The Tranvía del Este, also known as the Puerto Madero Tramway, was a 12-block "demonstration"

light rail Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...

line in the

Puerto Madero Puerto Madero, also known within the urban planning community as the Puerto Madero Waterfront, is a Barrios and Communes of Buenos Aires, ''barrio'' of Buenos Aires in the Buenos Aires Central Business District, Central Business District. Occup ...

neighborhood of

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

, Argentina, in operation from 2007 to 2012. It used French-built

Alstom Citadis The Alstom Citadis is a family of low-floor trams and light rail vehicles built by Alstom. , over 2,300 Citadis trams have been sold and 1,800 tramways are in revenue service throughout the world, with operations in all six inhabited continents ...

302 trams on loan, initially from

Mulhouse Mulhouse (; ; Alsatian language, Alsatian: ''Mìlhüsa'' ; , meaning "Mill (grinding), mill house") is a France, French city of the European Collectivity of Alsace (Haut-Rhin department, in the Grand Est region of France). It is near the Fran ...

, France, and later from

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, Spain, and was jointly operated by

Alstom Alstom SA () is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer which operates worldwide in rail transport markets. It is active in the fields of passenger transportation, signaling, and locomotives, producing high-speed, suburban, regional ...

Metrovías Metrovías S.A. is an Argentine privately held company that operates the Metropolitan services of the Urquiza Line. 90% of Metrovías' shares are held by Grupo Roggio. Metrovías was also operator of the Buenos Aires Underground from 1995 to Dec ...

, and Ferrovías. After its initial demonstration status, numerous plans were put forward to extend the line and increase ridership, while incorporating it into the

Buenos Aires Underground 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 (Plaza de Mayo–Plaza Miserere) opened in 1913, making it the L ...

; however, none came to fruition. In March 2012, the Congress of Argentina promulgated a law which transferred Tranvía del Este to the city of Buenos Aires. Nevertheless, the city government refused to take over the service, leaving it inactive.Ahora SBASE busca extender el Tranvía del Este
1 Jul 2013 In 2017, the stations were demolished in order to build the Paseo del Bajo.

History

Background

Tranvía del Este ran on former Buenos Aires and Ensenada Port Railway tracks, that extended from the

Central Station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

to Venezuela station, from there trains ran on a

viaduct A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide ...

over Paseo de Julio Avenue to

Casa Amarilla Casa Amarilla (in English: "Yellow House") was a railway station in the district of La Boca, Buenos Aires, built and operated by the Buenos Aires and Ensenada Port Railway. Its name was inspired on Irish Admiral William Brown's house, built in ...

La Boca La Boca (; "the Mouth", probably of the Matanza River) is a neighborhood (''Barrios of Buenos Aires, barrio'') of Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina. Its location near the Port of Buenos Aires meant the neighbourhood became a melting pot of ...

, then continuing to

Quilmes Quilmes () is a city on the coast of the Rio de la Plata, in the , on the southeast end of the Greater Buenos Aires, being some away from the urban centre area of Buenos Aires. The city was founded in 1666 and is the seat of the eponymous '' ...

and Ensenada in

Buenos Aires Province Buenos Aires, officially the Buenos Aires Province, is the largest and most populous Provinces of Argentina, Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of the province an ...

. After the Central Station was destroyed by fire (and demolished), Venezuela was set as terminus. In May 2005, it was launched a project named "Tren del Este", which would be served by

diesel railcar A railcar (not to be confused with the generic term railroad car or railway car) is a self-propelled railway vehicle designed to transport passengers. The term "railcar" is usually used in reference to a train consisting of a single coa ...

s (similar to Premetro rolling stock) and operated by then-

Belgrano Norte Line The Belgrano Norte line is a commuter rail service in Buenos Aires, Argentina run by the private company Ferrovías since 1 April 1994. This service had previously been run by the state-owned General Belgrano Railway since nationalisation of ...

concessionary Ferrovías. Trains would depart from Aristóbulo del Valle station in Vicente López to Retiro, then running on the FCBA&E tracks to

Avellaneda Avellaneda (, ) is a port city in the provinces of Argentina, province of Buenos Aires Province, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the seat of the Avellaneda Partido, whose population was 342,677 as per the . Avellaneda is located within the Greater B ...

. Works planned included the construction of a third track to join del Valle and Retiro stations, and several intermediat stops such as "Aeroparque", located at the central hall of

Aeroparque Jorge Newbery Jorge Newbery Airfield , commonly known as Aeroparque, is an international airport northwest of Buenos Aires Central Business District, downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. The airport covers an area of and is operated by ''Aeropuertos Argentina ...

. A total of 24 new stations would be built in an extension of 24 km. Rolling stock would be provided by Portuguese company Caminhos de Ferro Portugueses and included a total of 34 vehicles running on a

track gauge In rail transport, track gauge is the distance between the two rails of a railway track. All vehicles on a rail network must have Wheelset (rail transport), wheelsets that are compatible with the track gauge. Since many different track gauges ...

of at a maximum speed of 90 km/h. Nevertheless, that project was never carried out."El Tren del Este: un proyecto que no fue" on Crónica Ferroviaria, 26 Dec 2012

Operation

With construction of the first section completed, the line was inaugurated on July 14, 2007. Initially, the service was provided by two

302 model vehicles, manufactured by the French company

, built for the

Mulhouse tramway The Mulhouse tramway (; ) is a tram network in the France, French city of Mulhouse in Alsace, France. It commenced service in 2006, and now comprises three purely tram lines, plus one hybrid tram-train line. Tram services The three pure tram ...

, in France, and temporarily loaned to Buenos Aires. Carrying Mulhouse numbers 04 and 05, the vehicles were double-ended, bi-directional, low-floor, four-section units, each section having 48 fixed seats, another 16 folding seats and standing room for a total of 300 passengers for the whole car. The vehicles, locally known by the name Celeris, ran on an exclusive right-of-way for parallel to Avenida Alicia Moreau de Justo, from Avenida Córdoba to Avenida Independencia. After Mulhouse requested the return of the two trams it loaned, those cars left Buenos Aires in 2008. Replacing them on the Tranvía del Este was another tram of the same type, but loaned from

, Spain, where it was number 153 (a number it also used in Buenos Aires) in the fleet of the Metro Ligero de Madrid

system.'' Tramways & Urban Transit'', January 2009, p. 27. UK: LRTA Publishing. The Mulhouse and Madrid trams both wore the paint schemes of their home systems while in Buenos Aires. Trams ran from Monday through Saturday from 8:00 until 23:20, and on Sundays and holidays from 9:00 until 22:00, every 15 minutes. For tickets there were two Ticket Vending Machines (TVMs) installed at each station and guards with portable vending machines were also available. Tickets cost ARS 1.00 (around US$0.26). Extensions were planned, of 2 km to

Retiro railway station Retiro is a railway station complex in Buenos Aires, Argentina, that includes three main terminal train stations ( Retiro-Mitre, Retiro-Belgrano and Retiro-San Martín) and two terminal subway stations ( Retiro of Line C and Retiro of Line E ...

and the Intercity Bus Terminal and of 5.2 km from the then-existing terminus at Independencia to Caminito in

. However, the extension plans did not proceed.

Closure

By 2012, the scheduled

headway Headway is the distance or duration between vehicles in a transit system. The ''minimum headway'' is the shortest such distance or time achievable by a system without a reduction in the speed of vehicles. The precise definition varies depending on ...

was 40 minutes, using one car, and

ridership In public transportation Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There i ...

on the line declined to a very low level. In October 2012, the line's only tramcar broke down, and service consequently had to be suspended indefinitely. It was decided to close the line, and 10 October 2012 was the last day of service.'' Tramways & Urban Transit'', January 2013, p. 29. UK: LRTA Publishing. In January 2013, the

Government of Argentina The government of Argentina, within the framework of a federal system, is a presidential system, presidential Representative democracy, representative democratic republic. The president of Argentina is both head of state and head of government. ...

transferred the

lines to the Government of Buenos Aires autonomous city, including the Tranvía del Este among its services. In May 2013, the defective car still remained, abandoned, at Independencia station. After the transfer, the extension and expansion of the line was considered but it was not carried out. The proposal made by State-owned company "Subterráneos de Buenos Aires" (SBASE) consisted of a series of improvements to the service that included the extension of the line to Retiro complex (connecting it with the three railway terminals and the homonymous Underground stations). The project also included the construction of a second track and the purchase of eight trains (at a cost of US$2 million). Nevertheless, in July 2016, the Chief of Government of Buenos Aires, Horacio Rodriguez Larreta, announced that the disused Tranvía del Este components would be transferred to the Premetro, including its rolling stock (one tram), overhead lines and traffic signals. The reason given for dismantling of the line (along with freight tracks in its vicinity) was that its existence conflicted with a regeneration program over the line's entire trajectory, which would turn the right-of-way into parks as well as a partly-underground motorway for buses and heavy goods vehicles travelling between the north and south of the city.

Aftermath

In July 2017, the stations began to be demolishedEl tranvía de Puerto Madero, una postal de la desidia que se empezó a demoler
by Diego Gabot, ''La Nación'', 26 July 2017 to build the " Paseo del Bajo", a 7-km length dual carriageway that connects the Presidente Illia and Buenos Aires–La Plata highways. Only heavy vehicles were allowed to run on Paseo del Bajo,Paseo del Bajo
at GCBA website which was inaugurated in 2019.Así es el nuevo Paseo del Bajo que inauguró Macri junto a Vidal y Larreta
on Perfil, 27 May 2019

Gallery

File:Tranvía del Este (Buenos Aires, septiembre 2008).jpg,

tram File:Fin de vía Tranvía del Este.JPG, Córdoba terminus File:Buenos Aires Celeris Tramway 1.jpg, Mulhouse tram in Córdoba station File:Anden de la estación Corrientes - Tranvía del Este.JPG, Corrientes station File:PuertoMadero119.JPG, Puerto Madero station

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tranvia del Este Light rail in Argentina Tram transport in Argentina Public transport in Argentina Railway lines opened in 2007 Railway lines closed in 2012 b Buenos Aires Underground Railway lines in Argentina Rail transport in Buenos Aires