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Linea A Loses Its Lustre

Century-Old Buenos Aires Subté Carriages Being Replaced

Disappointing news from Buenos Aires: having reached their hundredth year of service, all the original carriages on Linea A of the Subté (Line A of the Buenos Aires Underground) are to be replaced. Linea A was the first urban underground railway in South America, built by the Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company in 1913. The cars were built between 1911 and 1919 by the Belgian company La Brugeoise et Nicaise et Delcuve and were designed to be used as both tram and underground cars: low entrances at the ends permitted street-level access while middle doors were at platform level for the Subté. In 1927, the carriages were altered for underground-only use.

From 1921 onwards, the rolling stock underwent seven different refurbishments, but all with the original chassis and mechanics, and keeping the traditional 1910s interior. La Brugeoise having since been subsumed into Bombardier, original parts are no longer available for purchase, so they are custom-made at the Polvorín workshop of the Subté operating company. Of the entire Buenos Aires Underground network, these cars have the lowest rate of mechanical failure.

The La Brugeoise carriages are being gradually replaced over the next two months, and Line A will run with entirely new rolling stock from March of this year.

Published at 8:20 pm on Sunday 20 January 2013. Categories: Argentina Tags: , .
Comments

The Left hates anything venerable, particularly if it works.

— L Gaylord Clark 20 Jan 2013 9:21 pm

I’m always impressed by the capacity to politicize the non-political, especially in comments sections. That this could have anything to do with “The Left” is preposterous.

— E.B. 27 Feb 2013 7:00 pm

I am from Buenos Aires and it is such a shame that this happens. I was a usual user of the service and it worked pretty well. The governon who is doing this, i have to clarify it, is actually from the most conservative wing in politics. Now, he is tranforming the Av. 9 de Julio with a mew public transport and he is destroying all the folliage of the avenue, it is sad…

— mile 28 Feb 2013 1:43 am

You are referring to Daniel Scioli?
If so I cannot see how a member of the left wing of a fundamentally Leftist party (Peron was no Rightist, and his party even less so) can be described as “conservative”.
EB is typical of those who see Left and Right as purely party political terms. The willful destruction of the old, particularly when it is still functioning perfectly well, is the surest sign of the leftist mentality.

— L Gaylord Clark 4 Mar 2013 5:26 pm

‘mile’ is probably referring to Mauricio Macri, the mayor of Buenos Aires, as the city is actually independent of the Provincia de Buenos Aires. Macri is the leader of PRO (Propuesta Republicana), a right-wing party which is by far the largest in the city council — 25 seats out of 60. The next largest is the Frente para la Victoria, the Kirchnerist/leftist wing of the (Peronist) Partido Justicialista with 8, then the leftist Proyecto Sur with 6, and so on.

But there are many right-wing Peronists. ‘Peronism’ is quite different from Peron, who was no conservative. The left-wing faction of Peronism is currently in the ascendant in the Partido Justicialista, but there are other factions that undoubtedly can accurately be described as conservative or right-wing.

Like Gaullism or Fianna Fáil, Peronism is more of a tradition or a tendency than a particular set of political ideas.

— Andrew Cusack 4 Mar 2013 6:23 pm

I am happy to accept correction from an expert.

— L Gaylord Clark 5 Mar 2013 12:25 pm
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