Metropolitano S.A. was a privately owned consortium formed in 1994 to take over concessions granted by the

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

government as part of railway privatisation during the presidency of

Carlos Menem Carlos Saúl Menem (2 July 1930 – 14 February 2021) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. Ideologically, he identified as a Peronist and supported economically liberal policies. H ...

for the operation of commuter rail services in the

Buenos Aires Province Buenos Aires (), officially the Buenos Aires Province (''Provincia de Buenos Aires'' ), is the largest and most populous Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of th ...

. Metropolitano operated the

San Martín San Martín or San Martin may refer to: People Saints * Saint Martin (disambiguation)#People, name of various saints in Spanish Political leaders *Vicente San Martin (1839 -1901), Military, National hero of Mexico. *Basilio San Martin (1849 ...

, Roca and Belgrano Sur lines until 2007.

History

Passenger services In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often kno ...

on San Martín, Roca and Belgrano Sur lines had previously been run by

state-owned company A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a Government, government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn Profit (econom ...

Ferrocarriles Argentinos since

nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

of the railways in 1948 and then by FEMESA (a provisional company that operated metropolitan train services until the process of privatisation was carried out). The services run by Metropolitano started from termini in or near the city centre and were operated out into

Greater Buenos Aires Greater Buenos Aires ( es, Gran Buenos Aires, GBA), also known as the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area ( es, Área Metropolitana de Buenos Aires, AMBA), refers to the urban agglomeration comprising the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and the adjac ...

by the following subsidiary companies named "Transportes Metropolitanos": In spite of these companies receiving large government subsidies, their services deteriorated to a point where Metropolitano was repeatedly reported by the users, causing the Government of Argentina to fine the company several times. Finally, in 2004 the concession for the operation of Línea San Martín was revoked through National Decree N° 798. A violent protest of users in

Constitución station Constitución is Spanish for "constitution" and may refer to: Geography Argentina *Constitución, Buenos Aires, a neighborhood in central Buenos Aires, where the Estación Constitución railway station is located *Constitución Department, Santa F ...

on 15 May 2007 led to the revocation of the contract of concession that same year through Decrees 591 and 592. After the concession was revoked, the three railway lines were taken over by the consortium UGOFE, formed by private companies Ferrovías, Metrovías and Trenes de Buenos Aires."La UGOFE se hará cargo de los servicios de las dos líneas ferroviarias"
''La Prensa''

References

External links

Official site
(Archive)
Pasajeros del Roca
a blog discussing on-going issues of the Roca Line {{Railway Companies in Argentina Defunct railway companies of Argentina Railway companies established in 1994 Railway companies disestablished in 2007 Rail transport in Buenos Aires Province