The Most Storied Metro System? | Buenos Aires Subte Explained 

Check out another amazing South American metro system, the Sao Paulo Metro, here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-HJf0Nd4WejM.html

I think I did not hear you mention it -- "subte" is just short for "subterráneo", which simply means "under ground".

Buenos Aires is a beautiful city. Saludos desde Buenos Aires.

IT'S FINALLY HEREEEE!! I don't know what else can I say after watching this video evolve from concept to reality. I'm glad I was able to help you out with this one. Hopefully we can collaborate in another future project!

I remember a 90's argentine film called Moebius, about a missing train in the subte system. One topologist hypothesized that the system has grown so complex, it was actually non-Euclidian. Loved the video, thank you!

Oh yes, I've waiting for this one for long! Born there, commuted on line C daily and I have to say it's quite a traumatic experience at rush hour. Systemically over-capacity and unreliable, the Subte has been a long time victim of political wars between the national and city governments, often from opposite sides of the political spectrum. The mural art on the Subte is quite remarkable, perhaps worth of a video on its own along such examples around the world. Great work RMTransit!!!

Thank you for showing Buenos Aires's beautiful Subte system. I was in BA recently for an exchange trip, and I truly agree that this system is beautiful.

One funny detail about the linea E (my favorite one), it was planned on the late 70's to continue forward west near the general paz, (the highway that separates the capital city from the province, which would've massively increased usage and saved lots of commune time for tens of millions of people). The plans were also approved by the government. The only issue? They had, simultaneously, also approved the construction of the 25 de mayo highway connecting the same route on the surface. But neither project knew about the extension or height of the other one, until it was already too late and they realized that the sewer pipes from the highway would be running at exactly the same height as where the subway track would. With a little less incompetence from the dictatorial government, this could've been easily avoided. That is why they had to cancel the construction of the next station (the digging was almost 50% done at this point) and stop at Plaza de los virreyes (where it ends currently), and it will never be able to continue because the sewage system plan prevailed as it was more visible since it was on the surface, and so it would make a better image of this de facto government. That is why, to continue the original plan they had to do the premetro line, a poor attempt in uniting the poor south side of the city using a god forgotten tramway that would absolutely never receive any funds. Fun premetro tip: Do not absolutely, never, under any circumstance take it. You've been warned.

The C line gets Tokyo levels of ridership at rush hour, the only thing missing is the company guys pushing people in; sadly this job is left to amateur volunteers (aka other riders). I agree the suburban railway would make an interesting video, specially the Roca line between Haedo and Temperley, a token line left almost exclusively for people in emergency settlements in Southwest GBA to be able to go to work.

Fun fact: the Marunouchi Line rolling stock still have some signs in Japanese.

Algunas notas: - Los trenes Le Brugeoise siguen en servicio para tareas de movimiento de otras unidades (no llevan pasajeros, pero sirven a la empresa para llevar cosas del taller de superficie al túnel de la estación primera junta) - Los fines de semana circulan por un lazo cerrado los viejos tranvías de la ciudad restaurados por la asociación "amigos del tranvía" saliendo del taller de caballito y dando una vuelta pasando por Rivadavia antes de volver - Exceptuando la linea H, las demás lineas se conectan entre si por medio de vías de servicio - Debajo del túnel de la linea A, hay un viejo túnel con espacio para un tren de cargas mas pequeño

The original lines retired in 2013 where really a time trip, I loved riding them, but they shaked like they where about to collapse, the problem was that ther where all wood, so very hard to fix without non historical parts. Its sad that they are not there anymore, i feel very privileged for having rode them.

Loved the video. We argentines tend to complain a lot about our country, as if nothing was right about it. But we need to have a bit of pride and recognize that it's not all that bad. Yes, subte could use A LOT of improvement, but it is nonetheless quite a good metro system

Buenos Aires Subte is great. For an old subway that has small connective tunnels and so many changes over the years it is quiet easy to navigate. The old parts of the city it is well connected and most of the touristic parts of the city are very accessible via subway (not counting Caminito and San Telmo). Some of the stations have great art murals painted on the subway tiles. However as in Paris and London it is so annoying to see the trains coming from the “wrong direction” due to the British heritage of the original lines.

Being from Córdoba, the second largest city in Argentina, the Subte is one of the things we envy the most. The amount of time and money the Subte means is crazy. In my city there are only buses, taxis and Cabify. Traffic jams are insane every day. But the government won't invest and take the risk. But Subte should be present in every major city. And Córdoba being so spread in area, needs it even more.

Here's some context for some of the names mentioned here: General San Martín is José de San Martín, who's an Argentine regarded as the Liberator of Argentina, Chile and Peru as he was the main leader of the southern and central parts of South America's successful struggle for independence from the Spanish. Belgrano refers to Manuel Belgrano, who not only participated in the struggle for independence as well, but also designed what became the flag of Argentina. Plaza de Mayo was named in honor of the 1810 May Revolution, which sparked the war for independence when the Primera Junta seized the government, ousted the Spanish Viceroy, and launched a series of military expeditions. A tip for the future: In the Rio de la Plata region (as in not just Argentina but also Uruguay), they pronounce "ll" as "zh" instead of as a y. So Caballito at 4:38 is pronounced "Cabazhito". This pronunciation of ll and y as sh is actually a linguistic phenomenon called yeismo rehilado, which is also common in Uruguay. Why is this a thing in the region? Because of Galician, French, Portuguese, and most importantly, Italian immigration. Loan words like champagne and chef from French for example. And Puerto is pware-to. This isn't just a Rio de la Plata thing, but an all-Spanish thing. Saying Puerto as "porto" is Anglicized

One thing you misses abuot Retiro is that apart of the tree train stations it has a long distance bus station directly to the north of it. And long distance buses are the most used form of long distance public transportation in Argentina.

I was 100% NOT expecting this collab. Aguante Mati en la ciudad y RMTransit!

As a Chilean I wondered if the lack of expansion in Buenos Aires subte is due to the broad and larger bus system and suburban rail that crosses the city. In Santiago the former bus system had so many lines and coverage that many people never used the subway, but when the system was replaced with Transantiago, metro increased its passengers and the oversaturated network needed to be expanded.

As an Argentinian, I can strongly affirm that we need a new metro line that "circles" and connects green, red, light blue and purple lines on the western side of the city. If you see Buenos Aires map, you will find areas like Villa Del Parque that are completely unconnected to the metro system (but they do have trains). Without a line that connects the western side of the city from north to south, people who live on the western side need to take a metro line to go to the eastern/center side of the city and then take another line to go north or south, or simply travel by bus.

Great Video. Although Buenos Aires does have a limited metrobus network, it does have one of the most extensive bus network in the world. You can pic virtually any corner and there is a bus combination that will get you there.

I was just in Madrid, it reminds me so much of that system. BA is one city I really want to visit, hopefully someday

I love Argentina, I love Buenos Aires and SUBTE is possibly my favorite metro system I've ever used.

_Happy Mati en la Ciudad noises_

I'm Argentinian, I've lived my whole life in Buenos Aires, and an interesting fact is that you can ride the original 1913 wooden cars (La Burgeoise) on special events like the night of the museums. Also, until a few years ago the "Subte" sign was not yellow throughout the network. It used to have the background colour of the line the station belonged to, and also yellow can be confusing since it's the H line colour

Oh boy, my favourite topic, subte de Buenos Aires!! We can resume the lack of expasion to politicians, as always (corruption, favors to buses/truck owners), and bad economic (due to politicians). Of course, politicians wants low cost and highly visible infraestructure, so metrobus was born. Subways are boring and no one sees the tunels being...bored(?)!. BTW, in Skyscrappercity we have fun imagining proposed lines onto an actual map or proposing new lines. Fun fact, Highlander 2 was filmed in Argentina, and part of it was filmed in the E line, they even used a preliminary subway car made by Materfer. We also have a failed attemp to put the Sarmiento line into a tunnel (soterramiento del Sarmiento, even it rhymes), the project is surrounded by a lot of corruption, but president Mauricio, the cat, Macri, promised the tunnel and it started being built with. Now we have a tunnel half built, but due to a lack of budget (FMI to the rescue!) it got suspended. RER is awesome, maybe can be simplified I wish we can build it. And the lack of high speed train...don't get me started!. Your pronunciation of the spanis words is very good!!

Tangentially related, but in the movie "Moebius" (Argentina, 1996), the subte plays a stellar role.

Excellent... The original trains from line A you can actually ride on weekends in a small tourist service from Caballito. You forgot the connection from line A to Sarmiento trains, they even have some Sarmiento services sharing underground platform with the Subte.

Mati en la Ciudad Joined to the chat

Great video! Dropping in to add some info on the B line (ironically among the lines I used the least 😅): - Of the east-west lines, it was the only one built from west to east (all the rest were built from downtown outwards) - It was built by Federico Lacroze, then owner of the now Urquiza line, who had planned on through trains from downtown (Leandro N. Alem station, by the then central mail building) to the suburbs (it's the only subte line built with railway standards -- spacing, track hardness, etc. -- instead of light railway as the rest of the lines) - He never quite got to run those trains due to (extremely valid!) union issues: Train conductors wanted the benefits of both Railway conductors (best retirement plan in Argentina and among the best salaries at the time) and Subway conductors ("unsanitary work"[1] -- 6 hour shifts instead of 8 hour shifts at the same daily pay). His response was to cancel the through-running services - This also came with a completely different electrical system that is rather unique for subway systems (3rd rail instead of overhead lines[2]). - The CAF trains had lots and lots of issues: For some inexplicable reason, SBASE/Metrovías decided to install the extremely proprietary and never-before installed overhead line system from CAF[3] instead of adapting the engines to 3rd rail, or even to the catenary system used in the entire rest of the system, which required increased maintenance windows (line was closing ~2 hours early and even shutting down some weekends during this work). - To make matters worse, the trains that came with AC didn't quite fit with the AC units installed in parts of the tunnel (ironically the tighest fit was in one of the newer parts: the connection between the old Federico Lacroze garages and the extension to Tronador/Villa Ortúzar), so they had to lower the tracks relative to the tunnel roof (Didn't know that cargo trains used to serve the Abasto! 🤯) As for the connection of Once to Puerto Madero, there was a tunnel meant for cargo that even had a underutilized passenger express train at one point (twice daily) to Moreno and Luján. The tunnel has been cut off by the "Paseo del Bajo" project (a trench/tunnel where all trucks that used to circulate in Eduardo Madero/Ing. Huergo are now forced into), and I doubt they can reestablish that connection (it's a small miracle already that the Paseo del Bajo didn't shut down the tracks connecting Retiro with the Roca railway...). [1]: This right was taken from the workers sometime in the 90's IIRC, and it has been their main fight ever since [2]: I don't have my mental timeline right, but I have seen very old photos of the Urquiza line with overhead lines [3]: My understanding is that the "standard" overhead lines in Argentina are suspended copper bars, while the CAF system is as near as makes no difference completely rigid

Two things worth mentioning. While the H line was inaugurated in 2007 (twice, because at the original inauguration, it turned out that the line didn't work, so they had to re-inaugurate it months later after they fixed the problems), it originally only ran for four stations, connecting lines D, B, and A, with one intermediate stop, and ran that way for years before eventually adding in more stops in both directions, one at a time gradually increasing its coverage. The last to open opened just a couple of years ago and there are still more to come. Second, and one of the things that I've always found fascinating, and which may be just a local apocryphal story... You might note watching the videos, that the trains run "on the left", so to speak. Supposedly, it's because the original suburban, and subte line A, were installed by British companies. While our traffic in Buenos Aires runs "on the right", the American model, all of our trains run on the opposite side. According to the story, by the time anyone noticed that the Brits were installing the trains on "the wrong side", it was too late to do anything about it. Whether or not the story is true, who knows? But it does make for good local lore when showing visitors around.

Just booked a flight to Buenos Aires and this is one of the first videos I've watched since

Sarmiento railway used to connect once with retiro through the 1912 tunnel. My mom used to take it 20 years ago. Now it's closed.

Great video, also we have a big big problem with the subte B, the trains that we bought from Spain have Asbesto, very dangerous carcinogenic material.. and we are still using them. 3 workers already died from cancer, and the goverment of Buenos Aires doesn't buy new trains.. its a big problem right now

Great video! I know the scope of the video is the subte, but in the Intro I think you under-estimated the importance of the bus network, is truly amazing the number of lines, services and extension, I think is the most unique thing about the Buenos Aires transportation system and what "saves" us (the porteños/bonaerenses) from having an unbearable experience because of the poor conectivity of the train and metro lines.

I waited for years for you to tackle the Subte system and you never fail to deliver! I hoping to see soon the video about Buenos Aires´s Suburban Railways as i myself work at Plaza Constitución on the General Roca Railway

Saludos desde Buenos Aires and also thanks for talking about our subte system, really nice video.

I've been waiting this video for so long! I'm from Argentina, and even though the some Subte stations aren't the cleanest, and sometimes it can be too crowded, I think it's a wonderful system nonetheless, with beautiful stations and varied rolling stock (it might not be the best, but it is very interesting to se the different trains, and riding them) Thanks so much for doing this video, keep up the work!

I actually used to take the 1913 trains, its crazy inside, its like a time capsule, and they worked perfectly

Didn't expect it to be so old

Happy to see more latinamerican metro systems in this channel.

I am from Buenos Aires and this was very informative, thank you!

Thank you so much for explaining with such detail my beautiful city and it's subte history!

Thank you so much for talking about our subte!!! I agree that, although it needs improvement, its still one of the best subway systems out there so thank you for shining the spotlight on it ajjaja (also kudos for the pronunciation in spanish u did rlly good) Saludos desde Argentina 💖

As a born Argentinian who takes the B line daily, I wanted to say two things, one, that our subway system is hella awesome, but also let everyone know that the subte workers are striking because of many cases of mold and asbestos in the stations and tunels causing diseases. Hopefully our government will listen to demands and fix these issues soon so we can all enjoy the best public transportation possible. Thanks for the video, it's weird listening to foreigners talk about something so close to me in other languages, but it also gives me perspective on how other countries see our city !

great video! I went to buenos aires twice, and even with so many problems with subway and bus infrastructure, it's so much more efficient than where I currently live in. you should definely make a video about São Paulo subway system as well!

Nice coverage !!!!. It is very true that our metro have mantained a wide variety of raillstock across the years. By the end of the 70 this was about to change. We had a project calle "coche unico" ( one train for all lines). The project aim was to provide ALL the lines, except for B for obviuos reasons with an homogenoeus fleet or trains. Across 18 years, FIAT MATERFER delivered 45 pairs (each pair consistin on a A and B car). But our Gobernement never commited to support this process and with the last deliveries in 1998, the train loocked out of date. But here is the result> This rolling stock performed pretty well across the years. It aged well, still going strong. and passed the 2016 audit from Metro of Barcelona. This is not the only case of Argentinian rolling stock but it was the second project for the metro. This rolling stock can run on 600 and 1500V, more like S7000 and others. IT uses chopped DC for traction control (ALL SOLID STATE), air suspension an PLC "drive by wire" controls. For a late 70s design ,man they did an outstanding job. People dont realize the effort that was put there, they lack from AA and that all ....

Great job with the Spanish pronunciations. I greatly appreciate it. Great video!

Wow that metro is incredible, So beautiful! Saludos desde Buenos Aires

Being part of the city government, I have a couple of footnotes: 1) The mega station under the Obelisk (RER) is not going to happen. The debt taken by President Macri with the IMF was partly justified with this project, but after the reduction of investments in trains, the lack of funds was declared. There is currently no plan to revive the project. 2) There is a second stretch of tramway in CABA, which was closed not many years ago. Coincidentally, it used the same modern cars as the Madrid tram. Clearly the system was not well managed and the cars are currently in our Tram Museum. There are private proposals to revive the system, but again, without a defined plan from the city... and we need trams back. 3) You should see the elevation works of the Mitre line and the tunneling works of the Sarmiento line. Each one deserves its own videos.

I don't think I had ever appreciated or learned as much about my own city's metro system this much

amazing video!! would certainly love to see a video on the railways as a daily user of those (specially the urquiza and san martin railways)

Great video, very interesting for us to understand subte better as we moved recently.

I love the Subte,and it's nice to see other people learn more and more about Argentina's railways! (as someone who lives there) My personal favorite line is the C line since it partaked most of my childhood.

Definitely didn't expect a South American metro system to have such a storied history, especially, well, since Shanghai just got released a few weeks ago. Anyways, nice video as always

0:30 little clarification, there aro almost 15 million living in the City of Buenos Aires (CABA) and it's suburban area, but just 3 or 4 million in CABA itself, the subte is only in CABA.

3:48 feels like a hybrid mix of Lexington & 53rd on the NYC subway and Grove Street Station on the Path

took me 2 days to come up with a cool funny comment but really im just very thankful for the opportunity reece! been waiting for a vid about my beloved system for such a long time and it finally paid off with a banger video 😍

Omg I was just wondering if you were gonna cover this!

Loved seeing the bird switching trains... 😆

Good video. I wish you showed the art on some stations, and spoke about the SUBE system allowing for virtually unlimited connectons for less than a U$D price

Loved the mention to the "subtrenmetrocleta" (connecting subte, trains, metrobus and a bike station under the Obelisco) project at the end, it has sadly been left behind but it will live forever in our hearts.

Cheers for saying "Once" great job

Great video! One thing omitted is the fact that the ticket cost 10cents and you can cross almost the whole city with that.

This is why space bugs destroyed Buenos Aires, they were jealous of the tunnels, their dirty bug tunnels are way less efficient. WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW MORE?

You should do a video about the Dominican subway system and transportation in and around the capital city Santo Domingo

Nice video. I wasnt aware of this metro, but it appears to to be well used in Buenos Aires and the public wants it to be expanded. Being able to use the Subte card in the rest of Argentina sounds similar to how the Suica card in the Tokyo system can be used elsewhere in Japan.

i live in bs as, your video is perfect, thanks

Remember being there for a month one winter in I think 2006 and seeing the wooden doors of the cars on one of the lines swinging back and forth, open and close as the train was moving along.

hey! Great video, you should do a video about the train system of the zones in and arround the city

Great video ❤

It's always so bizarre seeing my home city in english speaking youtube videos! One of the stations featured is quite literally two blocks from where i live. The intricacies of the public transit system itself elude me, but damn if it ain't convenient; I don't ever have to worry about learning to drive as a necessity, as I've heard happens a lot in the majority of the US. Great video, I can tell you know a lot about the topic!

Interesting to see southern hemisphere content. Looking forward to a video on the commuter rail systems in South Africa, especially the Gautrain in Johannesburg-Pretoria.

thanks for talk about our country and our beautiful city :)

i live in buenos aires sinze 1994 and i love trains, your video wass veery enjoyable. U should ask motormans here they very friendly and they may give u a drive on the motorman cabin to make a nice video

I can't believe you didn't include footage from the Line A stations which are exactly the same as they were in 1913. It even has the original advertisement.

YEEES i've been waiting for this video for so looong

Man I love your videos you have to do one about São Paulo’s metro

I hope you talk about the amazing sybway and metropolitan train system of São Paulo soon!

its been long time since i last used the "subte". i live some 30km from the city. but even back then, u could go anywhere combining it with suburban trains and urban and suburban buses. bsas public transportation is pretty well designed/organized. (much more than other things in this country)

what makes it so special is the ability of taking your phone out of your pocket and in 2 seconds time its gone

Wow, Buenos Aires is sure a very interesting city. Saludos desde buenos aires

Thank you for covering this. Buenos Aires is a very extensive city and during rush hours, it's almost impossible to use the subte system accordingly. Lines E, C, B and D being the most used ones in my opinion (from personal experience, having used all of them) Another note you could've added is that there were projects planned for new lines F, G, I and extention of the existing ones to connect everything in a single unit, but never happened in the end. This would've solved a lot of issues regarding rush hour multitudes as people would have a new way to get to their jobs and homes, other than relying on the existing system or riding the bus, which is either crwoded as well or on strike multiple times. Overall, beautiful narration, research and take on our underground system!

Just suscribed, will be waiting for the suburban trains video, specially 'my' train line that i always use, Ferrovias Belgrano Norte, which has.. an interesting story to say the least

I loved the video. The criticism I would give is that some mentions were also missing, for which the Sarmiento line has platforms shared with line A at Once station or rather Plaza Miserere, and that part of the route of this railway line makes by tunnel, that is, from Puerto Madero to Almagro. Although before it was used for cargoes due to its direct connection to the port, it was also used for passengers on the route that covered the defunct TBA from Puerto Madero - Castelar.

I wasn’t expecting this from you

Nice video

3:40 the stations are something special - and I seem to spy with my little eye that one of the standout special things is soccer broadcasts in station info screens!

A really cool system

I love how you called it subte the whole way through. it's short for subterranean, aka subway, in case anybody didn't connect the dots. I didn't know we had such dope subtes compared to the rest of the world.

That’s pretty cool

Love the Subte, as someone used to the London Underground, the Subte is a refreshing change. Granted, the C can be chaotic at times as can the B but you expect that. I love it

It doesn't surprise me as an argentinian, I have seen much things here. Cool vid

Incredibly, you've posted this video the day I was flying back from Buenos Aires! Great summary of the system, keep them coming. Would love to see more on the railways in BA!

I remember I got to ride it once I got there, first time I was in a metro in general.

Cool video

I remember once in 2019 I rode the E line for the first time. The car i got on was so, so old... it has wooden benches not against the wall but all facing each other like traditional train boots, and there was a chandelier on the ceiling. Never seen that car again, the next time i boarded one was the more modern tracks.

love me some buenos aires subte rush hour 😌

I was watching videos about subway fires. Can we have episode about prevention and safety systems in metro and trains?

the city capital of Argentina, Buenos Aires, was the 14th city in the world to have a subway system, Argentina was the seventh country in the world to have a subway system, and the first in the southern hemisphere of the planet. I did a video about the first Metro too. Very nice video !!!! a big like