Constitución railway station

- 34.6277778 - 58.3813056Koordinaten: 34 ° 37 ' 40 "S, 58 ° 22' 53 " W

The Plaza Constitución railway station, usually just called Constitución, is a suburban and long-distance rail station in Constitucion district of the Argentine capital Buenos Aires. It is located at the intersection of Calle Lima and Avenida Brasil and the eponymous square, Plaza Constitucion. The station opened in 1865, is one of five terminus stations in Buenos Aires and at the same starting point of extensive rail network of Ferrocarril General Roca with routes in the provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Neuquén and Río Negro.

Today, the public-private railway company UGOFE operates the majority of the transport services from Constitución railway station. A few long distance calls within the province of Buenos Aires incumbent on the state railway company Ferrobaires. Ride per day about 600 trains from the station out of the station is used daily by about 400,000 passengers. Below the station, the subway station Constitución is the Subte line C.

History

The beginnings

Before the Constitución railway station was built in its current location, was built after 1821, a large farmer's market ( Mercado de frutos ), which was formative for the southern part of today's capital of Buenos Aires and economically beneficial. 1856 the market to commemorate the three years previously announced Argentine Constitution " Constitución " was named and located around the market settlement took the name.

1861 requested the entrepreneur Eduardo Lumb the construction of a railway line from the farmer's market until about a hundred kilometers away Chascomús. After Lumb received approval for the initial work for the Gran Ferrocarril al Sud de Buenos Aires began on March 7, 1864 By 1865 a small station was built with two tracks next to the market. ; The first trains, initially only to Jeppener, drove on 14 August 1865. In December of the same year Chascomús connection received on the capital.

First new

To the station a growing neighborhood that grew mainly due to the influx of European immigrants evolved over the years. 1885, the then Intendente Torcuato de Alvear demolish the market and build today's Plaza Constitución in his place. At the same time went through the purchase of smaller railway companies or by the construction of new routes, other compounds in the Argentine south into operation, among other things, to the Atlantic coast to Bahia Blanca ( Línea Azul ). For this reason, the station was demolished in 1898 and replaced by a Victorian construction of the London architect Strong & Parr, the architecturally inspired by the Chàteau of Maisons- Laffitte. However, this station was not enough. With the opening of the connection to the seaside resort of Mar del Plata, passenger numbers rose further, so that from 1906 to 1907 and 1912 the station was extended by additional platforms at the east end.

Second new

In 1922 the plan to demolish and re-build the station entirely. The foundation stone for the new building existed until today presented on September 19, 1925 Edward VIII, the then Prince of Wales, during his state visit to Argentina. The result was a station with a total of fourteen tracks and a large porch similar to New York's Grand Central Terminal, headed by the English architect Paul Bellchambers and the US-American Louis Thomas Newberry.

With the nationalization of all railways in 1943, henceforth known by Ferrocarriles Argentinos, also reached the station building to the state. Under the government of Perón's Argentina all (partial) railway networks were also named after well-known and famous Argentines. The Gran Ferrocarril al Sud de Buenos Aires, mostly Ferrocarril del Sud was named after the two-time Argentine President Julio Argentino Roca and is still under the name of Ferrocarril General Roca known.

Development to date

After the beginning of the nineties of the 20th century gradually the state Ferrocarriles Argentinos were smashed and privatized, took over on May 1, 1994, the private railway company Metropolitano the operation of suburban trains on the Ferrocarril General Roca. The majority of long-distance connections of Ferrocarriles Argentinos was deleted without replacement, only a few connections within the Province of Buenos Aires took over the state as well, but existing under the leadership of the province of Buenos Aires railway company Ferrobaires.

Over the years, the Argentine government invested only limited in the Argentine railway network, so that gradually more and more damage could be seen on the station building. With the privatization of the railways and the entertainment of the station went to the Metropolitano, which with the help of the city government of Buenos Aires planned the renovation in 1999. This became the subsidiary of Metropolitano, Desarrollo de Comercios SA. Though the work should be actually completed in November 2000, this was slow and was ultimately not completed, as the company was in financial difficulties and had dismissed most of the employees. Only after negotiations with the city government and several months standstill on the site, the redevelopment of the railway station October 1st 2005 could be completed. These included, among other things, a complete modernization of the station ( installation of elevators and escalators ), a renovation of the historic facade and the station concourse and new premises for shops and restaurants. The costs totaled 20 million Argentine pesos ( at the time approximately 5.7 million euros ).

On 15 May 2007 there was a riot at the station, after numerous passengers repeated their protest against the opinion of their proclaimed it after bad service of the railway company Metropolitano. It created severe damage to the station building itself, several cars of suburban trains were set on fire. Overall, the police counted 21 wounded and took 16 people into custody. The Argentine government took the event as an opportunity because of repeated bad service of the railway company Metropolitano to withdraw the concession for the suburban railway networks Roca and Belgrano Sur May 22, 2007. July 7, 2007 then took over the public-private UGOFE, the operation since 2004, the distance between the Retiro train station and Pilar ( Línea San Martín ), operating on the two subnets.

Currently, there are plans the route to La Plata to electrify ( both via Quilmes and via Temperley ). Included would also be an increase in all platforms of the lines, thus would also bring structural changes to the Constitución Station with it.