new forms of mass transit
, Congress
awarded in 1909, by Law 6,700, the Ferrocarril del Oeste (FCO) (Buenos Aires Western Railway
) to build a two-way underground railway that would join the main route of the Ferrocarril del Oeste, (currently Ferrocarril Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
) near Sadi Carnot Street (now Mario Bravo) with the port
. But on 28 December of that year the Municipality of the City of Buenos Aires
gave a concession to the Compañía de Tranvías Anglo-Argentina (CTAA) (Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company), which operated 80% of the tram system-being perhaps the greatest in the world- to build a underground passenger rail service. The project included in its route the Plaza de Mayo
-Plaza Miserere
section in its stretch which had been granted to the railroad.
After a dispute, it was agreed that the Western Railway built the line for freight but only one track at a depth that would allow the passage of the passenger line CTAA build on a higher plane. Thus, the 15 September 1911 began the construction of Anglo-Argentina Line, being the contractor the German company Philipp Holzmann & Cia.
. The construction of this line involved the hiring of 1,500 workers and the use of 31 million bricks, 108,000 bars of 170 kg
of cement
, 13,000 t
of iron braces and 90 thousand square metres of insulating layer. The line obtained its current name, Line A, as recently as February 17, 1939.
The Plaza de Mayo-Plaza Miserere subway section was inaugurated on 1 December 1913. On the following day it was opened to the public, carrying 170,000 passengers who enjoyed the first subway in South America
. Buenos Aires
thus became the thirteenth city to have this service, behind London
, Athens
, Istanbul
, Vienna
, Budapest
Glasgow
, Paris
, Boston
, Berlin
, New York
Philadelphia and Hamburg
. Each station had a length of 100 metres and had frieze
s of specific colours for easy identification, taking into account the high level of illiteracy that existed at the time.
The construction of the Plaza Miserere station
was performed by the two companies, CTAA and FCO. At that time the station had two tracks for the railroad, who were in the middle, and two pairs of lines for the metro, which were on the laterals. The outside southern track of the subway was eliminated in 1926 and it was decided to extend the platform to make the rail-subway transfer more convenient.
The route was extended to Río de Janeiro Station
on 1 April 1914 and on 14 July of that year to the Caballito station renamed in 1923 as Primera Junta Station
. Following the Primera Junta Station a ramp was built in the center of Rivadavia Avenue between the Cachimayo and Emilio Mitre streets. This ramp was used to carry trains and move them up at the Polvorín workshop located on the Emilio Mitre and José Bonifacio streets, covering a surface loop shared with streetcar traffic until 1963 . This 2 km route is used since 1980 by Asociación Amigos del Tranvía (Association of Friends of the Tram) to run the Tramway Histórico de Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires Historical Tramway). The ramp created in 1915, was also used by surface passenger to the intersection of Lacarra and Rivadavia Avenues, a service that was canceled on 31 December 1926.
The investment to build the line was m$n
17 million. m$n 3 million is invested in the excavation of the tunnel, m$n 7 million in the construction, m$n 2.5 million in the initial 50 trains and m$n 2 million for the Polvorín workshop.
are near their final withdrawal from service. On 23 December 2008, two new stations were inaugurated on Line A: Puan and Carabobo. The increased demand could be absorbed by the current fleet, with the reinforcement of two trains Fiat Materfer taken from the line D. A total of 95 La Brugeoise cars operate on Line A.
Spare parts for these trains are no longer available in the market so they have to be custom-made by request at Polvorín workshop, where La Brugeoise units and other Buenos Aires metro rolling stock are maintained and repaired by highly skilled and qualified personnel. According to Metrovías, Buenos Aires Metro private operator, every 20 days units undergo a routine check-up, while every four years heavy maintenance is performed. Despite their 96 years of uninterrupted service, La Brugeoise trains have one of the lowest mechanical failure averages in the network: 19 every 100,000 km.
It is hoped that these surviving vintage formations
continue operating as a tourist attraction
on holidays and Sundays, a development that is becoming popular across the world.
. This historic line runs from Plaza de Mayo
to Carabobo
, and is scheduled to be extended towards San Pedrito station.
Opened to the public on 1 December 1913, becoming the first in South America
, the Southern Hemisphere and the entire Spanish-speaking world and Buenos Aires
became the thirteenth city in the world to have a underground transport service.
It stretches 10.7 km from Plaza de Mayo
and Carabobo
and runs under all of the Avenida de Mayo
and part of the Avenida Rivadavia and is being used by 216,000 people a day.
Carabobo station serves as a temporary terminal for the line, as two more stations are under construction that will extend the route of the line to the west. They are Flores and Nazca which once completed will be the definitive end of the line. The line continues to retain its old La Brugeoise cars
from Belgium built during the 1910s.
The construction, completely carried out under the open sky, was finished with distinguished details that made it the most secure, comfortable and modern in the world. A smart natural ventilation system, as well as a unique interior visual identity system for each station –to help passenger identification–, stairways built with granite one-block steps, its perfect illumination... it all came together to reflect the splendour of Buenos Aires in those times. The first day of open-public service (December 18, 1913), it carried 220,000 awed passengers. Today Line 1 has become an icon of the city of Buenos Aires and still uses the same cars
used at its inauguration. These cars were built by Belgian company La Brugeoise
starting in 1913 and were refurbished in 1926 when their wooden structure was modified for underground only use. In 1915 the trains were extended to the intersection of Avenidas Lacarra and Rivadavia, in this section the trains ran at street level until 1926. A peculiarity of the original "pantograph
" cars on the "underground tramway" is that they had, until 1926, both low doors at the ends for boarding from the street and high doors in the middle for loading from platforms in the tunnel. For this reason, "Subte" Line A might also be considered one the continent's first "light rail metro".
At present two new stations after Carabobo are under construction: San José de Flores and San Pedrito (formerly Nazca), the new future terminal. Newer metro carriages are slowly being introduced to handle the increased ridership and demand. Line A transports +190,000 passengers per working day
Near the Primera Junta metro station, in the neighbourhood of Caballito
, there is a Historical Tramway museum maintained by tram fans that operates on city streets on weekends.
Because it was necessary to create new forms of mass transit
, Congress
awarded in 1909, by Law 6,700, the Ferrocarril del Oeste (FCO) (Buenos Aires Western Railway
) to build a two-way underground railway that would join the main route of the Ferrocarril del Oeste, (currently Ferrocarril Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
) near Sadi Carnot Street (now Mario Bravo) with the port
. But on 28 December of that year the Municipality of the City of Buenos Aires
gave a concession to the Compañía de Tranvías Anglo-Argentina (CTAA) (Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company), which operated 80% of the tram system-being perhaps the greatest in the world- to build a underground passenger rail service. The project included in its route the Plaza de Mayo
-Plaza Miserere
section in its stretch which had been granted to the railroad.
After a dispute, it was agreed that the Western Railway built the line for freight but only one track at a depth that would allow the passage of the passenger line CTAA build on a higher plane. Thus, the 15 September 1911 began the construction of Anglo-Argentina Line, being the contractor the German company Philipp Holzmann & Cia.
. The construction of this line involved the hiring of 1,500 workers and the use of 31 million bricks, 108,000 bars of 170 kg
of cement
, 13,000 t
of iron braces and 90 thousand square metres of insulating layer. The line obtained its current name, Line A, as recently as February 17, 1939.
The Plaza de Mayo-Plaza Miserere subway section was inaugurated on 1 December 1913. On the following day it was opened to the public, carrying 170,000 passengers who enjoyed the first subway in South America
. Buenos Aires
thus became the thirteenth city to have this service, behind London
, Athens
, Istanbul
, Vienna
, Budapest
Glasgow
, Paris
, Boston
, Berlin
, New York
Philadelphia and Hamburg
. Each station had a length of 100 metres and had frieze
s of specific colours for easy identification, taking into account the high level of illiteracy that existed at the time.
The construction of the Plaza Miserere station
was performed by the two companies, CTAA and FCO. At that time the station had two tracks for the railroad, who were in the middle, and two pairs of lines for the metro, which were on the laterals. The outside southern track of the subway was eliminated in 1926 and it was decided to extend the platform to make the rail-subway transfer more convenient.
The route was extended to Río de Janeiro Station
on 1 April 1914 and on 14 July of that year to the Caballito station renamed in 1923 as Primera Junta Station
. Following the Primera Junta Station a ramp was built in the center of Rivadavia Avenue between the Cachimayo and Emilio Mitre streets. This ramp was used to carry trains and move them up at the Polvorín workshop located on the Emilio Mitre and José Bonifacio streets, covering a surface loop shared with streetcar traffic until 1963 . This 2 km route is used since 1980 by Asociación Amigos del Tranvía (Association of Friends of the Tram) to run the Tramway Histórico de Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires Historical Tramway). The ramp created in 1915, was also used by surface passenger to the intersection of Lacarra and Rivadavia Avenues, a service that was canceled on 31 December 1926.
The investment to build the line was m$n
17 million. m$n 3 million is invested in the excavation of the tunnel, m$n 7 million in the construction, m$n 2.5 million in the initial 50 trains and m$n 2 million for the Polvorín workshop.
are near their final withdrawal from service. On 23 December 2008, two new stations were inaugurated on Line A: Puan and Carabobo. The increased demand could be absorbed by the current fleet, with the reinforcement of two trains Fiat Materfer taken from the line D. A total of 95 La Brugeoise cars operate on Line A.
Spare parts for these trains are no longer available in the market so they have to be custom-made by request at Polvorín workshop, where La Brugeoise units and other Buenos Aires metro rolling stock are maintained and repaired by highly skilled and qualified personnel. According to Metrovías, Buenos Aires Metro private operator, every 20 days units undergo a routine check-up, while every four years heavy maintenance is performed. Despite their 96 years of uninterrupted service, La Brugeoise trains have one of the lowest mechanical failure averages in the network: 19 every 100,000 km.
It is hoped that these surviving vintage formations
continue operating as a tourist attraction
on holidays and Sundays, a development that is becoming popular across the world.
Image:Buenos Aires - Subte Estación Piedras - 20061207a.jpg|Piedras entrance
Image:Buenos Aires - Subte - Pasco 3.jpg|Original signage
Image:LINEA A MR.jpg|Primera Junta Station
Line A is the oldest line of the Buenos Aires Metro
. This historic line runs from Plaza de Mayo
to Carabobo
, and is scheduled to be extended towards San Pedrito station.
Opened to the public on 1 December 1913, becoming the first in South America
, the Southern Hemisphere and the entire Spanish-speaking world and Buenos Aires
became the thirteenth city in the world to have a underground transport service.
It stretches 10.7 km from Plaza de Mayo
and Carabobo
and runs under all of the Avenida de Mayo
and part of the Avenida Rivadavia and is being used by 216,000 people a day.
Carabobo station serves as a temporary terminal for the line, as two more stations are under construction that will extend the route of the line to the west. They are Flores and Nazca which once completed will be the definitive end of the line. The line continues to retain its old La Brugeoise cars
from Belgium built during the 1910s.
The construction, completely carried out under the open sky, was finished with distinguished details that made it the most secure, comfortable and modern in the world. A smart natural ventilation system, as well as a unique interior visual identity system for each station –to help passenger identification–, stairways built with granite one-block steps, its perfect illumination... it all came together to reflect the splendour of Buenos Aires in those times. The first day of open-public service (December 18, 1913), it carried 220,000 awed passengers. Today Line 1 has become an icon of the city of Buenos Aires and still uses the same cars
used at its inauguration. These cars were built by Belgian company La Brugeoise
starting in 1913 and were refurbished in 1926 when their wooden structure was modified for underground only use. In 1915 the trains were extended to the intersection of Avenidas Lacarra and Rivadavia, in this section the trains ran at street level until 1926. A peculiarity of the original "pantograph
" cars on the "underground tramway" is that they had, until 1926, both low doors at the ends for boarding from the street and high doors in the middle for loading from platforms in the tunnel. For this reason, "Subte" Line A might also be considered one the continent's first "light rail metro".
At present two new stations after Carabobo are under construction: San José de Flores and San Pedrito (formerly Nazca), the new future terminal. Newer metro carriages are slowly being introduced to handle the increased ridership and demand. Line A transports +190,000 passengers per working day
Near the Primera Junta metro station, in the neighbourhood of Caballito
, there is a Historical Tramway museum maintained by tram fans that operates on city streets on weekends.
Because it was necessary to create new forms of mass transit
, Congress
awarded in 1909, by Law 6,700, the Ferrocarril del Oeste (FCO) (Buenos Aires Western Railway
) to build a two-way underground railway that would join the main route of the Ferrocarril del Oeste, (currently Ferrocarril Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
) near Sadi Carnot Street (now Mario Bravo) with the port
. But on 28 December of that year the Municipality of the City of Buenos Aires
gave a concession to the Compañía de Tranvías Anglo-Argentina (CTAA) (Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company), which operated 80% of the tram system-being perhaps the greatest in the world- to build a underground passenger rail service. The project included in its route the Plaza de Mayo
-Plaza Miserere
section in its stretch which had been granted to the railroad.
After a dispute, it was agreed that the Western Railway built the line for freight but only one track at a depth that would allow the passage of the passenger line CTAA build on a higher plane. Thus, the 15 September 1911 began the construction of Anglo-Argentina Line, being the contractor the German company Philipp Holzmann & Cia.
. The construction of this line involved the hiring of 1,500 workers and the use of 31 million bricks, 108,000 bars of 170 kg
of cement
, 13,000 t
of iron braces and 90 thousand square metres of insulating layer. The line obtained its current name, Line A, as recently as February 17, 1939.
The Plaza de Mayo-Plaza Miserere subway section was inaugurated on 1 December 1913. On the following day it was opened to the public, carrying 170,000 passengers who enjoyed the first subway in South America
. Buenos Aires
thus became the thirteenth city to have this service, behind London
, Athens
, Istanbul
, Vienna
, Budapest
Glasgow
, Paris
, Boston
, Berlin
, New York
Philadelphia and Hamburg
. Each station had a length of 100 metres and had frieze
s of specific colours for easy identification, taking into account the high level of illiteracy that existed at the time.
The construction of the Plaza Miserere station
was performed by the two companies, CTAA and FCO. At that time the station had two tracks for the railroad, who were in the middle, and two pairs of lines for the metro, which were on the laterals. The outside southern track of the subway was eliminated in 1926 and it was decided to extend the platform to make the rail-subway transfer more convenient.
The route was extended to Río de Janeiro Station
on 1 April 1914 and on 14 July of that year to the Caballito station renamed in 1923 as Primera Junta Station
. Following the Primera Junta Station a ramp was built in the center of Rivadavia Avenue between the Cachimayo and Emilio Mitre streets. This ramp was used to carry trains and move them up at the Polvorín workshop located on the Emilio Mitre and José Bonifacio streets, covering a surface loop shared with streetcar traffic until 1963 . This 2 km route is used since 1980 by Asociación Amigos del Tranvía (Association of Friends of the Tram) to run the Tramway Histórico de Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires Historical Tramway). The ramp created in 1915, was also used by surface passenger to the intersection of Lacarra and Rivadavia Avenues, a service that was canceled on 31 December 1926.
The investment to build the line was m$n
17 million. m$n 3 million is invested in the excavation of the tunnel, m$n 7 million in the construction, m$n 2.5 million in the initial 50 trains and m$n 2 million for the Polvorín workshop.
are near their final withdrawal from service. On 23 December 2008, two new stations were inaugurated on Line A: Puan and Carabobo. The increased demand could be absorbed by the current fleet, with the reinforcement of two trains Fiat Materfer taken from the line D. A total of 95 La Brugeoise cars operate on Line A.
Spare parts for these trains are no longer available in the market so they have to be custom-made by request at Polvorín workshop, where La Brugeoise units and other Buenos Aires metro rolling stock are maintained and repaired by highly skilled and qualified personnel. According to Metrovías, Buenos Aires Metro private operator, every 20 days units undergo a routine check-up, while every four years heavy maintenance is performed. Despite their 96 years of uninterrupted service, La Brugeoise trains have one of the lowest mechanical failure averages in the network: 19 every 100,000 km.
It is hoped that these surviving vintage formations
continue operating as a tourist attraction
on holidays and Sundays, a development that is becoming popular across the world.
Image:Buenos Aires - Subte Estación Piedras - 20061207a.jpg|Piedras entrance
Image:Buenos Aires - Subte - Pasco 3.jpg|Original signage
Image:LINEA A MR.jpg|Primera Junta Station
Image:Buenos Aires-Subte A-P2070026.jpg|Wooden interior carriage
Image:Buenos Aires Subte station plaza once.JPG|Avenida de Mayo entrance
Image:Línea A, kiosco de diarios en la estación Castro Barros (Buenos Aires, diciembre 2008).jpg|Kiosk
on Castro Barros Station
Buenos Aires Metro
The Buenos Aires Metro , locally known as Subte is a mass-transit system that serves the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The first station of this network opened in 1913, the first of its kind in South America, the Southern Hemisphere and the entire Spanish-speaking world...
. This historic line runs from Plaza de Mayo
Plaza de Mayo
The Plaza de Mayo is the main square in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is flanked by Hipólito Yrigoyen, Balcarce, Rivadavia and Bolívar streets....
to Carabobo
Carabobo
Carabobo State is one of the 23 states of Venezuela, located in the north of the country, about two hours by car from Caracas. The capital city of this state is Valencia, which is also the country's main industrial center. The state's area is 4,650 km² and had an estimated population of...
, and is scheduled to be extended towards San Pedrito station.
Opened to the public on 1 December 1913, becoming the first in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, the Southern Hemisphere and the entire Spanish-speaking world and Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
became the thirteenth city in the world to have a underground transport service.
It stretches 10.7 km from Plaza de Mayo
Plaza de Mayo
The Plaza de Mayo is the main square in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is flanked by Hipólito Yrigoyen, Balcarce, Rivadavia and Bolívar streets....
and Carabobo
Carabobo
Carabobo State is one of the 23 states of Venezuela, located in the north of the country, about two hours by car from Caracas. The capital city of this state is Valencia, which is also the country's main industrial center. The state's area is 4,650 km² and had an estimated population of...
and runs under all of the Avenida de Mayo
Avenida de Mayo
Avenida de Mayo , is an avenue in Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina. It connects the Plaza de Mayo with Congressional Plaza, and extends in a west-east direction before merging into Avenida Rivadavia.-History and overview:...
and part of the Avenida Rivadavia and is being used by 216,000 people a day.
Carabobo station serves as a temporary terminal for the line, as two more stations are under construction that will extend the route of the line to the west. They are Flores and Nazca which once completed will be the definitive end of the line. The line continues to retain its old La Brugeoise cars
La Brugeoise cars (Buenos Aires Metro)
The La Brugeoise cars are the Buenos Aires Metro Line A rolling stock since its inauguration in 1913. They were built by Belgian railway rolling stock manufacturer La Brugeoise, et Nicaise, et Delcuve between 1911 and 1919 for the Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company's first metro line...
from Belgium built during the 1910s.
The construction, completely carried out under the open sky, was finished with distinguished details that made it the most secure, comfortable and modern in the world. A smart natural ventilation system, as well as a unique interior visual identity system for each station –to help passenger identification–, stairways built with granite one-block steps, its perfect illumination... it all came together to reflect the splendour of Buenos Aires in those times. The first day of open-public service (December 18, 1913), it carried 220,000 awed passengers. Today Line 1 has become an icon of the city of Buenos Aires and still uses the same cars
La Brugeoise cars (Buenos Aires Metro)
The La Brugeoise cars are the Buenos Aires Metro Line A rolling stock since its inauguration in 1913. They were built by Belgian railway rolling stock manufacturer La Brugeoise, et Nicaise, et Delcuve between 1911 and 1919 for the Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company's first metro line...
used at its inauguration. These cars were built by Belgian company La Brugeoise
La Brugeoise et Nivelles SA.
La Brugeoise et Nivelles SA , later BN Constructions Ferroviaries et Métalliques was a Belgian manufacturer of railway locomotives and other rolling stock; it was formed by a merger of two companies La Brugeoise et Nicaise et Delcuve and Les Ateliers Métallurgiques de Nivelles.The Bruges factory...
starting in 1913 and were refurbished in 1926 when their wooden structure was modified for underground only use. In 1915 the trains were extended to the intersection of Avenidas Lacarra and Rivadavia, in this section the trains ran at street level until 1926. A peculiarity of the original "pantograph
Pantograph (rail)
A pantograph for rail lines is a hinged electric-rod device that collects electric current from overhead lines for electric trains or trams. The pantograph typically connects to a one-wire line, with the track acting as the ground wire...
" cars on the "underground tramway" is that they had, until 1926, both low doors at the ends for boarding from the street and high doors in the middle for loading from platforms in the tunnel. For this reason, "Subte" Line A might also be considered one the continent's first "light rail metro".
At present two new stations after Carabobo are under construction: San José de Flores and San Pedrito (formerly Nazca), the new future terminal. Newer metro carriages are slowly being introduced to handle the increased ridership and demand. Line A transports +190,000 passengers per working day
Near the Primera Junta metro station, in the neighbourhood of Caballito
Caballito, Buenos Aires
Caballito is a barrio of the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires. It is the only barrio in the administrative division Comuna 6....
, there is a Historical Tramway museum maintained by tram fans that operates on city streets on weekends.
History
In the first decade of the 20th century in Buenos Aires road traffic had sharply increased due to increased population. In 1903 the city had 895,381 inhabitants and there were 4,791 horse-drawn carriages and 60 cars, while 1,457,885 people were living in 1913, with 6,211 carriages and 7,438 automóviles.Because it was necessary to create new forms of mass transit
Public transport
Public transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...
, Congress
Argentine National Congress
The Congress of the Argentine Nation is the legislative branch of the government of Argentina. Its composition is bicameral, constituted by a 72-seat Senate and a 257-seat Chamber of Deputies....
awarded in 1909, by Law 6,700, the Ferrocarril del Oeste (FCO) (Buenos Aires Western Railway
Buenos Aires Western Railway
The Buenos Aires Western Railway was one of the Big Four broad gauge British-owned companies that built and operated railway networks in Argentina...
) to build a two-way underground railway that would join the main route of the Ferrocarril del Oeste, (currently Ferrocarril Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
Ferrocarril Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
The Ferrocarril Domingo Faustino Sarmiento , named after the former Argentine president, statesman, educator, and author Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, was one of the six state-owned Argentine railway companies formed after President Juan Perón's nationalisation of the Argentine railway network in 1948...
) near Sadi Carnot Street (now Mario Bravo) with the port
Puerto Madero
Puerto Madero, also known within the urban planning community as the Puerto Madero Waterfront, is a barrio of the Argentine capital at Buenos Aires CBD, occupying a significant portion of the Río de la Plata riverbank and representing the latest architectural trends in the city of Buenos...
. But on 28 December of that year the Municipality of the City of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires City Hall
Buenos Aires City Hall is the executive seat of government of the Argentine capital.-Building:The 1880 Federalization of Buenos Aires was followed by a boom in foreign trade and European immigration, and in 1890, Mayor Francisco P. Bollini commissioned the construction of a new city hall...
gave a concession to the Compañía de Tranvías Anglo-Argentina (CTAA) (Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company), which operated 80% of the tram system-being perhaps the greatest in the world- to build a underground passenger rail service. The project included in its route the Plaza de Mayo
Plaza de Mayo
The Plaza de Mayo is the main square in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is flanked by Hipólito Yrigoyen, Balcarce, Rivadavia and Bolívar streets....
-Plaza Miserere
Plaza Miserere
The Plaza de Miserere is one of the main plazas of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is located in the heart of the Balvanera neighborhood. It was supposed to be the name of the Line A—Buenos Aires Metro station located below it, but the station is more popularly known as Plaza Once, and is located...
section in its stretch which had been granted to the railroad.
| Plaza de Mayo | |
| Perú | |
| Piedras | |
| Lima | |
| Sáenz Peña | |
| Congreso | |
| Pasco | |
| Alberti | |
| Plaza Miserere | |
| Colour of the friezes in 1913 | |
After a dispute, it was agreed that the Western Railway built the line for freight but only one track at a depth that would allow the passage of the passenger line CTAA build on a higher plane. Thus, the 15 September 1911 began the construction of Anglo-Argentina Line, being the contractor the German company Philipp Holzmann & Cia.
Philipp Holzmann
Philipp Holzmann AG was a German construction company based in Frankfurt am Main.The company was founded in 1849 by Johann Philipp Holzmann at Sprendlingen in present-day Dreieich near Frankfurt am Main as Philipp Holzmann & Cie...
. The construction of this line involved the hiring of 1,500 workers and the use of 31 million bricks, 108,000 bars of 170 kg
Kilogram
The kilogram or kilogramme , also known as the kilo, is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units and is defined as being equal to the mass of the International Prototype Kilogram , which is almost exactly equal to the mass of one liter of water...
of cement
Cement
In the most general sense of the word, a cement is a binder, a substance that sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together. The word "cement" traces to the Romans, who used the term opus caementicium to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed...
, 13,000 t
Tonne
The tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI...
of iron braces and 90 thousand square metres of insulating layer. The line obtained its current name, Line A, as recently as February 17, 1939.
The Plaza de Mayo-Plaza Miserere subway section was inaugurated on 1 December 1913. On the following day it was opened to the public, carrying 170,000 passengers who enjoyed the first subway in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
. Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
thus became the thirteenth city to have this service, behind London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
Philadelphia and Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
. Each station had a length of 100 metres and had frieze
Frieze
thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...
s of specific colours for easy identification, taking into account the high level of illiteracy that existed at the time.
The construction of the Plaza Miserere station
Plaza Miserere (Buenos Aires Metro)
Plaza Miserere is a station on Line A of the Buenos Aires Metro . The station is located between Alberti and Loria / Pasco stations on the A line metro....
was performed by the two companies, CTAA and FCO. At that time the station had two tracks for the railroad, who were in the middle, and two pairs of lines for the metro, which were on the laterals. The outside southern track of the subway was eliminated in 1926 and it was decided to extend the platform to make the rail-subway transfer more convenient.
The route was extended to Río de Janeiro Station
Río de Janeiro (Buenos Aires Metro)
Rio de Janeiro is a station on Line A of the Buenos Aires Metro....
on 1 April 1914 and on 14 July of that year to the Caballito station renamed in 1923 as Primera Junta Station
Primera Junta (Buenos Aires Metro)
Primera Junta is a station on Line A of the Buenos Aires Metro. It lies at the intersection of Rivadavia Avenue and Del Barco Centenera street, in the neighborhood of Caballito...
. Following the Primera Junta Station a ramp was built in the center of Rivadavia Avenue between the Cachimayo and Emilio Mitre streets. This ramp was used to carry trains and move them up at the Polvorín workshop located on the Emilio Mitre and José Bonifacio streets, covering a surface loop shared with streetcar traffic until 1963 . This 2 km route is used since 1980 by Asociación Amigos del Tranvía (Association of Friends of the Tram) to run the Tramway Histórico de Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires Historical Tramway). The ramp created in 1915, was also used by surface passenger to the intersection of Lacarra and Rivadavia Avenues, a service that was canceled on 31 December 1926.
The investment to build the line was m$n
Argentine peso moneda nacional
The peso moneda nacional was the currency of Argentina between November 5, 1881 and December 31, 1969. It was subdivided into 100 centavos, with the argentino worth 5 pesos. Its symbol was m$n or $m/n. Its ISO 4217 code was ARM.-History:...
17 million. m$n 3 million is invested in the excavation of the tunnel, m$n 7 million in the construction, m$n 2.5 million in the initial 50 trains and m$n 2 million for the Polvorín workshop.
Chronology
- 1 December 1913: Line A is inaugurated between Plaza de Mayo and Plaza Miserere.
- 1 April 1914: It is prolonged to the Río de Janeiro station
- 1 July 1914: Prolonged to Caballito station (renamed in 1923 as Primera Junta)
- 22 December 2008: Puan and Carabobo stations were inaugurated
Current rolling stock
After 96 years of continuous service, the cars La BrugeoiseLa Brugeoise cars (Buenos Aires Metro)
The La Brugeoise cars are the Buenos Aires Metro Line A rolling stock since its inauguration in 1913. They were built by Belgian railway rolling stock manufacturer La Brugeoise, et Nicaise, et Delcuve between 1911 and 1919 for the Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company's first metro line...
are near their final withdrawal from service. On 23 December 2008, two new stations were inaugurated on Line A: Puan and Carabobo. The increased demand could be absorbed by the current fleet, with the reinforcement of two trains Fiat Materfer taken from the line D. A total of 95 La Brugeoise cars operate on Line A.
Spare parts for these trains are no longer available in the market so they have to be custom-made by request at Polvorín workshop, where La Brugeoise units and other Buenos Aires metro rolling stock are maintained and repaired by highly skilled and qualified personnel. According to Metrovías, Buenos Aires Metro private operator, every 20 days units undergo a routine check-up, while every four years heavy maintenance is performed. Despite their 96 years of uninterrupted service, La Brugeoise trains have one of the lowest mechanical failure averages in the network: 19 every 100,000 km.
It is hoped that these surviving vintage formations
Heritage streetcar
Heritage streetcars or heritage trams are a development of the heritage railways that are becoming popular across the world. As with modern streetcar systems, the vehicles are referred to as trams or tramcars in the United Kingdom, Australasia and certain other places , but as streetcars or...
continue operating as a tourist attraction
Tourist attraction
A tourist attraction is a place of interest where tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, or amusement opportunities....
on holidays and Sundays, a development that is becoming popular across the world.
Gallery
Line A is the oldest line of the Buenos Aires MetroBuenos Aires Metro
The Buenos Aires Metro , locally known as Subte is a mass-transit system that serves the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The first station of this network opened in 1913, the first of its kind in South America, the Southern Hemisphere and the entire Spanish-speaking world...
. This historic line runs from Plaza de Mayo
Plaza de Mayo
The Plaza de Mayo is the main square in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is flanked by Hipólito Yrigoyen, Balcarce, Rivadavia and Bolívar streets....
to Carabobo
Carabobo
Carabobo State is one of the 23 states of Venezuela, located in the north of the country, about two hours by car from Caracas. The capital city of this state is Valencia, which is also the country's main industrial center. The state's area is 4,650 km² and had an estimated population of...
, and is scheduled to be extended towards San Pedrito station.
Opened to the public on 1 December 1913, becoming the first in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, the Southern Hemisphere and the entire Spanish-speaking world and Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
became the thirteenth city in the world to have a underground transport service.
It stretches 10.7 km from Plaza de Mayo
Plaza de Mayo
The Plaza de Mayo is the main square in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is flanked by Hipólito Yrigoyen, Balcarce, Rivadavia and Bolívar streets....
and Carabobo
Carabobo
Carabobo State is one of the 23 states of Venezuela, located in the north of the country, about two hours by car from Caracas. The capital city of this state is Valencia, which is also the country's main industrial center. The state's area is 4,650 km² and had an estimated population of...
and runs under all of the Avenida de Mayo
Avenida de Mayo
Avenida de Mayo , is an avenue in Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina. It connects the Plaza de Mayo with Congressional Plaza, and extends in a west-east direction before merging into Avenida Rivadavia.-History and overview:...
and part of the Avenida Rivadavia and is being used by 216,000 people a day.
Carabobo station serves as a temporary terminal for the line, as two more stations are under construction that will extend the route of the line to the west. They are Flores and Nazca which once completed will be the definitive end of the line. The line continues to retain its old La Brugeoise cars
La Brugeoise cars (Buenos Aires Metro)
The La Brugeoise cars are the Buenos Aires Metro Line A rolling stock since its inauguration in 1913. They were built by Belgian railway rolling stock manufacturer La Brugeoise, et Nicaise, et Delcuve between 1911 and 1919 for the Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company's first metro line...
from Belgium built during the 1910s.
The construction, completely carried out under the open sky, was finished with distinguished details that made it the most secure, comfortable and modern in the world. A smart natural ventilation system, as well as a unique interior visual identity system for each station –to help passenger identification–, stairways built with granite one-block steps, its perfect illumination... it all came together to reflect the splendour of Buenos Aires in those times. The first day of open-public service (December 18, 1913), it carried 220,000 awed passengers. Today Line 1 has become an icon of the city of Buenos Aires and still uses the same cars
La Brugeoise cars (Buenos Aires Metro)
The La Brugeoise cars are the Buenos Aires Metro Line A rolling stock since its inauguration in 1913. They were built by Belgian railway rolling stock manufacturer La Brugeoise, et Nicaise, et Delcuve between 1911 and 1919 for the Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company's first metro line...
used at its inauguration. These cars were built by Belgian company La Brugeoise
La Brugeoise et Nivelles SA.
La Brugeoise et Nivelles SA , later BN Constructions Ferroviaries et Métalliques was a Belgian manufacturer of railway locomotives and other rolling stock; it was formed by a merger of two companies La Brugeoise et Nicaise et Delcuve and Les Ateliers Métallurgiques de Nivelles.The Bruges factory...
starting in 1913 and were refurbished in 1926 when their wooden structure was modified for underground only use. In 1915 the trains were extended to the intersection of Avenidas Lacarra and Rivadavia, in this section the trains ran at street level until 1926. A peculiarity of the original "pantograph
Pantograph (rail)
A pantograph for rail lines is a hinged electric-rod device that collects electric current from overhead lines for electric trains or trams. The pantograph typically connects to a one-wire line, with the track acting as the ground wire...
" cars on the "underground tramway" is that they had, until 1926, both low doors at the ends for boarding from the street and high doors in the middle for loading from platforms in the tunnel. For this reason, "Subte" Line A might also be considered one the continent's first "light rail metro".
At present two new stations after Carabobo are under construction: San José de Flores and San Pedrito (formerly Nazca), the new future terminal. Newer metro carriages are slowly being introduced to handle the increased ridership and demand. Line A transports +190,000 passengers per working day
Near the Primera Junta metro station, in the neighbourhood of Caballito
Caballito, Buenos Aires
Caballito is a barrio of the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires. It is the only barrio in the administrative division Comuna 6....
, there is a Historical Tramway museum maintained by tram fans that operates on city streets on weekends.
History
In the first decade of the 20th century in Buenos Aires road traffic had sharply increased due to increased population. In 1903 the city had 895,381 inhabitants and there were 4,791 horse-drawn carriages and 60 cars, while 1,457,885 people were living in 1913, with 6,211 carriages and 7,438 automóviles.Because it was necessary to create new forms of mass transit
Public transport
Public transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...
, Congress
Argentine National Congress
The Congress of the Argentine Nation is the legislative branch of the government of Argentina. Its composition is bicameral, constituted by a 72-seat Senate and a 257-seat Chamber of Deputies....
awarded in 1909, by Law 6,700, the Ferrocarril del Oeste (FCO) (Buenos Aires Western Railway
Buenos Aires Western Railway
The Buenos Aires Western Railway was one of the Big Four broad gauge British-owned companies that built and operated railway networks in Argentina...
) to build a two-way underground railway that would join the main route of the Ferrocarril del Oeste, (currently Ferrocarril Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
Ferrocarril Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
The Ferrocarril Domingo Faustino Sarmiento , named after the former Argentine president, statesman, educator, and author Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, was one of the six state-owned Argentine railway companies formed after President Juan Perón's nationalisation of the Argentine railway network in 1948...
) near Sadi Carnot Street (now Mario Bravo) with the port
Puerto Madero
Puerto Madero, also known within the urban planning community as the Puerto Madero Waterfront, is a barrio of the Argentine capital at Buenos Aires CBD, occupying a significant portion of the Río de la Plata riverbank and representing the latest architectural trends in the city of Buenos...
. But on 28 December of that year the Municipality of the City of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires City Hall
Buenos Aires City Hall is the executive seat of government of the Argentine capital.-Building:The 1880 Federalization of Buenos Aires was followed by a boom in foreign trade and European immigration, and in 1890, Mayor Francisco P. Bollini commissioned the construction of a new city hall...
gave a concession to the Compañía de Tranvías Anglo-Argentina (CTAA) (Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company), which operated 80% of the tram system-being perhaps the greatest in the world- to build a underground passenger rail service. The project included in its route the Plaza de Mayo
Plaza de Mayo
The Plaza de Mayo is the main square in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is flanked by Hipólito Yrigoyen, Balcarce, Rivadavia and Bolívar streets....
-Plaza Miserere
Plaza Miserere
The Plaza de Miserere is one of the main plazas of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is located in the heart of the Balvanera neighborhood. It was supposed to be the name of the Line A—Buenos Aires Metro station located below it, but the station is more popularly known as Plaza Once, and is located...
section in its stretch which had been granted to the railroad.
| Plaza de Mayo | |
| Perú | |
| Piedras | |
| Lima | |
| Sáenz Peña | |
| Congreso | |
| Pasco | |
| Alberti | |
| Plaza Miserere | |
| Colour of the friezes in 1913 | |
After a dispute, it was agreed that the Western Railway built the line for freight but only one track at a depth that would allow the passage of the passenger line CTAA build on a higher plane. Thus, the 15 September 1911 began the construction of Anglo-Argentina Line, being the contractor the German company Philipp Holzmann & Cia.
Philipp Holzmann
Philipp Holzmann AG was a German construction company based in Frankfurt am Main.The company was founded in 1849 by Johann Philipp Holzmann at Sprendlingen in present-day Dreieich near Frankfurt am Main as Philipp Holzmann & Cie...
. The construction of this line involved the hiring of 1,500 workers and the use of 31 million bricks, 108,000 bars of 170 kg
Kilogram
The kilogram or kilogramme , also known as the kilo, is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units and is defined as being equal to the mass of the International Prototype Kilogram , which is almost exactly equal to the mass of one liter of water...
of cement
Cement
In the most general sense of the word, a cement is a binder, a substance that sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together. The word "cement" traces to the Romans, who used the term opus caementicium to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed...
, 13,000 t
Tonne
The tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI...
of iron braces and 90 thousand square metres of insulating layer. The line obtained its current name, Line A, as recently as February 17, 1939.
The Plaza de Mayo-Plaza Miserere subway section was inaugurated on 1 December 1913. On the following day it was opened to the public, carrying 170,000 passengers who enjoyed the first subway in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
. Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
thus became the thirteenth city to have this service, behind London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
Philadelphia and Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
. Each station had a length of 100 metres and had frieze
Frieze
thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...
s of specific colours for easy identification, taking into account the high level of illiteracy that existed at the time.
The construction of the Plaza Miserere station
Plaza Miserere (Buenos Aires Metro)
Plaza Miserere is a station on Line A of the Buenos Aires Metro . The station is located between Alberti and Loria / Pasco stations on the A line metro....
was performed by the two companies, CTAA and FCO. At that time the station had two tracks for the railroad, who were in the middle, and two pairs of lines for the metro, which were on the laterals. The outside southern track of the subway was eliminated in 1926 and it was decided to extend the platform to make the rail-subway transfer more convenient.
The route was extended to Río de Janeiro Station
Río de Janeiro (Buenos Aires Metro)
Rio de Janeiro is a station on Line A of the Buenos Aires Metro....
on 1 April 1914 and on 14 July of that year to the Caballito station renamed in 1923 as Primera Junta Station
Primera Junta (Buenos Aires Metro)
Primera Junta is a station on Line A of the Buenos Aires Metro. It lies at the intersection of Rivadavia Avenue and Del Barco Centenera street, in the neighborhood of Caballito...
. Following the Primera Junta Station a ramp was built in the center of Rivadavia Avenue between the Cachimayo and Emilio Mitre streets. This ramp was used to carry trains and move them up at the Polvorín workshop located on the Emilio Mitre and José Bonifacio streets, covering a surface loop shared with streetcar traffic until 1963 . This 2 km route is used since 1980 by Asociación Amigos del Tranvía (Association of Friends of the Tram) to run the Tramway Histórico de Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires Historical Tramway). The ramp created in 1915, was also used by surface passenger to the intersection of Lacarra and Rivadavia Avenues, a service that was canceled on 31 December 1926.
The investment to build the line was m$n
Argentine peso moneda nacional
The peso moneda nacional was the currency of Argentina between November 5, 1881 and December 31, 1969. It was subdivided into 100 centavos, with the argentino worth 5 pesos. Its symbol was m$n or $m/n. Its ISO 4217 code was ARM.-History:...
17 million. m$n 3 million is invested in the excavation of the tunnel, m$n 7 million in the construction, m$n 2.5 million in the initial 50 trains and m$n 2 million for the Polvorín workshop.
Chronology
- 1 December 1913: Line A is inaugurated between Plaza de Mayo and Plaza Miserere.
- 1 April 1914: It is prolonged to the Río de Janeiro station
- 1 July 1914: Prolonged to Caballito station (renamed in 1923 as Primera Junta)
- 22 December 2008: Puan and Carabobo stations were inaugurated
Current rolling stock
After 96 years of continuous service, the cars La BrugeoiseLa Brugeoise cars (Buenos Aires Metro)
The La Brugeoise cars are the Buenos Aires Metro Line A rolling stock since its inauguration in 1913. They were built by Belgian railway rolling stock manufacturer La Brugeoise, et Nicaise, et Delcuve between 1911 and 1919 for the Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company's first metro line...
are near their final withdrawal from service. On 23 December 2008, two new stations were inaugurated on Line A: Puan and Carabobo. The increased demand could be absorbed by the current fleet, with the reinforcement of two trains Fiat Materfer taken from the line D. A total of 95 La Brugeoise cars operate on Line A.
Spare parts for these trains are no longer available in the market so they have to be custom-made by request at Polvorín workshop, where La Brugeoise units and other Buenos Aires metro rolling stock are maintained and repaired by highly skilled and qualified personnel. According to Metrovías, Buenos Aires Metro private operator, every 20 days units undergo a routine check-up, while every four years heavy maintenance is performed. Despite their 96 years of uninterrupted service, La Brugeoise trains have one of the lowest mechanical failure averages in the network: 19 every 100,000 km.
It is hoped that these surviving vintage formations
Heritage streetcar
Heritage streetcars or heritage trams are a development of the heritage railways that are becoming popular across the world. As with modern streetcar systems, the vehicles are referred to as trams or tramcars in the United Kingdom, Australasia and certain other places , but as streetcars or...
continue operating as a tourist attraction
Tourist attraction
A tourist attraction is a place of interest where tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, or amusement opportunities....
on holidays and Sundays, a development that is becoming popular across the world.
Gallery
Line A is the oldest line of the Buenos Aires MetroBuenos Aires Metro
The Buenos Aires Metro , locally known as Subte is a mass-transit system that serves the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The first station of this network opened in 1913, the first of its kind in South America, the Southern Hemisphere and the entire Spanish-speaking world...
. This historic line runs from Plaza de Mayo
Plaza de Mayo
The Plaza de Mayo is the main square in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is flanked by Hipólito Yrigoyen, Balcarce, Rivadavia and Bolívar streets....
to Carabobo
Carabobo
Carabobo State is one of the 23 states of Venezuela, located in the north of the country, about two hours by car from Caracas. The capital city of this state is Valencia, which is also the country's main industrial center. The state's area is 4,650 km² and had an estimated population of...
, and is scheduled to be extended towards San Pedrito station.
Opened to the public on 1 December 1913, becoming the first in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, the Southern Hemisphere and the entire Spanish-speaking world and Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
became the thirteenth city in the world to have a underground transport service.
It stretches 10.7 km from Plaza de Mayo
Plaza de Mayo
The Plaza de Mayo is the main square in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is flanked by Hipólito Yrigoyen, Balcarce, Rivadavia and Bolívar streets....
and Carabobo
Carabobo
Carabobo State is one of the 23 states of Venezuela, located in the north of the country, about two hours by car from Caracas. The capital city of this state is Valencia, which is also the country's main industrial center. The state's area is 4,650 km² and had an estimated population of...
and runs under all of the Avenida de Mayo
Avenida de Mayo
Avenida de Mayo , is an avenue in Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina. It connects the Plaza de Mayo with Congressional Plaza, and extends in a west-east direction before merging into Avenida Rivadavia.-History and overview:...
and part of the Avenida Rivadavia and is being used by 216,000 people a day.
Carabobo station serves as a temporary terminal for the line, as two more stations are under construction that will extend the route of the line to the west. They are Flores and Nazca which once completed will be the definitive end of the line. The line continues to retain its old La Brugeoise cars
La Brugeoise cars (Buenos Aires Metro)
The La Brugeoise cars are the Buenos Aires Metro Line A rolling stock since its inauguration in 1913. They were built by Belgian railway rolling stock manufacturer La Brugeoise, et Nicaise, et Delcuve between 1911 and 1919 for the Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company's first metro line...
from Belgium built during the 1910s.
The construction, completely carried out under the open sky, was finished with distinguished details that made it the most secure, comfortable and modern in the world. A smart natural ventilation system, as well as a unique interior visual identity system for each station –to help passenger identification–, stairways built with granite one-block steps, its perfect illumination... it all came together to reflect the splendour of Buenos Aires in those times. The first day of open-public service (December 18, 1913), it carried 220,000 awed passengers. Today Line 1 has become an icon of the city of Buenos Aires and still uses the same cars
La Brugeoise cars (Buenos Aires Metro)
The La Brugeoise cars are the Buenos Aires Metro Line A rolling stock since its inauguration in 1913. They were built by Belgian railway rolling stock manufacturer La Brugeoise, et Nicaise, et Delcuve between 1911 and 1919 for the Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company's first metro line...
used at its inauguration. These cars were built by Belgian company La Brugeoise
La Brugeoise et Nivelles SA.
La Brugeoise et Nivelles SA , later BN Constructions Ferroviaries et Métalliques was a Belgian manufacturer of railway locomotives and other rolling stock; it was formed by a merger of two companies La Brugeoise et Nicaise et Delcuve and Les Ateliers Métallurgiques de Nivelles.The Bruges factory...
starting in 1913 and were refurbished in 1926 when their wooden structure was modified for underground only use. In 1915 the trains were extended to the intersection of Avenidas Lacarra and Rivadavia, in this section the trains ran at street level until 1926. A peculiarity of the original "pantograph
Pantograph (rail)
A pantograph for rail lines is a hinged electric-rod device that collects electric current from overhead lines for electric trains or trams. The pantograph typically connects to a one-wire line, with the track acting as the ground wire...
" cars on the "underground tramway" is that they had, until 1926, both low doors at the ends for boarding from the street and high doors in the middle for loading from platforms in the tunnel. For this reason, "Subte" Line A might also be considered one the continent's first "light rail metro".
At present two new stations after Carabobo are under construction: San José de Flores and San Pedrito (formerly Nazca), the new future terminal. Newer metro carriages are slowly being introduced to handle the increased ridership and demand. Line A transports +190,000 passengers per working day
Near the Primera Junta metro station, in the neighbourhood of Caballito
Caballito, Buenos Aires
Caballito is a barrio of the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires. It is the only barrio in the administrative division Comuna 6....
, there is a Historical Tramway museum maintained by tram fans that operates on city streets on weekends.
History
In the first decade of the 20th century in Buenos Aires road traffic had sharply increased due to increased population. In 1903 the city had 895,381 inhabitants and there were 4,791 horse-drawn carriages and 60 cars, while 1,457,885 people were living in 1913, with 6,211 carriages and 7,438 automóviles.Because it was necessary to create new forms of mass transit
Public transport
Public transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...
, Congress
Argentine National Congress
The Congress of the Argentine Nation is the legislative branch of the government of Argentina. Its composition is bicameral, constituted by a 72-seat Senate and a 257-seat Chamber of Deputies....
awarded in 1909, by Law 6,700, the Ferrocarril del Oeste (FCO) (Buenos Aires Western Railway
Buenos Aires Western Railway
The Buenos Aires Western Railway was one of the Big Four broad gauge British-owned companies that built and operated railway networks in Argentina...
) to build a two-way underground railway that would join the main route of the Ferrocarril del Oeste, (currently Ferrocarril Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
Ferrocarril Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
The Ferrocarril Domingo Faustino Sarmiento , named after the former Argentine president, statesman, educator, and author Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, was one of the six state-owned Argentine railway companies formed after President Juan Perón's nationalisation of the Argentine railway network in 1948...
) near Sadi Carnot Street (now Mario Bravo) with the port
Puerto Madero
Puerto Madero, also known within the urban planning community as the Puerto Madero Waterfront, is a barrio of the Argentine capital at Buenos Aires CBD, occupying a significant portion of the Río de la Plata riverbank and representing the latest architectural trends in the city of Buenos...
. But on 28 December of that year the Municipality of the City of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires City Hall
Buenos Aires City Hall is the executive seat of government of the Argentine capital.-Building:The 1880 Federalization of Buenos Aires was followed by a boom in foreign trade and European immigration, and in 1890, Mayor Francisco P. Bollini commissioned the construction of a new city hall...
gave a concession to the Compañía de Tranvías Anglo-Argentina (CTAA) (Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company), which operated 80% of the tram system-being perhaps the greatest in the world- to build a underground passenger rail service. The project included in its route the Plaza de Mayo
Plaza de Mayo
The Plaza de Mayo is the main square in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is flanked by Hipólito Yrigoyen, Balcarce, Rivadavia and Bolívar streets....
-Plaza Miserere
Plaza Miserere
The Plaza de Miserere is one of the main plazas of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is located in the heart of the Balvanera neighborhood. It was supposed to be the name of the Line A—Buenos Aires Metro station located below it, but the station is more popularly known as Plaza Once, and is located...
section in its stretch which had been granted to the railroad.
| Plaza de Mayo | |
| Perú | |
| Piedras | |
| Lima | |
| Sáenz Peña | |
| Congreso | |
| Pasco | |
| Alberti | |
| Plaza Miserere | |
| Colour of the friezes in 1913 | |
After a dispute, it was agreed that the Western Railway built the line for freight but only one track at a depth that would allow the passage of the passenger line CTAA build on a higher plane. Thus, the 15 September 1911 began the construction of Anglo-Argentina Line, being the contractor the German company Philipp Holzmann & Cia.
Philipp Holzmann
Philipp Holzmann AG was a German construction company based in Frankfurt am Main.The company was founded in 1849 by Johann Philipp Holzmann at Sprendlingen in present-day Dreieich near Frankfurt am Main as Philipp Holzmann & Cie...
. The construction of this line involved the hiring of 1,500 workers and the use of 31 million bricks, 108,000 bars of 170 kg
Kilogram
The kilogram or kilogramme , also known as the kilo, is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units and is defined as being equal to the mass of the International Prototype Kilogram , which is almost exactly equal to the mass of one liter of water...
of cement
Cement
In the most general sense of the word, a cement is a binder, a substance that sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together. The word "cement" traces to the Romans, who used the term opus caementicium to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed...
, 13,000 t
Tonne
The tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI...
of iron braces and 90 thousand square metres of insulating layer. The line obtained its current name, Line A, as recently as February 17, 1939.
The Plaza de Mayo-Plaza Miserere subway section was inaugurated on 1 December 1913. On the following day it was opened to the public, carrying 170,000 passengers who enjoyed the first subway in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
. Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
thus became the thirteenth city to have this service, behind London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
Philadelphia and Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
. Each station had a length of 100 metres and had frieze
Frieze
thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...
s of specific colours for easy identification, taking into account the high level of illiteracy that existed at the time.
The construction of the Plaza Miserere station
Plaza Miserere (Buenos Aires Metro)
Plaza Miserere is a station on Line A of the Buenos Aires Metro . The station is located between Alberti and Loria / Pasco stations on the A line metro....
was performed by the two companies, CTAA and FCO. At that time the station had two tracks for the railroad, who were in the middle, and two pairs of lines for the metro, which were on the laterals. The outside southern track of the subway was eliminated in 1926 and it was decided to extend the platform to make the rail-subway transfer more convenient.
The route was extended to Río de Janeiro Station
Río de Janeiro (Buenos Aires Metro)
Rio de Janeiro is a station on Line A of the Buenos Aires Metro....
on 1 April 1914 and on 14 July of that year to the Caballito station renamed in 1923 as Primera Junta Station
Primera Junta (Buenos Aires Metro)
Primera Junta is a station on Line A of the Buenos Aires Metro. It lies at the intersection of Rivadavia Avenue and Del Barco Centenera street, in the neighborhood of Caballito...
. Following the Primera Junta Station a ramp was built in the center of Rivadavia Avenue between the Cachimayo and Emilio Mitre streets. This ramp was used to carry trains and move them up at the Polvorín workshop located on the Emilio Mitre and José Bonifacio streets, covering a surface loop shared with streetcar traffic until 1963 . This 2 km route is used since 1980 by Asociación Amigos del Tranvía (Association of Friends of the Tram) to run the Tramway Histórico de Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires Historical Tramway). The ramp created in 1915, was also used by surface passenger to the intersection of Lacarra and Rivadavia Avenues, a service that was canceled on 31 December 1926.
The investment to build the line was m$n
Argentine peso moneda nacional
The peso moneda nacional was the currency of Argentina between November 5, 1881 and December 31, 1969. It was subdivided into 100 centavos, with the argentino worth 5 pesos. Its symbol was m$n or $m/n. Its ISO 4217 code was ARM.-History:...
17 million. m$n 3 million is invested in the excavation of the tunnel, m$n 7 million in the construction, m$n 2.5 million in the initial 50 trains and m$n 2 million for the Polvorín workshop.
Chronology
- 1 December 1913: Line A is inaugurated between Plaza de Mayo and Plaza Miserere.
- 1 April 1914: It is prolonged to the Río de Janeiro station
- 1 July 1914: Prolonged to Caballito station (renamed in 1923 as Primera Junta)
- 22 December 2008: Puan and Carabobo stations were inaugurated
Current rolling stock
After 96 years of continuous service, the cars La BrugeoiseLa Brugeoise cars (Buenos Aires Metro)
The La Brugeoise cars are the Buenos Aires Metro Line A rolling stock since its inauguration in 1913. They were built by Belgian railway rolling stock manufacturer La Brugeoise, et Nicaise, et Delcuve between 1911 and 1919 for the Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company's first metro line...
are near their final withdrawal from service. On 23 December 2008, two new stations were inaugurated on Line A: Puan and Carabobo. The increased demand could be absorbed by the current fleet, with the reinforcement of two trains Fiat Materfer taken from the line D. A total of 95 La Brugeoise cars operate on Line A.
Spare parts for these trains are no longer available in the market so they have to be custom-made by request at Polvorín workshop, where La Brugeoise units and other Buenos Aires metro rolling stock are maintained and repaired by highly skilled and qualified personnel. According to Metrovías, Buenos Aires Metro private operator, every 20 days units undergo a routine check-up, while every four years heavy maintenance is performed. Despite their 96 years of uninterrupted service, La Brugeoise trains have one of the lowest mechanical failure averages in the network: 19 every 100,000 km.
It is hoped that these surviving vintage formations
Heritage streetcar
Heritage streetcars or heritage trams are a development of the heritage railways that are becoming popular across the world. As with modern streetcar systems, the vehicles are referred to as trams or tramcars in the United Kingdom, Australasia and certain other places , but as streetcars or...
continue operating as a tourist attraction
Tourist attraction
A tourist attraction is a place of interest where tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, or amusement opportunities....
on holidays and Sundays, a development that is becoming popular across the world.
Gallery
Line A is the oldest line of the Buenos Aires MetroBuenos Aires Metro
The Buenos Aires Metro , locally known as Subte is a mass-transit system that serves the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The first station of this network opened in 1913, the first of its kind in South America, the Southern Hemisphere and the entire Spanish-speaking world...
. This historic line runs from Plaza de Mayo
Plaza de Mayo
The Plaza de Mayo is the main square in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is flanked by Hipólito Yrigoyen, Balcarce, Rivadavia and Bolívar streets....
to Carabobo
Carabobo
Carabobo State is one of the 23 states of Venezuela, located in the north of the country, about two hours by car from Caracas. The capital city of this state is Valencia, which is also the country's main industrial center. The state's area is 4,650 km² and had an estimated population of...
, and is scheduled to be extended towards San Pedrito station.
Opened to the public on 1 December 1913, becoming the first in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, the Southern Hemisphere and the entire Spanish-speaking world and Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
became the thirteenth city in the world to have a underground transport service.
It stretches 10.7 km from Plaza de Mayo
Plaza de Mayo
The Plaza de Mayo is the main square in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is flanked by Hipólito Yrigoyen, Balcarce, Rivadavia and Bolívar streets....
and Carabobo
Carabobo
Carabobo State is one of the 23 states of Venezuela, located in the north of the country, about two hours by car from Caracas. The capital city of this state is Valencia, which is also the country's main industrial center. The state's area is 4,650 km² and had an estimated population of...
and runs under all of the Avenida de Mayo
Avenida de Mayo
Avenida de Mayo , is an avenue in Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina. It connects the Plaza de Mayo with Congressional Plaza, and extends in a west-east direction before merging into Avenida Rivadavia.-History and overview:...
and part of the Avenida Rivadavia and is being used by 216,000 people a day.
Carabobo station serves as a temporary terminal for the line, as two more stations are under construction that will extend the route of the line to the west. They are Flores and Nazca which once completed will be the definitive end of the line. The line continues to retain its old La Brugeoise cars
La Brugeoise cars (Buenos Aires Metro)
The La Brugeoise cars are the Buenos Aires Metro Line A rolling stock since its inauguration in 1913. They were built by Belgian railway rolling stock manufacturer La Brugeoise, et Nicaise, et Delcuve between 1911 and 1919 for the Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company's first metro line...
from Belgium built during the 1910s.
The construction, completely carried out under the open sky, was finished with distinguished details that made it the most secure, comfortable and modern in the world. A smart natural ventilation system, as well as a unique interior visual identity system for each station –to help passenger identification–, stairways built with granite one-block steps, its perfect illumination... it all came together to reflect the splendour of Buenos Aires in those times. The first day of open-public service (December 18, 1913), it carried 220,000 awed passengers. Today Line 1 has become an icon of the city of Buenos Aires and still uses the same cars
La Brugeoise cars (Buenos Aires Metro)
The La Brugeoise cars are the Buenos Aires Metro Line A rolling stock since its inauguration in 1913. They were built by Belgian railway rolling stock manufacturer La Brugeoise, et Nicaise, et Delcuve between 1911 and 1919 for the Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company's first metro line...
used at its inauguration. These cars were built by Belgian company La Brugeoise
La Brugeoise et Nivelles SA.
La Brugeoise et Nivelles SA , later BN Constructions Ferroviaries et Métalliques was a Belgian manufacturer of railway locomotives and other rolling stock; it was formed by a merger of two companies La Brugeoise et Nicaise et Delcuve and Les Ateliers Métallurgiques de Nivelles.The Bruges factory...
starting in 1913 and were refurbished in 1926 when their wooden structure was modified for underground only use. In 1915 the trains were extended to the intersection of Avenidas Lacarra and Rivadavia, in this section the trains ran at street level until 1926. A peculiarity of the original "pantograph
Pantograph (rail)
A pantograph for rail lines is a hinged electric-rod device that collects electric current from overhead lines for electric trains or trams. The pantograph typically connects to a one-wire line, with the track acting as the ground wire...
" cars on the "underground tramway" is that they had, until 1926, both low doors at the ends for boarding from the street and high doors in the middle for loading from platforms in the tunnel. For this reason, "Subte" Line A might also be considered one the continent's first "light rail metro".
At present two new stations after Carabobo are under construction: San José de Flores and San Pedrito (formerly Nazca), the new future terminal. Newer metro carriages are slowly being introduced to handle the increased ridership and demand. Line A transports +190,000 passengers per working day
Near the Primera Junta metro station, in the neighbourhood of Caballito
Caballito, Buenos Aires
Caballito is a barrio of the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires. It is the only barrio in the administrative division Comuna 6....
, there is a Historical Tramway museum maintained by tram fans that operates on city streets on weekends.
History
In the first decade of the 20th century in Buenos Aires road traffic had sharply increased due to increased population. In 1903 the city had 895,381 inhabitants and there were 4,791 horse-drawn carriages and 60 cars, while 1,457,885 people were living in 1913, with 6,211 carriages and 7,438 automóviles.Because it was necessary to create new forms of mass transit
Public transport
Public transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...
, Congress
Argentine National Congress
The Congress of the Argentine Nation is the legislative branch of the government of Argentina. Its composition is bicameral, constituted by a 72-seat Senate and a 257-seat Chamber of Deputies....
awarded in 1909, by Law 6,700, the Ferrocarril del Oeste (FCO) (Buenos Aires Western Railway
Buenos Aires Western Railway
The Buenos Aires Western Railway was one of the Big Four broad gauge British-owned companies that built and operated railway networks in Argentina...
) to build a two-way underground railway that would join the main route of the Ferrocarril del Oeste, (currently Ferrocarril Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
Ferrocarril Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
The Ferrocarril Domingo Faustino Sarmiento , named after the former Argentine president, statesman, educator, and author Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, was one of the six state-owned Argentine railway companies formed after President Juan Perón's nationalisation of the Argentine railway network in 1948...
) near Sadi Carnot Street (now Mario Bravo) with the port
Puerto Madero
Puerto Madero, also known within the urban planning community as the Puerto Madero Waterfront, is a barrio of the Argentine capital at Buenos Aires CBD, occupying a significant portion of the Río de la Plata riverbank and representing the latest architectural trends in the city of Buenos...
. But on 28 December of that year the Municipality of the City of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires City Hall
Buenos Aires City Hall is the executive seat of government of the Argentine capital.-Building:The 1880 Federalization of Buenos Aires was followed by a boom in foreign trade and European immigration, and in 1890, Mayor Francisco P. Bollini commissioned the construction of a new city hall...
gave a concession to the Compañía de Tranvías Anglo-Argentina (CTAA) (Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company), which operated 80% of the tram system-being perhaps the greatest in the world- to build a underground passenger rail service. The project included in its route the Plaza de Mayo
Plaza de Mayo
The Plaza de Mayo is the main square in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is flanked by Hipólito Yrigoyen, Balcarce, Rivadavia and Bolívar streets....
-Plaza Miserere
Plaza Miserere
The Plaza de Miserere is one of the main plazas of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is located in the heart of the Balvanera neighborhood. It was supposed to be the name of the Line A—Buenos Aires Metro station located below it, but the station is more popularly known as Plaza Once, and is located...
section in its stretch which had been granted to the railroad.
| Plaza de Mayo | |
| Perú | |
| Piedras | |
| Lima | |
| Sáenz Peña | |
| Congreso | |
| Pasco | |
| Alberti | |
| Plaza Miserere | |
| Colour of the friezes in 1913 | |
After a dispute, it was agreed that the Western Railway built the line for freight but only one track at a depth that would allow the passage of the passenger line CTAA build on a higher plane. Thus, the 15 September 1911 began the construction of Anglo-Argentina Line, being the contractor the German company Philipp Holzmann & Cia.
Philipp Holzmann
Philipp Holzmann AG was a German construction company based in Frankfurt am Main.The company was founded in 1849 by Johann Philipp Holzmann at Sprendlingen in present-day Dreieich near Frankfurt am Main as Philipp Holzmann & Cie...
. The construction of this line involved the hiring of 1,500 workers and the use of 31 million bricks, 108,000 bars of 170 kg
Kilogram
The kilogram or kilogramme , also known as the kilo, is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units and is defined as being equal to the mass of the International Prototype Kilogram , which is almost exactly equal to the mass of one liter of water...
of cement
Cement
In the most general sense of the word, a cement is a binder, a substance that sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together. The word "cement" traces to the Romans, who used the term opus caementicium to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed...
, 13,000 t
Tonne
The tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI...
of iron braces and 90 thousand square metres of insulating layer. The line obtained its current name, Line A, as recently as February 17, 1939.
The Plaza de Mayo-Plaza Miserere subway section was inaugurated on 1 December 1913. On the following day it was opened to the public, carrying 170,000 passengers who enjoyed the first subway in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
. Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
thus became the thirteenth city to have this service, behind London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
Philadelphia and Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
. Each station had a length of 100 metres and had frieze
Frieze
thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...
s of specific colours for easy identification, taking into account the high level of illiteracy that existed at the time.
The construction of the Plaza Miserere station
Plaza Miserere (Buenos Aires Metro)
Plaza Miserere is a station on Line A of the Buenos Aires Metro . The station is located between Alberti and Loria / Pasco stations on the A line metro....
was performed by the two companies, CTAA and FCO. At that time the station had two tracks for the railroad, who were in the middle, and two pairs of lines for the metro, which were on the laterals. The outside southern track of the subway was eliminated in 1926 and it was decided to extend the platform to make the rail-subway transfer more convenient.
The route was extended to Río de Janeiro Station
Río de Janeiro (Buenos Aires Metro)
Rio de Janeiro is a station on Line A of the Buenos Aires Metro....
on 1 April 1914 and on 14 July of that year to the Caballito station renamed in 1923 as Primera Junta Station
Primera Junta (Buenos Aires Metro)
Primera Junta is a station on Line A of the Buenos Aires Metro. It lies at the intersection of Rivadavia Avenue and Del Barco Centenera street, in the neighborhood of Caballito...
. Following the Primera Junta Station a ramp was built in the center of Rivadavia Avenue between the Cachimayo and Emilio Mitre streets. This ramp was used to carry trains and move them up at the Polvorín workshop located on the Emilio Mitre and José Bonifacio streets, covering a surface loop shared with streetcar traffic until 1963 . This 2 km route is used since 1980 by Asociación Amigos del Tranvía (Association of Friends of the Tram) to run the Tramway Histórico de Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires Historical Tramway). The ramp created in 1915, was also used by surface passenger to the intersection of Lacarra and Rivadavia Avenues, a service that was canceled on 31 December 1926.
The investment to build the line was m$n
Argentine peso moneda nacional
The peso moneda nacional was the currency of Argentina between November 5, 1881 and December 31, 1969. It was subdivided into 100 centavos, with the argentino worth 5 pesos. Its symbol was m$n or $m/n. Its ISO 4217 code was ARM.-History:...
17 million. m$n 3 million is invested in the excavation of the tunnel, m$n 7 million in the construction, m$n 2.5 million in the initial 50 trains and m$n 2 million for the Polvorín workshop.
Chronology
- 1 December 1913: Line A is inaugurated between Plaza de Mayo and Plaza Miserere.
- 1 April 1914: It is prolonged to the Río de Janeiro station
- 1 July 1914: Prolonged to Caballito station (renamed in 1923 as Primera Junta)
- 22 December 2008: Puan and Carabobo stations were inaugurated
Current rolling stock
After 96 years of continuous service, the cars La BrugeoiseLa Brugeoise cars (Buenos Aires Metro)
The La Brugeoise cars are the Buenos Aires Metro Line A rolling stock since its inauguration in 1913. They were built by Belgian railway rolling stock manufacturer La Brugeoise, et Nicaise, et Delcuve between 1911 and 1919 for the Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company's first metro line...
are near their final withdrawal from service. On 23 December 2008, two new stations were inaugurated on Line A: Puan and Carabobo. The increased demand could be absorbed by the current fleet, with the reinforcement of two trains Fiat Materfer taken from the line D. A total of 95 La Brugeoise cars operate on Line A.
Spare parts for these trains are no longer available in the market so they have to be custom-made by request at Polvorín workshop, where La Brugeoise units and other Buenos Aires metro rolling stock are maintained and repaired by highly skilled and qualified personnel. According to Metrovías, Buenos Aires Metro private operator, every 20 days units undergo a routine check-up, while every four years heavy maintenance is performed. Despite their 96 years of uninterrupted service, La Brugeoise trains have one of the lowest mechanical failure averages in the network: 19 every 100,000 km.
It is hoped that these surviving vintage formations
Heritage streetcar
Heritage streetcars or heritage trams are a development of the heritage railways that are becoming popular across the world. As with modern streetcar systems, the vehicles are referred to as trams or tramcars in the United Kingdom, Australasia and certain other places , but as streetcars or...
continue operating as a tourist attraction
Tourist attraction
A tourist attraction is a place of interest where tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, or amusement opportunities....
on holidays and Sundays, a development that is becoming popular across the world.
Gallery
Line A is the oldest line of the Buenos Aires MetroBuenos Aires Metro
The Buenos Aires Metro , locally known as Subte is a mass-transit system that serves the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The first station of this network opened in 1913, the first of its kind in South America, the Southern Hemisphere and the entire Spanish-speaking world...
. This historic line runs from Plaza de Mayo
Plaza de Mayo
The Plaza de Mayo is the main square in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is flanked by Hipólito Yrigoyen, Balcarce, Rivadavia and Bolívar streets....
to Carabobo
Carabobo
Carabobo State is one of the 23 states of Venezuela, located in the north of the country, about two hours by car from Caracas. The capital city of this state is Valencia, which is also the country's main industrial center. The state's area is 4,650 km² and had an estimated population of...
, and is scheduled to be extended towards San Pedrito station.
Opened to the public on 1 December 1913, becoming the first in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, the Southern Hemisphere and the entire Spanish-speaking world and Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
became the thirteenth city in the world to have a underground transport service.
It stretches 10.7 km from Plaza de Mayo
Plaza de Mayo
The Plaza de Mayo is the main square in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is flanked by Hipólito Yrigoyen, Balcarce, Rivadavia and Bolívar streets....
and Carabobo
Carabobo
Carabobo State is one of the 23 states of Venezuela, located in the north of the country, about two hours by car from Caracas. The capital city of this state is Valencia, which is also the country's main industrial center. The state's area is 4,650 km² and had an estimated population of...
and runs under all of the Avenida de Mayo
Avenida de Mayo
Avenida de Mayo , is an avenue in Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina. It connects the Plaza de Mayo with Congressional Plaza, and extends in a west-east direction before merging into Avenida Rivadavia.-History and overview:...
and part of the Avenida Rivadavia and is being used by 216,000 people a day.
Carabobo station serves as a temporary terminal for the line, as two more stations are under construction that will extend the route of the line to the west. They are Flores and Nazca which once completed will be the definitive end of the line. The line continues to retain its old La Brugeoise cars
La Brugeoise cars (Buenos Aires Metro)
The La Brugeoise cars are the Buenos Aires Metro Line A rolling stock since its inauguration in 1913. They were built by Belgian railway rolling stock manufacturer La Brugeoise, et Nicaise, et Delcuve between 1911 and 1919 for the Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company's first metro line...
from Belgium built during the 1910s.
The construction, completely carried out under the open sky, was finished with distinguished details that made it the most secure, comfortable and modern in the world. A smart natural ventilation system, as well as a unique interior visual identity system for each station –to help passenger identification–, stairways built with granite one-block steps, its perfect illumination... it all came together to reflect the splendour of Buenos Aires in those times. The first day of open-public service (December 18, 1913), it carried 220,000 awed passengers. Today Line 1 has become an icon of the city of Buenos Aires and still uses the same cars
La Brugeoise cars (Buenos Aires Metro)
The La Brugeoise cars are the Buenos Aires Metro Line A rolling stock since its inauguration in 1913. They were built by Belgian railway rolling stock manufacturer La Brugeoise, et Nicaise, et Delcuve between 1911 and 1919 for the Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company's first metro line...
used at its inauguration. These cars were built by Belgian company La Brugeoise
La Brugeoise et Nivelles SA.
La Brugeoise et Nivelles SA , later BN Constructions Ferroviaries et Métalliques was a Belgian manufacturer of railway locomotives and other rolling stock; it was formed by a merger of two companies La Brugeoise et Nicaise et Delcuve and Les Ateliers Métallurgiques de Nivelles.The Bruges factory...
starting in 1913 and were refurbished in 1926 when their wooden structure was modified for underground only use. In 1915 the trains were extended to the intersection of Avenidas Lacarra and Rivadavia, in this section the trains ran at street level until 1926. A peculiarity of the original "pantograph
Pantograph (rail)
A pantograph for rail lines is a hinged electric-rod device that collects electric current from overhead lines for electric trains or trams. The pantograph typically connects to a one-wire line, with the track acting as the ground wire...
" cars on the "underground tramway" is that they had, until 1926, both low doors at the ends for boarding from the street and high doors in the middle for loading from platforms in the tunnel. For this reason, "Subte" Line A might also be considered one the continent's first "light rail metro".
At present two new stations after Carabobo are under construction: San José de Flores and San Pedrito (formerly Nazca), the new future terminal. Newer metro carriages are slowly being introduced to handle the increased ridership and demand. Line A transports +190,000 passengers per working day
Near the Primera Junta metro station, in the neighbourhood of Caballito
Caballito, Buenos Aires
Caballito is a barrio of the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires. It is the only barrio in the administrative division Comuna 6....
, there is a Historical Tramway museum maintained by tram fans that operates on city streets on weekends.
History
In the first decade of the 20th century in Buenos Aires road traffic had sharply increased due to increased population. In 1903 the city had 895,381 inhabitants and there were 4,791 horse-drawn carriages and 60 cars, while 1,457,885 people were living in 1913, with 6,211 carriages and 7,438 automóviles.Because it was necessary to create new forms of mass transit
Public transport
Public transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...
, Congress
Argentine National Congress
The Congress of the Argentine Nation is the legislative branch of the government of Argentina. Its composition is bicameral, constituted by a 72-seat Senate and a 257-seat Chamber of Deputies....
awarded in 1909, by Law 6,700, the Ferrocarril del Oeste (FCO) (Buenos Aires Western Railway
Buenos Aires Western Railway
The Buenos Aires Western Railway was one of the Big Four broad gauge British-owned companies that built and operated railway networks in Argentina...
) to build a two-way underground railway that would join the main route of the Ferrocarril del Oeste, (currently Ferrocarril Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
Ferrocarril Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
The Ferrocarril Domingo Faustino Sarmiento , named after the former Argentine president, statesman, educator, and author Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, was one of the six state-owned Argentine railway companies formed after President Juan Perón's nationalisation of the Argentine railway network in 1948...
) near Sadi Carnot Street (now Mario Bravo) with the port
Puerto Madero
Puerto Madero, also known within the urban planning community as the Puerto Madero Waterfront, is a barrio of the Argentine capital at Buenos Aires CBD, occupying a significant portion of the Río de la Plata riverbank and representing the latest architectural trends in the city of Buenos...
. But on 28 December of that year the Municipality of the City of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires City Hall
Buenos Aires City Hall is the executive seat of government of the Argentine capital.-Building:The 1880 Federalization of Buenos Aires was followed by a boom in foreign trade and European immigration, and in 1890, Mayor Francisco P. Bollini commissioned the construction of a new city hall...
gave a concession to the Compañía de Tranvías Anglo-Argentina (CTAA) (Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company), which operated 80% of the tram system-being perhaps the greatest in the world- to build a underground passenger rail service. The project included in its route the Plaza de Mayo
Plaza de Mayo
The Plaza de Mayo is the main square in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is flanked by Hipólito Yrigoyen, Balcarce, Rivadavia and Bolívar streets....
-Plaza Miserere
Plaza Miserere
The Plaza de Miserere is one of the main plazas of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is located in the heart of the Balvanera neighborhood. It was supposed to be the name of the Line A—Buenos Aires Metro station located below it, but the station is more popularly known as Plaza Once, and is located...
section in its stretch which had been granted to the railroad.
| Plaza de Mayo | |
| Perú | |
| Piedras | |
| Lima | |
| Sáenz Peña | |
| Congreso | |
| Pasco | |
| Alberti | |
| Plaza Miserere | |
| Colour of the friezes in 1913 | |
After a dispute, it was agreed that the Western Railway built the line for freight but only one track at a depth that would allow the passage of the passenger line CTAA build on a higher plane. Thus, the 15 September 1911 began the construction of Anglo-Argentina Line, being the contractor the German company Philipp Holzmann & Cia.
Philipp Holzmann
Philipp Holzmann AG was a German construction company based in Frankfurt am Main.The company was founded in 1849 by Johann Philipp Holzmann at Sprendlingen in present-day Dreieich near Frankfurt am Main as Philipp Holzmann & Cie...
. The construction of this line involved the hiring of 1,500 workers and the use of 31 million bricks, 108,000 bars of 170 kg
Kilogram
The kilogram or kilogramme , also known as the kilo, is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units and is defined as being equal to the mass of the International Prototype Kilogram , which is almost exactly equal to the mass of one liter of water...
of cement
Cement
In the most general sense of the word, a cement is a binder, a substance that sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together. The word "cement" traces to the Romans, who used the term opus caementicium to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed...
, 13,000 t
Tonne
The tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI...
of iron braces and 90 thousand square metres of insulating layer. The line obtained its current name, Line A, as recently as February 17, 1939.
The Plaza de Mayo-Plaza Miserere subway section was inaugurated on 1 December 1913. On the following day it was opened to the public, carrying 170,000 passengers who enjoyed the first subway in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
. Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
thus became the thirteenth city to have this service, behind London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
Philadelphia and Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
. Each station had a length of 100 metres and had frieze
Frieze
thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...
s of specific colours for easy identification, taking into account the high level of illiteracy that existed at the time.
The construction of the Plaza Miserere station
Plaza Miserere (Buenos Aires Metro)
Plaza Miserere is a station on Line A of the Buenos Aires Metro . The station is located between Alberti and Loria / Pasco stations on the A line metro....
was performed by the two companies, CTAA and FCO. At that time the station had two tracks for the railroad, who were in the middle, and two pairs of lines for the metro, which were on the laterals. The outside southern track of the subway was eliminated in 1926 and it was decided to extend the platform to make the rail-subway transfer more convenient.
The route was extended to Río de Janeiro Station
Río de Janeiro (Buenos Aires Metro)
Rio de Janeiro is a station on Line A of the Buenos Aires Metro....
on 1 April 1914 and on 14 July of that year to the Caballito station renamed in 1923 as Primera Junta Station
Primera Junta (Buenos Aires Metro)
Primera Junta is a station on Line A of the Buenos Aires Metro. It lies at the intersection of Rivadavia Avenue and Del Barco Centenera street, in the neighborhood of Caballito...
. Following the Primera Junta Station a ramp was built in the center of Rivadavia Avenue between the Cachimayo and Emilio Mitre streets. This ramp was used to carry trains and move them up at the Polvorín workshop located on the Emilio Mitre and José Bonifacio streets, covering a surface loop shared with streetcar traffic until 1963 . This 2 km route is used since 1980 by Asociación Amigos del Tranvía (Association of Friends of the Tram) to run the Tramway Histórico de Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires Historical Tramway). The ramp created in 1915, was also used by surface passenger to the intersection of Lacarra and Rivadavia Avenues, a service that was canceled on 31 December 1926.
The investment to build the line was m$n
Argentine peso moneda nacional
The peso moneda nacional was the currency of Argentina between November 5, 1881 and December 31, 1969. It was subdivided into 100 centavos, with the argentino worth 5 pesos. Its symbol was m$n or $m/n. Its ISO 4217 code was ARM.-History:...
17 million. m$n 3 million is invested in the excavation of the tunnel, m$n 7 million in the construction, m$n 2.5 million in the initial 50 trains and m$n 2 million for the Polvorín workshop.
Chronology
- 1 December 1913: Line A is inaugurated between Plaza de Mayo and Plaza Miserere.
- 1 April 1914: It is prolonged to the Río de Janeiro station
- 1 July 1914: Prolonged to Caballito station (renamed in 1923 as Primera Junta)
- 22 December 2008: Puan and Carabobo stations were inaugurated
Current rolling stock
After 96 years of continuous service, the cars La BrugeoiseLa Brugeoise cars (Buenos Aires Metro)
The La Brugeoise cars are the Buenos Aires Metro Line A rolling stock since its inauguration in 1913. They were built by Belgian railway rolling stock manufacturer La Brugeoise, et Nicaise, et Delcuve between 1911 and 1919 for the Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company's first metro line...
are near their final withdrawal from service. On 23 December 2008, two new stations were inaugurated on Line A: Puan and Carabobo. The increased demand could be absorbed by the current fleet, with the reinforcement of two trains Fiat Materfer taken from the line D. A total of 95 La Brugeoise cars operate on Line A.
Spare parts for these trains are no longer available in the market so they have to be custom-made by request at Polvorín workshop, where La Brugeoise units and other Buenos Aires metro rolling stock are maintained and repaired by highly skilled and qualified personnel. According to Metrovías, Buenos Aires Metro private operator, every 20 days units undergo a routine check-up, while every four years heavy maintenance is performed. Despite their 96 years of uninterrupted service, La Brugeoise trains have one of the lowest mechanical failure averages in the network: 19 every 100,000 km.
It is hoped that these surviving vintage formations
Heritage streetcar
Heritage streetcars or heritage trams are a development of the heritage railways that are becoming popular across the world. As with modern streetcar systems, the vehicles are referred to as trams or tramcars in the United Kingdom, Australasia and certain other places , but as streetcars or...
continue operating as a tourist attraction
Tourist attraction
A tourist attraction is a place of interest where tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, or amusement opportunities....
on holidays and Sundays, a development that is becoming popular across the world.
Gallery
Image:Buenos Aires - Subte Estación Piedras - 20061207a.jpg|
Image:Buenos Aires - Subte - Pasco 3.jpg|
Image:LINEA A MR.jpg|
Line A is the oldest line of the Buenos Aires Metro
Buenos Aires Metro
The Buenos Aires Metro , locally known as Subte is a mass-transit system that serves the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The first station of this network opened in 1913, the first of its kind in South America, the Southern Hemisphere and the entire Spanish-speaking world...
. This historic line runs from Plaza de Mayo
Plaza de Mayo
The Plaza de Mayo is the main square in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is flanked by Hipólito Yrigoyen, Balcarce, Rivadavia and Bolívar streets....
to Carabobo
Carabobo
Carabobo State is one of the 23 states of Venezuela, located in the north of the country, about two hours by car from Caracas. The capital city of this state is Valencia, which is also the country's main industrial center. The state's area is 4,650 km² and had an estimated population of...
, and is scheduled to be extended towards San Pedrito station.
Opened to the public on 1 December 1913, becoming the first in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, the Southern Hemisphere and the entire Spanish-speaking world and Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
became the thirteenth city in the world to have a underground transport service.
It stretches 10.7 km from Plaza de Mayo
Plaza de Mayo
The Plaza de Mayo is the main square in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is flanked by Hipólito Yrigoyen, Balcarce, Rivadavia and Bolívar streets....
and Carabobo
Carabobo
Carabobo State is one of the 23 states of Venezuela, located in the north of the country, about two hours by car from Caracas. The capital city of this state is Valencia, which is also the country's main industrial center. The state's area is 4,650 km² and had an estimated population of...
and runs under all of the Avenida de Mayo
Avenida de Mayo
Avenida de Mayo , is an avenue in Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina. It connects the Plaza de Mayo with Congressional Plaza, and extends in a west-east direction before merging into Avenida Rivadavia.-History and overview:...
and part of the Avenida Rivadavia and is being used by 216,000 people a day.
Carabobo station serves as a temporary terminal for the line, as two more stations are under construction that will extend the route of the line to the west. They are Flores and Nazca which once completed will be the definitive end of the line. The line continues to retain its old La Brugeoise cars
La Brugeoise cars (Buenos Aires Metro)
The La Brugeoise cars are the Buenos Aires Metro Line A rolling stock since its inauguration in 1913. They were built by Belgian railway rolling stock manufacturer La Brugeoise, et Nicaise, et Delcuve between 1911 and 1919 for the Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company's first metro line...
from Belgium built during the 1910s.
The construction, completely carried out under the open sky, was finished with distinguished details that made it the most secure, comfortable and modern in the world. A smart natural ventilation system, as well as a unique interior visual identity system for each station –to help passenger identification–, stairways built with granite one-block steps, its perfect illumination... it all came together to reflect the splendour of Buenos Aires in those times. The first day of open-public service (December 18, 1913), it carried 220,000 awed passengers. Today Line 1 has become an icon of the city of Buenos Aires and still uses the same cars
La Brugeoise cars (Buenos Aires Metro)
The La Brugeoise cars are the Buenos Aires Metro Line A rolling stock since its inauguration in 1913. They were built by Belgian railway rolling stock manufacturer La Brugeoise, et Nicaise, et Delcuve between 1911 and 1919 for the Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company's first metro line...
used at its inauguration. These cars were built by Belgian company La Brugeoise
La Brugeoise et Nivelles SA.
La Brugeoise et Nivelles SA , later BN Constructions Ferroviaries et Métalliques was a Belgian manufacturer of railway locomotives and other rolling stock; it was formed by a merger of two companies La Brugeoise et Nicaise et Delcuve and Les Ateliers Métallurgiques de Nivelles.The Bruges factory...
starting in 1913 and were refurbished in 1926 when their wooden structure was modified for underground only use. In 1915 the trains were extended to the intersection of Avenidas Lacarra and Rivadavia, in this section the trains ran at street level until 1926. A peculiarity of the original "pantograph
Pantograph (rail)
A pantograph for rail lines is a hinged electric-rod device that collects electric current from overhead lines for electric trains or trams. The pantograph typically connects to a one-wire line, with the track acting as the ground wire...
" cars on the "underground tramway" is that they had, until 1926, both low doors at the ends for boarding from the street and high doors in the middle for loading from platforms in the tunnel. For this reason, "Subte" Line A might also be considered one the continent's first "light rail metro".
At present two new stations after Carabobo are under construction: San José de Flores and San Pedrito (formerly Nazca), the new future terminal. Newer metro carriages are slowly being introduced to handle the increased ridership and demand. Line A transports +190,000 passengers per working day
Near the Primera Junta metro station, in the neighbourhood of Caballito
Caballito, Buenos Aires
Caballito is a barrio of the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires. It is the only barrio in the administrative division Comuna 6....
, there is a Historical Tramway museum maintained by tram fans that operates on city streets on weekends.
History
In the first decade of the 20th century in Buenos Aires road traffic had sharply increased due to increased population. In 1903 the city had 895,381 inhabitants and there were 4,791 horse-drawn carriages and 60 cars, while 1,457,885 people were living in 1913, with 6,211 carriages and 7,438 automóviles.Because it was necessary to create new forms of mass transit
Public transport
Public transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...
, Congress
Argentine National Congress
The Congress of the Argentine Nation is the legislative branch of the government of Argentina. Its composition is bicameral, constituted by a 72-seat Senate and a 257-seat Chamber of Deputies....
awarded in 1909, by Law 6,700, the Ferrocarril del Oeste (FCO) (Buenos Aires Western Railway
Buenos Aires Western Railway
The Buenos Aires Western Railway was one of the Big Four broad gauge British-owned companies that built and operated railway networks in Argentina...
) to build a two-way underground railway that would join the main route of the Ferrocarril del Oeste, (currently Ferrocarril Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
Ferrocarril Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
The Ferrocarril Domingo Faustino Sarmiento , named after the former Argentine president, statesman, educator, and author Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, was one of the six state-owned Argentine railway companies formed after President Juan Perón's nationalisation of the Argentine railway network in 1948...
) near Sadi Carnot Street (now Mario Bravo) with the port
Puerto Madero
Puerto Madero, also known within the urban planning community as the Puerto Madero Waterfront, is a barrio of the Argentine capital at Buenos Aires CBD, occupying a significant portion of the Río de la Plata riverbank and representing the latest architectural trends in the city of Buenos...
. But on 28 December of that year the Municipality of the City of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires City Hall
Buenos Aires City Hall is the executive seat of government of the Argentine capital.-Building:The 1880 Federalization of Buenos Aires was followed by a boom in foreign trade and European immigration, and in 1890, Mayor Francisco P. Bollini commissioned the construction of a new city hall...
gave a concession to the Compañía de Tranvías Anglo-Argentina (CTAA) (Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company), which operated 80% of the tram system-being perhaps the greatest in the world- to build a underground passenger rail service. The project included in its route the Plaza de Mayo
Plaza de Mayo
The Plaza de Mayo is the main square in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is flanked by Hipólito Yrigoyen, Balcarce, Rivadavia and Bolívar streets....
-Plaza Miserere
Plaza Miserere
The Plaza de Miserere is one of the main plazas of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is located in the heart of the Balvanera neighborhood. It was supposed to be the name of the Line A—Buenos Aires Metro station located below it, but the station is more popularly known as Plaza Once, and is located...
section in its stretch which had been granted to the railroad.
| Plaza de Mayo | |
| Perú | |
| Piedras | |
| Lima | |
| Sáenz Peña | |
| Congreso | |
| Pasco | |
| Alberti | |
| Plaza Miserere | |
| Colour of the friezes in 1913 | |
After a dispute, it was agreed that the Western Railway built the line for freight but only one track at a depth that would allow the passage of the passenger line CTAA build on a higher plane. Thus, the 15 September 1911 began the construction of Anglo-Argentina Line, being the contractor the German company Philipp Holzmann & Cia.
Philipp Holzmann
Philipp Holzmann AG was a German construction company based in Frankfurt am Main.The company was founded in 1849 by Johann Philipp Holzmann at Sprendlingen in present-day Dreieich near Frankfurt am Main as Philipp Holzmann & Cie...
. The construction of this line involved the hiring of 1,500 workers and the use of 31 million bricks, 108,000 bars of 170 kg
Kilogram
The kilogram or kilogramme , also known as the kilo, is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units and is defined as being equal to the mass of the International Prototype Kilogram , which is almost exactly equal to the mass of one liter of water...
of cement
Cement
In the most general sense of the word, a cement is a binder, a substance that sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together. The word "cement" traces to the Romans, who used the term opus caementicium to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed...
, 13,000 t
Tonne
The tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI...
of iron braces and 90 thousand square metres of insulating layer. The line obtained its current name, Line A, as recently as February 17, 1939.
The Plaza de Mayo-Plaza Miserere subway section was inaugurated on 1 December 1913. On the following day it was opened to the public, carrying 170,000 passengers who enjoyed the first subway in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
. Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
thus became the thirteenth city to have this service, behind London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
Philadelphia and Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
. Each station had a length of 100 metres and had frieze
Frieze
thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...
s of specific colours for easy identification, taking into account the high level of illiteracy that existed at the time.
The construction of the Plaza Miserere station
Plaza Miserere (Buenos Aires Metro)
Plaza Miserere is a station on Line A of the Buenos Aires Metro . The station is located between Alberti and Loria / Pasco stations on the A line metro....
was performed by the two companies, CTAA and FCO. At that time the station had two tracks for the railroad, who were in the middle, and two pairs of lines for the metro, which were on the laterals. The outside southern track of the subway was eliminated in 1926 and it was decided to extend the platform to make the rail-subway transfer more convenient.
The route was extended to Río de Janeiro Station
Río de Janeiro (Buenos Aires Metro)
Rio de Janeiro is a station on Line A of the Buenos Aires Metro....
on 1 April 1914 and on 14 July of that year to the Caballito station renamed in 1923 as Primera Junta Station
Primera Junta (Buenos Aires Metro)
Primera Junta is a station on Line A of the Buenos Aires Metro. It lies at the intersection of Rivadavia Avenue and Del Barco Centenera street, in the neighborhood of Caballito...
. Following the Primera Junta Station a ramp was built in the center of Rivadavia Avenue between the Cachimayo and Emilio Mitre streets. This ramp was used to carry trains and move them up at the Polvorín workshop located on the Emilio Mitre and José Bonifacio streets, covering a surface loop shared with streetcar traffic until 1963 . This 2 km route is used since 1980 by Asociación Amigos del Tranvía (Association of Friends of the Tram) to run the Tramway Histórico de Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires Historical Tramway). The ramp created in 1915, was also used by surface passenger to the intersection of Lacarra and Rivadavia Avenues, a service that was canceled on 31 December 1926.
The investment to build the line was m$n
Argentine peso moneda nacional
The peso moneda nacional was the currency of Argentina between November 5, 1881 and December 31, 1969. It was subdivided into 100 centavos, with the argentino worth 5 pesos. Its symbol was m$n or $m/n. Its ISO 4217 code was ARM.-History:...
17 million. m$n 3 million is invested in the excavation of the tunnel, m$n 7 million in the construction, m$n 2.5 million in the initial 50 trains and m$n 2 million for the Polvorín workshop.
Chronology
- 1 December 1913: Line A is inaugurated between Plaza de Mayo and Plaza Miserere.
- 1 April 1914: It is prolonged to the Río de Janeiro station
- 1 July 1914: Prolonged to Caballito station (renamed in 1923 as Primera Junta)
- 22 December 2008: Puan and Carabobo stations were inaugurated
Current rolling stock
After 96 years of continuous service, the cars La BrugeoiseLa Brugeoise cars (Buenos Aires Metro)
The La Brugeoise cars are the Buenos Aires Metro Line A rolling stock since its inauguration in 1913. They were built by Belgian railway rolling stock manufacturer La Brugeoise, et Nicaise, et Delcuve between 1911 and 1919 for the Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company's first metro line...
are near their final withdrawal from service. On 23 December 2008, two new stations were inaugurated on Line A: Puan and Carabobo. The increased demand could be absorbed by the current fleet, with the reinforcement of two trains Fiat Materfer taken from the line D. A total of 95 La Brugeoise cars operate on Line A.
Spare parts for these trains are no longer available in the market so they have to be custom-made by request at Polvorín workshop, where La Brugeoise units and other Buenos Aires metro rolling stock are maintained and repaired by highly skilled and qualified personnel. According to Metrovías, Buenos Aires Metro private operator, every 20 days units undergo a routine check-up, while every four years heavy maintenance is performed. Despite their 96 years of uninterrupted service, La Brugeoise trains have one of the lowest mechanical failure averages in the network: 19 every 100,000 km.
It is hoped that these surviving vintage formations
Heritage streetcar
Heritage streetcars or heritage trams are a development of the heritage railways that are becoming popular across the world. As with modern streetcar systems, the vehicles are referred to as trams or tramcars in the United Kingdom, Australasia and certain other places , but as streetcars or...
continue operating as a tourist attraction
Tourist attraction
A tourist attraction is a place of interest where tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, or amusement opportunities....
on holidays and Sundays, a development that is becoming popular across the world.
Gallery
Image:Buenos Aires - Subte Estación Piedras - 20061207a.jpg|
Image:Buenos Aires - Subte - Pasco 3.jpg|
Image:LINEA A MR.jpg|
Line A is the oldest line of the Buenos Aires Metro
Buenos Aires Metro
The Buenos Aires Metro , locally known as Subte is a mass-transit system that serves the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The first station of this network opened in 1913, the first of its kind in South America, the Southern Hemisphere and the entire Spanish-speaking world...
. This historic line runs from Plaza de Mayo
Plaza de Mayo
The Plaza de Mayo is the main square in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is flanked by Hipólito Yrigoyen, Balcarce, Rivadavia and Bolívar streets....
to Carabobo
Carabobo
Carabobo State is one of the 23 states of Venezuela, located in the north of the country, about two hours by car from Caracas. The capital city of this state is Valencia, which is also the country's main industrial center. The state's area is 4,650 km² and had an estimated population of...
, and is scheduled to be extended towards San Pedrito station.
Opened to the public on 1 December 1913, becoming the first in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, the Southern Hemisphere and the entire Spanish-speaking world and Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
became the thirteenth city in the world to have a underground transport service.
It stretches 10.7 km from Plaza de Mayo
Plaza de Mayo
The Plaza de Mayo is the main square in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is flanked by Hipólito Yrigoyen, Balcarce, Rivadavia and Bolívar streets....
and Carabobo
Carabobo
Carabobo State is one of the 23 states of Venezuela, located in the north of the country, about two hours by car from Caracas. The capital city of this state is Valencia, which is also the country's main industrial center. The state's area is 4,650 km² and had an estimated population of...
and runs under all of the Avenida de Mayo
Avenida de Mayo
Avenida de Mayo , is an avenue in Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina. It connects the Plaza de Mayo with Congressional Plaza, and extends in a west-east direction before merging into Avenida Rivadavia.-History and overview:...
and part of the Avenida Rivadavia and is being used by 216,000 people a day.
Carabobo station serves as a temporary terminal for the line, as two more stations are under construction that will extend the route of the line to the west. They are Flores and Nazca which once completed will be the definitive end of the line. The line continues to retain its old La Brugeoise cars
La Brugeoise cars (Buenos Aires Metro)
The La Brugeoise cars are the Buenos Aires Metro Line A rolling stock since its inauguration in 1913. They were built by Belgian railway rolling stock manufacturer La Brugeoise, et Nicaise, et Delcuve between 1911 and 1919 for the Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company's first metro line...
from Belgium built during the 1910s.
The construction, completely carried out under the open sky, was finished with distinguished details that made it the most secure, comfortable and modern in the world. A smart natural ventilation system, as well as a unique interior visual identity system for each station –to help passenger identification–, stairways built with granite one-block steps, its perfect illumination... it all came together to reflect the splendour of Buenos Aires in those times. The first day of open-public service (December 18, 1913), it carried 220,000 awed passengers. Today Line 1 has become an icon of the city of Buenos Aires and still uses the same cars
La Brugeoise cars (Buenos Aires Metro)
The La Brugeoise cars are the Buenos Aires Metro Line A rolling stock since its inauguration in 1913. They were built by Belgian railway rolling stock manufacturer La Brugeoise, et Nicaise, et Delcuve between 1911 and 1919 for the Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company's first metro line...
used at its inauguration. These cars were built by Belgian company La Brugeoise
La Brugeoise et Nivelles SA.
La Brugeoise et Nivelles SA , later BN Constructions Ferroviaries et Métalliques was a Belgian manufacturer of railway locomotives and other rolling stock; it was formed by a merger of two companies La Brugeoise et Nicaise et Delcuve and Les Ateliers Métallurgiques de Nivelles.The Bruges factory...
starting in 1913 and were refurbished in 1926 when their wooden structure was modified for underground only use. In 1915 the trains were extended to the intersection of Avenidas Lacarra and Rivadavia, in this section the trains ran at street level until 1926. A peculiarity of the original "pantograph
Pantograph (rail)
A pantograph for rail lines is a hinged electric-rod device that collects electric current from overhead lines for electric trains or trams. The pantograph typically connects to a one-wire line, with the track acting as the ground wire...
" cars on the "underground tramway" is that they had, until 1926, both low doors at the ends for boarding from the street and high doors in the middle for loading from platforms in the tunnel. For this reason, "Subte" Line A might also be considered one the continent's first "light rail metro".
At present two new stations after Carabobo are under construction: San José de Flores and San Pedrito (formerly Nazca), the new future terminal. Newer metro carriages are slowly being introduced to handle the increased ridership and demand. Line A transports +190,000 passengers per working day
Near the Primera Junta metro station, in the neighbourhood of Caballito
Caballito, Buenos Aires
Caballito is a barrio of the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires. It is the only barrio in the administrative division Comuna 6....
, there is a Historical Tramway museum maintained by tram fans that operates on city streets on weekends.
History
In the first decade of the 20th century in Buenos Aires road traffic had sharply increased due to increased population. In 1903 the city had 895,381 inhabitants and there were 4,791 horse-drawn carriages and 60 cars, while 1,457,885 people were living in 1913, with 6,211 carriages and 7,438 automóviles.Because it was necessary to create new forms of mass transit
Public transport
Public transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...
, Congress
Argentine National Congress
The Congress of the Argentine Nation is the legislative branch of the government of Argentina. Its composition is bicameral, constituted by a 72-seat Senate and a 257-seat Chamber of Deputies....
awarded in 1909, by Law 6,700, the Ferrocarril del Oeste (FCO) (Buenos Aires Western Railway
Buenos Aires Western Railway
The Buenos Aires Western Railway was one of the Big Four broad gauge British-owned companies that built and operated railway networks in Argentina...
) to build a two-way underground railway that would join the main route of the Ferrocarril del Oeste, (currently Ferrocarril Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
Ferrocarril Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
The Ferrocarril Domingo Faustino Sarmiento , named after the former Argentine president, statesman, educator, and author Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, was one of the six state-owned Argentine railway companies formed after President Juan Perón's nationalisation of the Argentine railway network in 1948...
) near Sadi Carnot Street (now Mario Bravo) with the port
Puerto Madero
Puerto Madero, also known within the urban planning community as the Puerto Madero Waterfront, is a barrio of the Argentine capital at Buenos Aires CBD, occupying a significant portion of the Río de la Plata riverbank and representing the latest architectural trends in the city of Buenos...
. But on 28 December of that year the Municipality of the City of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires City Hall
Buenos Aires City Hall is the executive seat of government of the Argentine capital.-Building:The 1880 Federalization of Buenos Aires was followed by a boom in foreign trade and European immigration, and in 1890, Mayor Francisco P. Bollini commissioned the construction of a new city hall...
gave a concession to the Compañía de Tranvías Anglo-Argentina (CTAA) (Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company), which operated 80% of the tram system-being perhaps the greatest in the world- to build a underground passenger rail service. The project included in its route the Plaza de Mayo
Plaza de Mayo
The Plaza de Mayo is the main square in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is flanked by Hipólito Yrigoyen, Balcarce, Rivadavia and Bolívar streets....
-Plaza Miserere
Plaza Miserere
The Plaza de Miserere is one of the main plazas of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is located in the heart of the Balvanera neighborhood. It was supposed to be the name of the Line A—Buenos Aires Metro station located below it, but the station is more popularly known as Plaza Once, and is located...
section in its stretch which had been granted to the railroad.
| Plaza de Mayo | |
| Perú | |
| Piedras | |
| Lima | |
| Sáenz Peña | |
| Congreso | |
| Pasco | |
| Alberti | |
| Plaza Miserere | |
| Colour of the friezes in 1913 | |
After a dispute, it was agreed that the Western Railway built the line for freight but only one track at a depth that would allow the passage of the passenger line CTAA build on a higher plane. Thus, the 15 September 1911 began the construction of Anglo-Argentina Line, being the contractor the German company Philipp Holzmann & Cia.
Philipp Holzmann
Philipp Holzmann AG was a German construction company based in Frankfurt am Main.The company was founded in 1849 by Johann Philipp Holzmann at Sprendlingen in present-day Dreieich near Frankfurt am Main as Philipp Holzmann & Cie...
. The construction of this line involved the hiring of 1,500 workers and the use of 31 million bricks, 108,000 bars of 170 kg
Kilogram
The kilogram or kilogramme , also known as the kilo, is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units and is defined as being equal to the mass of the International Prototype Kilogram , which is almost exactly equal to the mass of one liter of water...
of cement
Cement
In the most general sense of the word, a cement is a binder, a substance that sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together. The word "cement" traces to the Romans, who used the term opus caementicium to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed...
, 13,000 t
Tonne
The tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI...
of iron braces and 90 thousand square metres of insulating layer. The line obtained its current name, Line A, as recently as February 17, 1939.
The Plaza de Mayo-Plaza Miserere subway section was inaugurated on 1 December 1913. On the following day it was opened to the public, carrying 170,000 passengers who enjoyed the first subway in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
. Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
thus became the thirteenth city to have this service, behind London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
Philadelphia and Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
. Each station had a length of 100 metres and had frieze
Frieze
thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...
s of specific colours for easy identification, taking into account the high level of illiteracy that existed at the time.
The construction of the Plaza Miserere station
Plaza Miserere (Buenos Aires Metro)
Plaza Miserere is a station on Line A of the Buenos Aires Metro . The station is located between Alberti and Loria / Pasco stations on the A line metro....
was performed by the two companies, CTAA and FCO. At that time the station had two tracks for the railroad, who were in the middle, and two pairs of lines for the metro, which were on the laterals. The outside southern track of the subway was eliminated in 1926 and it was decided to extend the platform to make the rail-subway transfer more convenient.
The route was extended to Río de Janeiro Station
Río de Janeiro (Buenos Aires Metro)
Rio de Janeiro is a station on Line A of the Buenos Aires Metro....
on 1 April 1914 and on 14 July of that year to the Caballito station renamed in 1923 as Primera Junta Station
Primera Junta (Buenos Aires Metro)
Primera Junta is a station on Line A of the Buenos Aires Metro. It lies at the intersection of Rivadavia Avenue and Del Barco Centenera street, in the neighborhood of Caballito...
. Following the Primera Junta Station a ramp was built in the center of Rivadavia Avenue between the Cachimayo and Emilio Mitre streets. This ramp was used to carry trains and move them up at the Polvorín workshop located on the Emilio Mitre and José Bonifacio streets, covering a surface loop shared with streetcar traffic until 1963 . This 2 km route is used since 1980 by Asociación Amigos del Tranvía (Association of Friends of the Tram) to run the Tramway Histórico de Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires Historical Tramway). The ramp created in 1915, was also used by surface passenger to the intersection of Lacarra and Rivadavia Avenues, a service that was canceled on 31 December 1926.
The investment to build the line was m$n
Argentine peso moneda nacional
The peso moneda nacional was the currency of Argentina between November 5, 1881 and December 31, 1969. It was subdivided into 100 centavos, with the argentino worth 5 pesos. Its symbol was m$n or $m/n. Its ISO 4217 code was ARM.-History:...
17 million. m$n 3 million is invested in the excavation of the tunnel, m$n 7 million in the construction, m$n 2.5 million in the initial 50 trains and m$n 2 million for the Polvorín workshop.
Chronology
- 1 December 1913: Line A is inaugurated between Plaza de Mayo and Plaza Miserere.
- 1 April 1914: It is prolonged to the Río de Janeiro station
- 1 July 1914: Prolonged to Caballito station (renamed in 1923 as Primera Junta)
- 22 December 2008: Puan and Carabobo stations were inaugurated
Current rolling stock
After 96 years of continuous service, the cars La BrugeoiseLa Brugeoise cars (Buenos Aires Metro)
The La Brugeoise cars are the Buenos Aires Metro Line A rolling stock since its inauguration in 1913. They were built by Belgian railway rolling stock manufacturer La Brugeoise, et Nicaise, et Delcuve between 1911 and 1919 for the Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company's first metro line...
are near their final withdrawal from service. On 23 December 2008, two new stations were inaugurated on Line A: Puan and Carabobo. The increased demand could be absorbed by the current fleet, with the reinforcement of two trains Fiat Materfer taken from the line D. A total of 95 La Brugeoise cars operate on Line A.
Spare parts for these trains are no longer available in the market so they have to be custom-made by request at Polvorín workshop, where La Brugeoise units and other Buenos Aires metro rolling stock are maintained and repaired by highly skilled and qualified personnel. According to Metrovías, Buenos Aires Metro private operator, every 20 days units undergo a routine check-up, while every four years heavy maintenance is performed. Despite their 96 years of uninterrupted service, La Brugeoise trains have one of the lowest mechanical failure averages in the network: 19 every 100,000 km.
It is hoped that these surviving vintage formations
Heritage streetcar
Heritage streetcars or heritage trams are a development of the heritage railways that are becoming popular across the world. As with modern streetcar systems, the vehicles are referred to as trams or tramcars in the United Kingdom, Australasia and certain other places , but as streetcars or...
continue operating as a tourist attraction
Tourist attraction
A tourist attraction is a place of interest where tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, or amusement opportunities....
on holidays and Sundays, a development that is becoming popular across the world.
Gallery
Line A is the oldest line of the Buenos Aires MetroBuenos Aires Metro
The Buenos Aires Metro , locally known as Subte is a mass-transit system that serves the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The first station of this network opened in 1913, the first of its kind in South America, the Southern Hemisphere and the entire Spanish-speaking world...
. This historic line runs from Plaza de Mayo
Plaza de Mayo
The Plaza de Mayo is the main square in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is flanked by Hipólito Yrigoyen, Balcarce, Rivadavia and Bolívar streets....
to Carabobo
Carabobo
Carabobo State is one of the 23 states of Venezuela, located in the north of the country, about two hours by car from Caracas. The capital city of this state is Valencia, which is also the country's main industrial center. The state's area is 4,650 km² and had an estimated population of...
, and is scheduled to be extended towards San Pedrito station.
Opened to the public on 1 December 1913, becoming the first in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, the Southern Hemisphere and the entire Spanish-speaking world and Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
became the thirteenth city in the world to have a underground transport service.
It stretches 10.7 km from Plaza de Mayo
Plaza de Mayo
The Plaza de Mayo is the main square in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is flanked by Hipólito Yrigoyen, Balcarce, Rivadavia and Bolívar streets....
and Carabobo
Carabobo
Carabobo State is one of the 23 states of Venezuela, located in the north of the country, about two hours by car from Caracas. The capital city of this state is Valencia, which is also the country's main industrial center. The state's area is 4,650 km² and had an estimated population of...
and runs under all of the Avenida de Mayo
Avenida de Mayo
Avenida de Mayo , is an avenue in Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina. It connects the Plaza de Mayo with Congressional Plaza, and extends in a west-east direction before merging into Avenida Rivadavia.-History and overview:...
and part of the Avenida Rivadavia and is being used by 216,000 people a day.
Carabobo station serves as a temporary terminal for the line, as two more stations are under construction that will extend the route of the line to the west. They are Flores and Nazca which once completed will be the definitive end of the line. The line continues to retain its old La Brugeoise cars
La Brugeoise cars (Buenos Aires Metro)
The La Brugeoise cars are the Buenos Aires Metro Line A rolling stock since its inauguration in 1913. They were built by Belgian railway rolling stock manufacturer La Brugeoise, et Nicaise, et Delcuve between 1911 and 1919 for the Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company's first metro line...
from Belgium built during the 1910s.
The construction, completely carried out under the open sky, was finished with distinguished details that made it the most secure, comfortable and modern in the world. A smart natural ventilation system, as well as a unique interior visual identity system for each station –to help passenger identification–, stairways built with granite one-block steps, its perfect illumination... it all came together to reflect the splendour of Buenos Aires in those times. The first day of open-public service (December 18, 1913), it carried 220,000 awed passengers. Today Line 1 has become an icon of the city of Buenos Aires and still uses the same cars
La Brugeoise cars (Buenos Aires Metro)
The La Brugeoise cars are the Buenos Aires Metro Line A rolling stock since its inauguration in 1913. They were built by Belgian railway rolling stock manufacturer La Brugeoise, et Nicaise, et Delcuve between 1911 and 1919 for the Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company's first metro line...
used at its inauguration. These cars were built by Belgian company La Brugeoise
La Brugeoise et Nivelles SA.
La Brugeoise et Nivelles SA , later BN Constructions Ferroviaries et Métalliques was a Belgian manufacturer of railway locomotives and other rolling stock; it was formed by a merger of two companies La Brugeoise et Nicaise et Delcuve and Les Ateliers Métallurgiques de Nivelles.The Bruges factory...
starting in 1913 and were refurbished in 1926 when their wooden structure was modified for underground only use. In 1915 the trains were extended to the intersection of Avenidas Lacarra and Rivadavia, in this section the trains ran at street level until 1926. A peculiarity of the original "pantograph
Pantograph (rail)
A pantograph for rail lines is a hinged electric-rod device that collects electric current from overhead lines for electric trains or trams. The pantograph typically connects to a one-wire line, with the track acting as the ground wire...
" cars on the "underground tramway" is that they had, until 1926, both low doors at the ends for boarding from the street and high doors in the middle for loading from platforms in the tunnel. For this reason, "Subte" Line A might also be considered one the continent's first "light rail metro".
At present two new stations after Carabobo are under construction: San José de Flores and San Pedrito (formerly Nazca), the new future terminal. Newer metro carriages are slowly being introduced to handle the increased ridership and demand. Line A transports +190,000 passengers per working day
Near the Primera Junta metro station, in the neighbourhood of Caballito
Caballito, Buenos Aires
Caballito is a barrio of the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires. It is the only barrio in the administrative division Comuna 6....
, there is a Historical Tramway museum maintained by tram fans that operates on city streets on weekends.
History
In the first decade of the 20th century in Buenos Aires road traffic had sharply increased due to increased population. In 1903 the city had 895,381 inhabitants and there were 4,791 horse-drawn carriages and 60 cars, while 1,457,885 people were living in 1913, with 6,211 carriages and 7,438 automóviles.Because it was necessary to create new forms of mass transit
Public transport
Public transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...
, Congress
Argentine National Congress
The Congress of the Argentine Nation is the legislative branch of the government of Argentina. Its composition is bicameral, constituted by a 72-seat Senate and a 257-seat Chamber of Deputies....
awarded in 1909, by Law 6,700, the Ferrocarril del Oeste (FCO) (Buenos Aires Western Railway
Buenos Aires Western Railway
The Buenos Aires Western Railway was one of the Big Four broad gauge British-owned companies that built and operated railway networks in Argentina...
) to build a two-way underground railway that would join the main route of the Ferrocarril del Oeste, (currently Ferrocarril Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
Ferrocarril Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
The Ferrocarril Domingo Faustino Sarmiento , named after the former Argentine president, statesman, educator, and author Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, was one of the six state-owned Argentine railway companies formed after President Juan Perón's nationalisation of the Argentine railway network in 1948...
) near Sadi Carnot Street (now Mario Bravo) with the port
Puerto Madero
Puerto Madero, also known within the urban planning community as the Puerto Madero Waterfront, is a barrio of the Argentine capital at Buenos Aires CBD, occupying a significant portion of the Río de la Plata riverbank and representing the latest architectural trends in the city of Buenos...
. But on 28 December of that year the Municipality of the City of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires City Hall
Buenos Aires City Hall is the executive seat of government of the Argentine capital.-Building:The 1880 Federalization of Buenos Aires was followed by a boom in foreign trade and European immigration, and in 1890, Mayor Francisco P. Bollini commissioned the construction of a new city hall...
gave a concession to the Compañía de Tranvías Anglo-Argentina (CTAA) (Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company), which operated 80% of the tram system-being perhaps the greatest in the world- to build a underground passenger rail service. The project included in its route the Plaza de Mayo
Plaza de Mayo
The Plaza de Mayo is the main square in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is flanked by Hipólito Yrigoyen, Balcarce, Rivadavia and Bolívar streets....
-Plaza Miserere
Plaza Miserere
The Plaza de Miserere is one of the main plazas of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is located in the heart of the Balvanera neighborhood. It was supposed to be the name of the Line A—Buenos Aires Metro station located below it, but the station is more popularly known as Plaza Once, and is located...
section in its stretch which had been granted to the railroad.
| Plaza de Mayo | |
| Perú | |
| Piedras | |
| Lima | |
| Sáenz Peña | |
| Congreso | |
| Pasco | |
| Alberti | |
| Plaza Miserere | |
| Colour of the friezes in 1913 | |
After a dispute, it was agreed that the Western Railway built the line for freight but only one track at a depth that would allow the passage of the passenger line CTAA build on a higher plane. Thus, the 15 September 1911 began the construction of Anglo-Argentina Line, being the contractor the German company Philipp Holzmann & Cia.
Philipp Holzmann
Philipp Holzmann AG was a German construction company based in Frankfurt am Main.The company was founded in 1849 by Johann Philipp Holzmann at Sprendlingen in present-day Dreieich near Frankfurt am Main as Philipp Holzmann & Cie...
. The construction of this line involved the hiring of 1,500 workers and the use of 31 million bricks, 108,000 bars of 170 kg
Kilogram
The kilogram or kilogramme , also known as the kilo, is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units and is defined as being equal to the mass of the International Prototype Kilogram , which is almost exactly equal to the mass of one liter of water...
of cement
Cement
In the most general sense of the word, a cement is a binder, a substance that sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together. The word "cement" traces to the Romans, who used the term opus caementicium to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed...
, 13,000 t
Tonne
The tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI...
of iron braces and 90 thousand square metres of insulating layer. The line obtained its current name, Line A, as recently as February 17, 1939.
The Plaza de Mayo-Plaza Miserere subway section was inaugurated on 1 December 1913. On the following day it was opened to the public, carrying 170,000 passengers who enjoyed the first subway in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
. Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
thus became the thirteenth city to have this service, behind London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
Philadelphia and Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
. Each station had a length of 100 metres and had frieze
Frieze
thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...
s of specific colours for easy identification, taking into account the high level of illiteracy that existed at the time.
The construction of the Plaza Miserere station
Plaza Miserere (Buenos Aires Metro)
Plaza Miserere is a station on Line A of the Buenos Aires Metro . The station is located between Alberti and Loria / Pasco stations on the A line metro....
was performed by the two companies, CTAA and FCO. At that time the station had two tracks for the railroad, who were in the middle, and two pairs of lines for the metro, which were on the laterals. The outside southern track of the subway was eliminated in 1926 and it was decided to extend the platform to make the rail-subway transfer more convenient.
The route was extended to Río de Janeiro Station
Río de Janeiro (Buenos Aires Metro)
Rio de Janeiro is a station on Line A of the Buenos Aires Metro....
on 1 April 1914 and on 14 July of that year to the Caballito station renamed in 1923 as Primera Junta Station
Primera Junta (Buenos Aires Metro)
Primera Junta is a station on Line A of the Buenos Aires Metro. It lies at the intersection of Rivadavia Avenue and Del Barco Centenera street, in the neighborhood of Caballito...
. Following the Primera Junta Station a ramp was built in the center of Rivadavia Avenue between the Cachimayo and Emilio Mitre streets. This ramp was used to carry trains and move them up at the Polvorín workshop located on the Emilio Mitre and José Bonifacio streets, covering a surface loop shared with streetcar traffic until 1963 . This 2 km route is used since 1980 by Asociación Amigos del Tranvía (Association of Friends of the Tram) to run the Tramway Histórico de Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires Historical Tramway). The ramp created in 1915, was also used by surface passenger to the intersection of Lacarra and Rivadavia Avenues, a service that was canceled on 31 December 1926.
The investment to build the line was m$n
Argentine peso moneda nacional
The peso moneda nacional was the currency of Argentina between November 5, 1881 and December 31, 1969. It was subdivided into 100 centavos, with the argentino worth 5 pesos. Its symbol was m$n or $m/n. Its ISO 4217 code was ARM.-History:...
17 million. m$n 3 million is invested in the excavation of the tunnel, m$n 7 million in the construction, m$n 2.5 million in the initial 50 trains and m$n 2 million for the Polvorín workshop.
Chronology
- 1 December 1913: Line A is inaugurated between Plaza de Mayo and Plaza Miserere.
- 1 April 1914: It is prolonged to the Río de Janeiro station
- 1 July 1914: Prolonged to Caballito station (renamed in 1923 as Primera Junta)
- 22 December 2008: Puan and Carabobo stations were inaugurated
Current rolling stock
After 96 years of continuous service, the cars La BrugeoiseLa Brugeoise cars (Buenos Aires Metro)
The La Brugeoise cars are the Buenos Aires Metro Line A rolling stock since its inauguration in 1913. They were built by Belgian railway rolling stock manufacturer La Brugeoise, et Nicaise, et Delcuve between 1911 and 1919 for the Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company's first metro line...
are near their final withdrawal from service. On 23 December 2008, two new stations were inaugurated on Line A: Puan and Carabobo. The increased demand could be absorbed by the current fleet, with the reinforcement of two trains Fiat Materfer taken from the line D. A total of 95 La Brugeoise cars operate on Line A.
Spare parts for these trains are no longer available in the market so they have to be custom-made by request at Polvorín workshop, where La Brugeoise units and other Buenos Aires metro rolling stock are maintained and repaired by highly skilled and qualified personnel. According to Metrovías, Buenos Aires Metro private operator, every 20 days units undergo a routine check-up, while every four years heavy maintenance is performed. Despite their 96 years of uninterrupted service, La Brugeoise trains have one of the lowest mechanical failure averages in the network: 19 every 100,000 km.
It is hoped that these surviving vintage formations
Heritage streetcar
Heritage streetcars or heritage trams are a development of the heritage railways that are becoming popular across the world. As with modern streetcar systems, the vehicles are referred to as trams or tramcars in the United Kingdom, Australasia and certain other places , but as streetcars or...
continue operating as a tourist attraction
Tourist attraction
A tourist attraction is a place of interest where tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, or amusement opportunities....
on holidays and Sundays, a development that is becoming popular across the world.
Gallery
Image:Buenos Aires - Subte Estación Piedras - 20061207a.jpg|
Image:Buenos Aires - Subte - Pasco 3.jpg|
Image:LINEA A MR.jpg|
Line A is the oldest line of the Buenos Aires Metro
Buenos Aires Metro
The Buenos Aires Metro , locally known as Subte is a mass-transit system that serves the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The first station of this network opened in 1913, the first of its kind in South America, the Southern Hemisphere and the entire Spanish-speaking world...
. This historic line runs from Plaza de Mayo
Plaza de Mayo
The Plaza de Mayo is the main square in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is flanked by Hipólito Yrigoyen, Balcarce, Rivadavia and Bolívar streets....
to Carabobo
Carabobo
Carabobo State is one of the 23 states of Venezuela, located in the north of the country, about two hours by car from Caracas. The capital city of this state is Valencia, which is also the country's main industrial center. The state's area is 4,650 km² and had an estimated population of...
, and is scheduled to be extended towards San Pedrito station.
Opened to the public on 1 December 1913, becoming the first in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, the Southern Hemisphere and the entire Spanish-speaking world and Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
became the thirteenth city in the world to have a underground transport service.
It stretches 10.7 km from Plaza de Mayo
Plaza de Mayo
The Plaza de Mayo is the main square in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is flanked by Hipólito Yrigoyen, Balcarce, Rivadavia and Bolívar streets....
and Carabobo
Carabobo
Carabobo State is one of the 23 states of Venezuela, located in the north of the country, about two hours by car from Caracas. The capital city of this state is Valencia, which is also the country's main industrial center. The state's area is 4,650 km² and had an estimated population of...
and runs under all of the Avenida de Mayo
Avenida de Mayo
Avenida de Mayo , is an avenue in Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina. It connects the Plaza de Mayo with Congressional Plaza, and extends in a west-east direction before merging into Avenida Rivadavia.-History and overview:...
and part of the Avenida Rivadavia and is being used by 216,000 people a day.
Carabobo station serves as a temporary terminal for the line, as two more stations are under construction that will extend the route of the line to the west. They are Flores and Nazca which once completed will be the definitive end of the line. The line continues to retain its old La Brugeoise cars
La Brugeoise cars (Buenos Aires Metro)
The La Brugeoise cars are the Buenos Aires Metro Line A rolling stock since its inauguration in 1913. They were built by Belgian railway rolling stock manufacturer La Brugeoise, et Nicaise, et Delcuve between 1911 and 1919 for the Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company's first metro line...
from Belgium built during the 1910s.
The construction, completely carried out under the open sky, was finished with distinguished details that made it the most secure, comfortable and modern in the world. A smart natural ventilation system, as well as a unique interior visual identity system for each station –to help passenger identification–, stairways built with granite one-block steps, its perfect illumination... it all came together to reflect the splendour of Buenos Aires in those times. The first day of open-public service (December 18, 1913), it carried 220,000 awed passengers. Today Line 1 has become an icon of the city of Buenos Aires and still uses the same cars
La Brugeoise cars (Buenos Aires Metro)
The La Brugeoise cars are the Buenos Aires Metro Line A rolling stock since its inauguration in 1913. They were built by Belgian railway rolling stock manufacturer La Brugeoise, et Nicaise, et Delcuve between 1911 and 1919 for the Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company's first metro line...
used at its inauguration. These cars were built by Belgian company La Brugeoise
La Brugeoise et Nivelles SA.
La Brugeoise et Nivelles SA , later BN Constructions Ferroviaries et Métalliques was a Belgian manufacturer of railway locomotives and other rolling stock; it was formed by a merger of two companies La Brugeoise et Nicaise et Delcuve and Les Ateliers Métallurgiques de Nivelles.The Bruges factory...
starting in 1913 and were refurbished in 1926 when their wooden structure was modified for underground only use. In 1915 the trains were extended to the intersection of Avenidas Lacarra and Rivadavia, in this section the trains ran at street level until 1926. A peculiarity of the original "pantograph
Pantograph (rail)
A pantograph for rail lines is a hinged electric-rod device that collects electric current from overhead lines for electric trains or trams. The pantograph typically connects to a one-wire line, with the track acting as the ground wire...
" cars on the "underground tramway" is that they had, until 1926, both low doors at the ends for boarding from the street and high doors in the middle for loading from platforms in the tunnel. For this reason, "Subte" Line A might also be considered one the continent's first "light rail metro".
At present two new stations after Carabobo are under construction: San José de Flores and San Pedrito (formerly Nazca), the new future terminal. Newer metro carriages are slowly being introduced to handle the increased ridership and demand. Line A transports +190,000 passengers per working day
Near the Primera Junta metro station, in the neighbourhood of Caballito
Caballito, Buenos Aires
Caballito is a barrio of the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires. It is the only barrio in the administrative division Comuna 6....
, there is a Historical Tramway museum maintained by tram fans that operates on city streets on weekends.
History
In the first decade of the 20th century in Buenos Aires road traffic had sharply increased due to increased population. In 1903 the city had 895,381 inhabitants and there were 4,791 horse-drawn carriages and 60 cars, while 1,457,885 people were living in 1913, with 6,211 carriages and 7,438 automóviles.Because it was necessary to create new forms of mass transit
Public transport
Public transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...
, Congress
Argentine National Congress
The Congress of the Argentine Nation is the legislative branch of the government of Argentina. Its composition is bicameral, constituted by a 72-seat Senate and a 257-seat Chamber of Deputies....
awarded in 1909, by Law 6,700, the Ferrocarril del Oeste (FCO) (Buenos Aires Western Railway
Buenos Aires Western Railway
The Buenos Aires Western Railway was one of the Big Four broad gauge British-owned companies that built and operated railway networks in Argentina...
) to build a two-way underground railway that would join the main route of the Ferrocarril del Oeste, (currently Ferrocarril Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
Ferrocarril Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
The Ferrocarril Domingo Faustino Sarmiento , named after the former Argentine president, statesman, educator, and author Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, was one of the six state-owned Argentine railway companies formed after President Juan Perón's nationalisation of the Argentine railway network in 1948...
) near Sadi Carnot Street (now Mario Bravo) with the port
Puerto Madero
Puerto Madero, also known within the urban planning community as the Puerto Madero Waterfront, is a barrio of the Argentine capital at Buenos Aires CBD, occupying a significant portion of the Río de la Plata riverbank and representing the latest architectural trends in the city of Buenos...
. But on 28 December of that year the Municipality of the City of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires City Hall
Buenos Aires City Hall is the executive seat of government of the Argentine capital.-Building:The 1880 Federalization of Buenos Aires was followed by a boom in foreign trade and European immigration, and in 1890, Mayor Francisco P. Bollini commissioned the construction of a new city hall...
gave a concession to the Compañía de Tranvías Anglo-Argentina (CTAA) (Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company), which operated 80% of the tram system-being perhaps the greatest in the world- to build a underground passenger rail service. The project included in its route the Plaza de Mayo
Plaza de Mayo
The Plaza de Mayo is the main square in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is flanked by Hipólito Yrigoyen, Balcarce, Rivadavia and Bolívar streets....
-Plaza Miserere
Plaza Miserere
The Plaza de Miserere is one of the main plazas of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is located in the heart of the Balvanera neighborhood. It was supposed to be the name of the Line A—Buenos Aires Metro station located below it, but the station is more popularly known as Plaza Once, and is located...
section in its stretch which had been granted to the railroad.
| Plaza de Mayo | |
| Perú | |
| Piedras | |
| Lima | |
| Sáenz Peña | |
| Congreso | |
| Pasco | |
| Alberti | |
| Plaza Miserere | |
| Colour of the friezes in 1913 | |
After a dispute, it was agreed that the Western Railway built the line for freight but only one track at a depth that would allow the passage of the passenger line CTAA build on a higher plane. Thus, the 15 September 1911 began the construction of Anglo-Argentina Line, being the contractor the German company Philipp Holzmann & Cia.
Philipp Holzmann
Philipp Holzmann AG was a German construction company based in Frankfurt am Main.The company was founded in 1849 by Johann Philipp Holzmann at Sprendlingen in present-day Dreieich near Frankfurt am Main as Philipp Holzmann & Cie...
. The construction of this line involved the hiring of 1,500 workers and the use of 31 million bricks, 108,000 bars of 170 kg
Kilogram
The kilogram or kilogramme , also known as the kilo, is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units and is defined as being equal to the mass of the International Prototype Kilogram , which is almost exactly equal to the mass of one liter of water...
of cement
Cement
In the most general sense of the word, a cement is a binder, a substance that sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together. The word "cement" traces to the Romans, who used the term opus caementicium to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed...
, 13,000 t
Tonne
The tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI...
of iron braces and 90 thousand square metres of insulating layer. The line obtained its current name, Line A, as recently as February 17, 1939.
The Plaza de Mayo-Plaza Miserere subway section was inaugurated on 1 December 1913. On the following day it was opened to the public, carrying 170,000 passengers who enjoyed the first subway in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
. Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
thus became the thirteenth city to have this service, behind London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
Philadelphia and Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
. Each station had a length of 100 metres and had frieze
Frieze
thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...
s of specific colours for easy identification, taking into account the high level of illiteracy that existed at the time.
The construction of the Plaza Miserere station
Plaza Miserere (Buenos Aires Metro)
Plaza Miserere is a station on Line A of the Buenos Aires Metro . The station is located between Alberti and Loria / Pasco stations on the A line metro....
was performed by the two companies, CTAA and FCO. At that time the station had two tracks for the railroad, who were in the middle, and two pairs of lines for the metro, which were on the laterals. The outside southern track of the subway was eliminated in 1926 and it was decided to extend the platform to make the rail-subway transfer more convenient.
The route was extended to Río de Janeiro Station
Río de Janeiro (Buenos Aires Metro)
Rio de Janeiro is a station on Line A of the Buenos Aires Metro....
on 1 April 1914 and on 14 July of that year to the Caballito station renamed in 1923 as Primera Junta Station
Primera Junta (Buenos Aires Metro)
Primera Junta is a station on Line A of the Buenos Aires Metro. It lies at the intersection of Rivadavia Avenue and Del Barco Centenera street, in the neighborhood of Caballito...
. Following the Primera Junta Station a ramp was built in the center of Rivadavia Avenue between the Cachimayo and Emilio Mitre streets. This ramp was used to carry trains and move them up at the Polvorín workshop located on the Emilio Mitre and José Bonifacio streets, covering a surface loop shared with streetcar traffic until 1963 . This 2 km route is used since 1980 by Asociación Amigos del Tranvía (Association of Friends of the Tram) to run the Tramway Histórico de Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires Historical Tramway). The ramp created in 1915, was also used by surface passenger to the intersection of Lacarra and Rivadavia Avenues, a service that was canceled on 31 December 1926.
The investment to build the line was m$n
Argentine peso moneda nacional
The peso moneda nacional was the currency of Argentina between November 5, 1881 and December 31, 1969. It was subdivided into 100 centavos, with the argentino worth 5 pesos. Its symbol was m$n or $m/n. Its ISO 4217 code was ARM.-History:...
17 million. m$n 3 million is invested in the excavation of the tunnel, m$n 7 million in the construction, m$n 2.5 million in the initial 50 trains and m$n 2 million for the Polvorín workshop.
Chronology
- 1 December 1913: Line A is inaugurated between Plaza de Mayo and Plaza Miserere.
- 1 April 1914: It is prolonged to the Río de Janeiro station
- 1 July 1914: Prolonged to Caballito station (renamed in 1923 as Primera Junta)
- 22 December 2008: Puan and Carabobo stations were inaugurated
Current rolling stock
After 96 years of continuous service, the cars La BrugeoiseLa Brugeoise cars (Buenos Aires Metro)
The La Brugeoise cars are the Buenos Aires Metro Line A rolling stock since its inauguration in 1913. They were built by Belgian railway rolling stock manufacturer La Brugeoise, et Nicaise, et Delcuve between 1911 and 1919 for the Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company's first metro line...
are near their final withdrawal from service. On 23 December 2008, two new stations were inaugurated on Line A: Puan and Carabobo. The increased demand could be absorbed by the current fleet, with the reinforcement of two trains Fiat Materfer taken from the line D. A total of 95 La Brugeoise cars operate on Line A.
Spare parts for these trains are no longer available in the market so they have to be custom-made by request at Polvorín workshop, where La Brugeoise units and other Buenos Aires metro rolling stock are maintained and repaired by highly skilled and qualified personnel. According to Metrovías, Buenos Aires Metro private operator, every 20 days units undergo a routine check-up, while every four years heavy maintenance is performed. Despite their 96 years of uninterrupted service, La Brugeoise trains have one of the lowest mechanical failure averages in the network: 19 every 100,000 km.
It is hoped that these surviving vintage formations
Heritage streetcar
Heritage streetcars or heritage trams are a development of the heritage railways that are becoming popular across the world. As with modern streetcar systems, the vehicles are referred to as trams or tramcars in the United Kingdom, Australasia and certain other places , but as streetcars or...
continue operating as a tourist attraction
Tourist attraction
A tourist attraction is a place of interest where tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, or amusement opportunities....
on holidays and Sundays, a development that is becoming popular across the world.
Gallery
Image:Buenos Aires - Subte Estación Piedras - 20061207a.jpg|
Image:Buenos Aires - Subte - Pasco 3.jpg|
Image:LINEA A MR.jpg|
Image:Buenos Aires-Subte A-P2070026.jpg|
Image:Buenos Aires Subte station plaza once.JPG|
Image:Línea A, kiosco de diarios en la estación Castro Barros (Buenos Aires, diciembre 2008).jpg|
Kiosk
Kiosk is a small, separated garden pavilion open on some or all sides. Kiosks were common in Persia, India, Pakistan, and in the Ottoman Empire from the 13th century onward...
on Castro Barros Station