The first trams in Buenos Aires began operating in 1863 in what quickly became a vast network of tramways with the city being known as the "City of Trams" for having the highest tramway-to-population ratio in the world. [1] [2] [3] In the 1920s, Buenos Aires had 875 km (544 mi) of tramways and 99 tram lines using 3000 carriages running throughout the city. [2] [3] By 1963, the vast majority of the network began to be dismantled, though some minor tram services continue in the city today.
The first horse-drawn trams began circulating the city in 1863 as a feeder service to the railways, taking passengers from Plaza de Mayo to the Retiro Terminal, [4] where it connected to the Buenos Aires Northern Railway. A second similar horse-drawn feeder service was established between Monserrat and the Constitución railway terminal in 1866 to service the Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway. [2]
The first urban tramways were inaugurated in 1870 by Argentine pioneer Federico Lacroze and his brother Julio. [5] These two lines were the Lacroze brothers' Central Tramway (Tramway Central) and the Méndez brothers' Tramway 11 de Septiembre, which both ran parallel from Plaza de Mayo westwards to Plaza Miserere, currently the home of Once de Septiembre railway station. [6] The tramways were first met with scepticism from the public, however by 1880 numerous other tram operators began to appear - such as the Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company - and the city would eventually emerge as having the largest tramway-to-population ratio in the world, gaining a global reputation for many decades as the "City of Trams". [1] [2] During this period, up until electrification, there was also an abundance of steam-powered trams which also gradually replaced the horse-drawn ones. [7]
In 1880 Fyodor Pirotsky created the first electric tram in Saint Petersburg [8] and Argentina opened its first electric tram in 1892 in the city of La Plata, south of Buenos Aires. [6] Buenos Aires would not receive its first electric trams until 1897 when the North American engineer Charles Bright and the Argentine engineer Juan Mallol opened their "Buenos Ayres Electric Tramway" and "Tramways La Capital" lines in the city. [9] These vehicles operated at 30 km/h, which was considered to be extremely fast for the time and led a journalist writing about an initial voyage to refer to the electric tram as "a furious vehicle that eats up the ground with its frightening speed". [10] By 1914, the last of the horse-drawn trams were retired and the - now much larger - network was completely electrified. [9]
The Belgian Compagnie Générale de Tramways de Buenos-Ayres took over the Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company in 1908 and standardised much of the network, though many Argentine companies such as the Lacroze Company remained. [6] In the early 1900s the network expanded rapidly as a result of electrification and by the mid-1920s the system has reached its maximum extension of 875 km with 3,000 vehicles carrying 650 million passengers a year on 99 lines serviced by 12,000 employees. [6] At the same time, some of the tramways began moving underground when the Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company opened the Buenos Aires Underground's Line A in 1913, becoming the first underground rail in Latin America, the southern hemisphere and the Spanish speaking world. [11] [12]
In 1922 the first Colectivos (buses) began to appear in the city and by 1928 were competing fiercely with the trams, with many operators going as far as running their colectivos in front of the trams to try and steal their passengers. [6] However, the trams did remain competitive, even going as far as offering a special "workers fare" in which people using trams from 5 until 7 in the morning could get a reduced fare at half the standard rate, something which was later abolished in 1949. [10]
The network saw somewhat of a resurgence following the nationalisation of the country's railways in 1948, which also saw the creation of Transportes de Buenos Aires (TBA) which incorporated the city's trams and buses, while Subterráneos de Buenos Aires (SBA) managed the underground. [6] Under this new administration, the network saw almost all the rails and overhead lines, as well as the rolling stock, almost completely replaced in the years from 1955 to 1961. At the same time, this period saw a significant increase in traffic, so much so that double-decker trams were re-incorporated into the network. [6]
However, this resurgence and rapid growth of the network was to be short-lived, since in 1961 - under pressure from private interests threatened by what they perceived to be a state monopoly on public transport - the Argentine Congress passed a law which would see the dismantling of the network, citing "obsolescence as a means of transport" and TBA's budgetary deficit as motives. [10] From 1961 to 1963 the system was gradually dismantled, despite what many saw as a golden age for the tramways. [6]
The final trams ceased operating in February 1963, just a few days after the 100-year anniversary of the first tram in Buenos Aires. [9] Most of the tram services saw direct replacements with the hundreds of buses purchased by the Government of Argentina from Leyland Motors. [13]
The Buenos Aires PreMetro is a 7.4 km-long tram line which opened in 1987 with the intention of it functioning as a feeder service for Line E of the Buenos Aires Underground. [14] It is currently operated by the private company Metrovías, who also operate the Underground and the Urquiza Line in the city. [15] It uses Argentine-built Materfer trams, though for a brief period it used re-bodied La Brugeoise cars from the Underground while the Materfer trams were being constructed. [16]
Originally there were supposed to be two PreMetro lines, however the second line (E1) was never built following the privatisation of the country's railways in the early 1990s. More recent plans to build the line (which, along with E2, would service some of the poorer parts of the city) were further thwarted after the construction of a MetroBus line to the south of the city. [17] However, plans are underway to refurbish the existing E2 line, including the construction of a new terminal and the restoration of the line's stops. [18]
Today, the Association of Friends of the Tramway (Spanish: Asociación Amigos del Tranvía) maintain and refurbish numerous trams inside the Polvorín workshop in the neighbourhood of Caballito. The Buenos Aires Historic Tramway is one of the most treasured gems of Buenos Aires' historical and cultural heritage. This beautiful vehicle, which has been meticulously restored and preserved, is a true moving work of art that allows visitors to travel back in time and relive the golden era of trams in the city.
Rides on this Historic Tramway of Caballito are free, and the tours are organized by the Association of Tramway Friends and Federico Lacroze Public Library. [19] which also serves as the workshop for Line A of the Buenos Aires Underground.
The group formed in 1980 and runs a heritage tramway in the neighborhood, which often features jazz bands playing on the trams. [20] The service is free and is open on Saturdays and Sundays and public holidays all year round from 4pm to 7.30pm. [21] The tramway has many trams dating back as far as the early 1900s which are used on its 2 km circuit.
As part of the AAT's ongoing restoration and acquisition of more trams to add to its museum, it also acquired some La Brugeoise cars, which up until 2013 served Line A of the Underground, with the intention of restoring them and converting them to be used as trams, which was their original use before the Underground. [22]
The Puerto Madero Tramway was a tram which ran in Puerto Madero from 2007 to 2012 on a 2 km-long stretch with 4 stations. The tramway closed after experiencing low passenger numbers, largely due to the linear nature of the line which only operated in a sparsely populated part of the area. [23] [24] Extensions had been planned to the Retiro railway station and to La Boca, which would have added an extra 7 km to the line, however the plans were ultimately abandoned. [25]
In Greater Buenos Aires the Tren de la Costa, which uses articulated CAF trams, was opened in 1995. It links to the General Mitre Railway in northern Buenos Aires and runs from Olivos to Tigre. [26]
Transport in Argentina is mainly based on a complex network of routes, crossed by relatively inexpensive long-distance buses and by cargo trucks. The country also has a number of national and international airports. The importance of the long-distance train is minor today, though in the past it was widely used and is now regaining momentum after the re-nationalisation of the country's commuter and freight networks. Fluvial transport is mostly used for cargo.
The Buenos Aires Underground, locally known as Subte, is a rapid transit system that serves the area of the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The first section of this network opened in 1913, making it the 13th earliest subway network in the world and the first underground railway in Latin America, the Southern Hemisphere, and the Spanish-speaking world, with the Madrid Metro opening nearly six years later, in 1919. As of 2023, Buenos Aires is the only Argentine city with a metro system.
Line A is the oldest line of the Buenos Aires Underground. Opened to the public on 1 December 1913, it was the first underground line in South America, the Southern Hemisphere and the Spanish-speaking world. It made Buenos Aires the 13th city in the world to have an underground transport service. The line stretches 9.8 km (6.1 mi) from Plaza de Mayo and San Pedrito and runs under the full length of the Avenida de Mayo and part of the Avenida Rivadavia, and is used by 258,000 people per day.
Line B of the Buenos Aires Underground runs 11.75 kilometres (7.30 mi) from Leandro N. Alem to Juan Manuel de Rosas in Villa Urquiza. Line B opened to the public on 17 October 1930.
Caballito is a barrio (neighborhood) of the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires. It is the only barrio in the administrative division Comuna 6.
Federico Lacroze railway station is a passenger railway station in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The station is located in the city's outlying barrio (neighbourhood) of Chacarita in a predominantly residential area. It is just a short distance north of the Cementerio de la Chacarita, the city's largest cemetery. The station is named after Federico Lacroze, a prominent 19th century Argentine railway and transport pioneer who obtained the concession for building the Buenos Aires Central Railway in 1884. When the Argentine railway network was nationalised in 1948 the station became the Buenos Aires terminus for the lines that became part of the General Urquiza Railway (FCGU).
The Tranvía del Este, also known as the Puerto Madero Tramway, was a 12-block "demonstration" light rail line in the Puerto Madero neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina, in operation from 2007 to 2012. It used French-built Alstom Citadis 302 trams on loan, initially from Mulhouse, France, and later from Madrid, Spain, and was jointly operated by Alstom, Metrovías, and Ferrovías.
Although tram systems date to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many old systems were closed during the mid-20th century because of the advent of automobile travel. This was especially the case in North America, but postwar reductions and shutdowns also occurred on British, French and other Western European urban rail networks. However, traditional tramway systems survived, and eventually even began to thrive from the late 20th century onward, some eventually operating as much as when they were first built over a century ago. Their numbers have been augmented by modern tramway or light rail systems in cities which had discarded this form of transport.
The Premetro is a 7.4-kilometer long (4.6 mi) light rail line that runs along the outskirts of Buenos Aires, connecting with the Buenos Aires Underground line E, at Plaza de los Virreyes station and then to General Savio, with a short branch to Centro Cívico. It opened in 1987 and is operated by Metrovías. Originally, the Premetro was to include many more lines, but shortly after the privatisation of the railways the projects were postponed and never materialised and only "Premetro E2" was built.
The Urquiza Line is a 26 km (16 mi) suburban electric commuter rail line in Buenos Aires, Argentina, operated by the former Buenos Aires Underground operator Metrovías. It runs from the Federico Lacroze terminus in the neighborhood of Chacarita, to General Lemos terminus in Campo de Mayo district of Greater Buenos Aires, completing a total journey time of 46 minutes. The line uses third rail current collection and, at present, is used by an average of 75,400 passengers daily. The line operates 20 hours a day, 7 days a week at 8 to 30 minute intervals. This suburban line runs on track once operated by General Urquiza Railway before railway privatisation.
The Argentine railway network consisted of a 47,000 km (29,204 mi) network at the end of the Second World War and was, in its time, one of the most extensive and prosperous in the world. However, with the increase in highway construction, there followed a sharp decline in railway profitability, leading to the break-up in 1993 of Ferrocarriles Argentinos (FA), the state railroad corporation. During the period following privatisation, private and provincial railway companies were created and resurrected some of the major passenger routes that FA once operated.
La Brugeoise cars were Buenos Aires Underground (Subte) Line A rolling stock since its inauguration in 1913 till 2013 when replaced by new Chinese stock. They were built by the Belgian railway rolling stock manufacturer La Brugeoise et Nivelles between 1911 and 1919 for the Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company's first underground line. They were originally designed to run both as metro and tramway cars, but they were refurbished in 1927 for underground use only. They became the oldest underground rolling stock in commercial service in the world as well as a tourist attraction and part of Buenos Aires cultural heritage.
Federico Lacroze is an underground station on Line B of the Buenos Aires Underground named after the Argentine railway entrepreneur, located at the intersection of Corrientes and Federico Lacroze avenues in the Chacarita neighbourhood and near the La Chacarita Cemetery. The station was opened on 17 October 1930 as the western terminus of the extension of the line from Federico Lacroze to Callao.
Emepa Group S.A. is an Argentine manufacturer of railway vehicles and owner of Ferrovías, with headquarters located in the city of Buenos Aires. It had formerly owned Ferrocentral, which ran services from Buenos Aires to Córdoba and San Miguel de Tucumán on the Mitre Network, however the state-owned company SOFSE took over these services in 2014 and the subsidiary now remains inactive.
The Polvorín Workshop is a rolling stock storage and maintenance workshop in Buenos Aires that primarily serves Line A of the Buenos Aires Underground. It also serves as the main storage and restoration area for the Association of Friends of the Tramway (AAT), who run a heritage tramway in the neighborhood of Caballito, near to where the workshop is located.
The Regional Express Network was a planned commuter network system in Buenos Aires, which consisted in an underground connection among the 3 mainline railway stations of the city: Retiro, Constitucion and Once, in the north, south and west respectively.
The UEC Preston is a tram/subway car built by the British manufacturer United Electric Car Company for the Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company (AATC) in 1912 for use on its then newly built underground tramway in Buenos Aires, which was later to become Line A of the Buenos Aires Underground. Only 4 trams were built and they served on the line up until their retirement in 1977.
The Rosario Tramway was a planned mass transit tramway network in Rosario, Argentina. Nevertheless, the project never surpassed the bidding process stages. The project was assessed by Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat Valenciana and was largely inspired by the network the company runs in Valencia, though at one point a metro system was envisioned. The municipal and provincial governments undertaken discussions with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China for financing the project, as well as Siemens to provide the rolling stock. Once the project was completed, it would be the first time trams have run in the city on a mass scale since the closure of the city's tramway network in 1963, which had reached a maximum extension of 192 km.
The Buenos Aires Underground has one of the most diverse metro fleets in the world, and has had some of the oldest models in operation on any network. The network began with a relatively standardised fleet, but throughout its over 100-year-long history, it has seen numerous purchases which have created cases where some lines operate numerous models. Recently there have been increased efforts to modernise and standardise the fleets, with large purchases from China CNR Corporation and Alstom.
The Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company, known simply as La Anglo in Argentina, was a large transportation company which operated the majority of the trams in the Buenos Aires network, which was also one of the largest in the world at the time having lines totalling 875 km (544 mi) in length. The company also created Buenos Aires' first underground tram line, which would go on to become Line A of the Buenos Aires Underground. The company also owned other tramways around the country.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link), Zerkalo Nedeli, 379 (in Russian). (web.archive.org copy from 2003-06-30.)
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