Metropolitano

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For the Argentine football tournament held from 1967-1984, see Metropolitano championship

A GM GR-12W A626 locomotive prepares to leave at the head of an Express service from La Plata to Constitution Square.

Metropolitano S.A. was a privately owned consortium formed in 1994 to take over concessions granted by the Argentine government, through the state-owned company FEMESA as part of railway privatisation during the presidency of Carlos Menem for the operation of commuter rail services in Buenos Aires. These services had previously been run by state-owned companies since nationalisation of the railways in 1948. In spite of the large government subsidies received by the company a serious decline in the standard of their rail services has led to these concessions being revoked and services are now operated by the consortium UGOFE.

The services run by Metropolitano started from termini in or near the city centre and were operated out into Greater Buenos Aires by the following subsidiary companies:

Transportes Metropolitanos General San Martin S.A. operated the Línea San Martín between 1 April 1994 and 7 January 2005.

Transportes Metropolitanos General Roca S.A. operated the Línea Roca between 1 January 1995 and 22 May 2007.

Transportes Metropolitanos Belgrano Sur S.A. operated the Línea Belgrano Sur between 1 May 1994 and 22 May 2007.

In spite of these companies receiving large government subsidies their services deteriorated to a point where the concession for the operation of Línea San Martín was revoked in 2004 and concessions for the operation of the other two lines were revoked in 2007. All three lines are currently operated by the consortium UGOFE.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• (Spanish) Pasajeros del Roca, a blog discussing on-going issues of the Roca Line.