# Buenos Aires metro turned 100 years old



## Guajiro1 (Dec 23, 2012)

*Buenos Aires Subte (metro), the first in Latin America and the Southern Hemisphere, turned 100 years old today. The first line, Line A, opened on December 1st, 1913.

It's beginnings:*























































*The century old trains were on service until last March...*




























*...when they were replaced by these:*





































*The old formations are being restored to run on weekends as tourist attractions. Some of the already restored formations are on service today as commemoration. *


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## sapolio (Oct 15, 2013)

wtf

great news for the world..omg


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## tkr (Apr 3, 2005)

Cool! Congrats. 

The first subway line in Brazil opened only in 1974!


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## Guajiro1 (Dec 23, 2012)

sapolio said:


> wtf
> 
> great news for the world..omg


I never thought this was "world class news". I would have posted this in the "In the News" section. I just wanted to show this because not many metros are a century old. And as it is written, Skybar is "For those who have nothing better to do".


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## Rekarte (Mar 28, 2008)

I'm really surprise!
pls post more pics =)


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## Guajiro1 (Dec 23, 2012)

^^ Of what? The construction, the old metro, the new metro with old trains, or the completely new metro?


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## goschio (Dec 2, 2002)

Was so close to be developed country!


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## eklips (Mar 29, 2005)

If there's one thing Argentinians like to talk about it's Argentina. In this forum too


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## Jonesy55 (Jul 30, 2004)

Guajiro1 said:


> Buenos Aires Subte (metro), the first in Latin America and the Southern Hemisphere, turned 100 years old today. The first line, Line A, opened on December 1st, 1913.
> 
> It's beginnings:
> 
> ...


Why retire them after 99 years?

Surely the best thing to do would have been to run them until yesterday, with a big ceremony to hand over to the new units today. It would have been great publicity, history and modernity combined, that's what the tourists and news agencies want to see. Subte missed an opportunity there I think...


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## Mesch (Mar 26, 2008)

>


pretty!


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## BringMe (May 7, 2011)

Jonesy55 said:


> Why retire them after 99 years?
> 
> Surely the best thing to do would have been to run them until yesterday, with a big ceremony to hand over to the new units today. It would have been great publicity, history and modernity combined, that's what the tourists and news agencies want to see. Subte missed an opportunity there I think...


security reasons.


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## Guajiro1 (Dec 23, 2012)

Jonesy55 said:


> Why retire them after 99 years?
> 
> Surely the best thing to do would have been to run them until yesterday, with a big ceremony to hand over to the new units today. It would have been great publicity, history and modernity combined, that's what the tourists and news agencies want to see. Subte missed an opportunity there I think...


We all thought about that, except the city's government apparently... Anyway, the old units will be restored and some of them will run on weekends. The rest will be sent to museums or will become monuments.
I remember travelliing in them (obviously, they were in service until last year). Their inside is beautiful, but the wooden seats are a bit uncomfortable and you have to open the doors manually (they close automatically though).


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## Geborgenheit (Sep 9, 2005)

100 years, I haven't known it was that old. Congratulations.


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## Fotostatica (Nov 6, 2007)

Fancy men with top hats and beautiful inside on the subway, man, those were good days.


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## sweet-d (Jul 20, 2010)

Had no idea the Buines Aires Metro was that old.


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## MoreOrLess (Feb 17, 2005)

Just shows how advanced Argentina was before extremist(both far left and far right) nationalism ruined the country.


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## Jonesy55 (Jul 30, 2004)

Fotostatica said:


> Fancy men with top hats and beautiful inside on the subway, man, those were good days.


Yeah, then you died of TB at 27.


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## koolio (Jan 5, 2008)

MoreOrLess said:


> Just shows how advanced Argentina was before extremist(both far left and far right) nationalism ruined the country.


I don't know if Argentina as a whole was really on par with the US, UK, France etc. BA was nicely developed, as it still is today, but I don't think the rest of the country was tangibly prosperous.


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## jts1882 (Jul 15, 2012)

It was one of the top ten economies back then, iirc. But the economy was largely based on export of agricultural products. The need for railways to shift beef and other stuff to the ports was the reason for a British influx (and the introduction of football).

The pictures of the building of the subway look similar to some in London when they built open cut lines like the Metropolitan Railway.


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## Guajiro1 (Dec 23, 2012)

MoreOrLess said:


> Just shows how advanced Argentina was before extremist(both far left and far right) nationalism ruined the country.


And when did the left rule Argentina? The closest thing to a leftish president we had was Arturo Illia who was deposed by a coup in 1966, and he was the best president this country has ever had...


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