Metropolitano


Metropolitano S.A. was a privately owned consortium formed in 1994 to take over concessions granted by the Argentine government as part of railway privatisation during the presidency of Carlos Menem for the operation of commuter rail services in the Buenos Aires Province Metropolitano operated the San Martín, Roca and Belgrano Sur lines.

History

on San Martín, Roca and Belgrano Sur lines had previously been run by state-owned company Ferrocarriles Argentinos since nationalisation of the railways in 1948 and then by FEMESA.
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 named "Transportes Metropolitanos":
SubsidiaryLine operatedOperation date
TMSSan Martín1/4/1994 - 7/1/2005
TMRRoca1/1/1995 - 22/5/2007
TMBBelgrano Sur1/5/1994 - 22/5/2007

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 fined the company several times.
Finally, in 2004 the concession for the operation of Línea San Martín was revoked in 2004 through National Decree N° 798.
A violent protest of users in Constitución station on May 15, 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After the concession was revoked, the three railway lines were taken over by the consortium UGOFE, formed by private companies Ferrovías, Metrovías and Trenes de Buenos Aires.