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Tren de la Costa (in English: "Train of the Coast") is a suburban , 11-station light rail line in Greater Buenos Aires, between Maipú Avenue station in the northern suburb of Olivos and Delta station in Tigre, on the Río de la Plata. The line connects directly to the Mitre line at Maipú station for direct access to Retiro terminus in the Buenos Aires downtown. Tren de la Costa is served by nine two-car trains sets. Each train has a capacity of 200 passengers and travels at an average speed of 35 km/h. The journey time is 30 minutes, with a frequency of 30 minutes. ==History== The line was developed during the period between 1891 and 1896 as part of the Buenos Aires and Rosario Railway (BA&R) connecting Coghlan junction in the Buenos Aires neighbourhood of Belgrano with the port of Tigre and was known as the ''Tren del Bajo''. Tracks ran following the course of the river, serving as an alternative route to Tigre, which was already served by the Buenos Aires Northern Railway. The line was later absorbed by the Central Argentine Railway when this company took over the (BA&R) in 1908. The line was electrified in 1931 and after nationalisation in 1948, it became part of General Mitre Railway. In 1961 the Government of Argentina led by President Arturo Frondizi closed the B. Mitre-Delta branch due to the low amount of passengers carried and high maintenance costs.〔(La línea Maipú-Delta, un potencial desaprovechado ) - EnElSubte, 20 April, 2015.〕 In 1990 plans were formulated for the reopening of the line and with the railways being privatised in 1992, the Tren de la Costa company (part of Sociedad Comercial del Plata, controlled by local businessman Santiago Soldati) was formed to take over the concession for the service. The track was converted from broad gauge to , and re-electrified in 1994. Public services and related commercial operations began in April 1995, and the maiden ride was shared by Soldati, company and government officials, and President Carlos Menem. The company remodelled the 8 stations of the branch and built 3 new stations, most of them with the concept of shopping mall centres, with San Isidro being the most representative of this. A new terminus, named "Maipú" was built just in front of former Bartolomé Mitre terminus. Both stations were connected through a pedestrian bridge over Maipú Avenue. Unlike the Retiro-B. Mitre branch, the new Maipú-Delta service was a light rail system, using articulated cars acquired from Spanish company Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF). During the first years of service, the branch carried an average of 100,000 passengers (on weekends) due to it having been conceived as a tourist train, with Maipú, Libertador and San Isidro as its main commercial centres. Beside the Delta terminus, a new amusement park, Parque de la Costa was built, proclaiming to be "the largest in South America". Two years later, the "Trillenium Casino" opened beside the park and Delta station. These projects, as well as the shopping malls, were designed to be part of the "de la Costa" franchise. As years went by, a decrease of the number of passenger carried by the company occurred, affecting not only the train services but the amusement park as well. The SCP asked the National Government for a grant to continue operating the trains but the request was denied since the concession contract did not include the possibility of granting subsidies given that the Tren de la Costa was categorised as tourist train, rather than one for public passenger transport. The line saw a large drop in passenger numbers since its opening in 1995. Around 100,000 journeys were made each weekend initially; but, by 2005 there were just 150,000 a month, a third of which were foreign tourists.〔("El Tren de la Costa ya cumplió 10 años y no termina de arrancar", ''Clarín'', 10 Nov 2005 )〕 The coinciding economic upturn did not reverse this trend, and ridership declined to around 70,000 a month by 2010.〔("Servicios Públicos", INDEC, 30 April 2010 )〕 After a progressive decrease of the number of passengers carried and the closure of most of shops along the line,〔〔("Tren de la Costa: del paseo de lujo a un objeto de colección", ''Clarín'', 23 Apr 2012 )〕〔("Abandono y desolación en las estaciones del Tren de la Costa", ''Perfil'', 23 Sep 2012 )〕〔("Tren de la Costa: la abrupta caída de usuarios precipitó el final de una época de oro" ), ''La Nación'', 28 Jun 2013〕 The Government of Argentina revoked the concession to SCP,〔("El Ministerio de Transporte le rescindió el contrato al Tren de la Costa por incumplimiento" ), ''Telam'', 4 Jun 2013]〕 taking over the ''Tren de la Costa'' through its subsidiary SOFSE.〔("Estatizan el Tren de la Costa, terrenos del Parque y dos ramales de cargas ferroviarias", ''La Nación'', 5 June 2013 )〕〔("Tren y Parque de la Costa pasan a manos del Estado", ''Página/12'', 5 Jun 2013 )〕 The rescision was published on the Argentine Official Bulletin on 3 Jun 2013.〔(Resolución 477/2013 - Boletín Oficial de Argentina )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Tren de la Costa」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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