Line A (Buenos Aires Underground)

San José de Flores station, opened in 2013.

In 1997 the Plaza Miserere station was declared a national historic monument.[10] Over the years, most stations on the line have also been declared part of the national patrimony of Argentina and are thus protected.[11] Unlike other lines, the original stations preserve much of their original appearance and many stations have also been restored or feature exhibits which show the history of the line.[12]

In the first expansion of the line since 1914, Puán and Carabobo stations were opened in December 2008. As part of the opening ceremony for the two stations, Buenos Aires Mayor Mauricio Macri drove one of the La Brugeoise trains.[13] Later in September 2013, the San José de Flores and San Pedrito stations were opened, bringing the length of the line up to 9.8 km (6.1 mi) and the total number of stations to 18, while adding an additional 35,000 passengers per day to the line.[14][15] That same year, the line was also converted from 1100 volts to 1500 volts to match the rest of the network.[16]

Passengers waiting at Perú station platforms (early 1900s).

• 1 December 1913 – the Line is inaugurated between Plaza de Mayo and Plaza Miserere.
• 1 April 1914 – extended to Río de Janeiro.
• 1 July 1914 – extended to Caballito (renamed to Primera Junta in 1923).
• 9 November 1934 – Line C built, creating a new connection at Lima station.
• 3 June 1937 – Line D built, creating a new connection at Perú station.
• 17 February 1939 – the line obtained its current name, Line A.
• 1953 – Pasco Sur and Alberti Norte were closed, leaving Pasco and Alberti with just one platform each.
• 24 April 1966 – Line E extended to Bolívar, creating another connection at Perú station.
• 18 October 2007 – Line H built, creating a new connection at Plaza Miserere
• 22 December 2008 – Line A extended to Carabobo.
• 27 September 2013 – Line A extended to San Pedrito.

Interior of a La Brugeoise car, used up to 2013.

One of the surviving 3 UEC Preston cars at the Polvorín Workshop.

While the line was under construction, the Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company took bids from two companies to provide the rolling stock for the line: the Belgian company La Brugeoise et Nicaise et Delcuve and the British United Electric Car Company. The tram models presented by the respective companies were the La Brugeoise cars and the UEC Preston cars.[17]

The latter was noted for its extravagant interior design, featuring exotic materials and UEC sent four of these trams to Buenos Aires for the AATC's consideration. Ultimately, the company chose to go with the Belgian trams and 125 of them were built to serve the line, although the four Preston trams were also kept to serve on the line. In 1927, the trams were converted to underground cars following the line's extension underground and abandonment of its overground segment.[17]

The UEC Preston cars ended service in 1977 and the three remaining cars are today used on the Buenos Aires Heritage Tramway and also for special occasions on Line A of the underground, such as during its 100-year anniversary.[18] The Brugeoise cars remained in service until 2013, though numerous attempts over the years were made to either modernise the fleet (as was done with a few cars modernised by the Emepa Group in the 1980s) or replace the rolling stock completely. One such attempt to replace the rolling stock was with the purchase of 96 Alstom Metropolis cars in 2001, however these were ultimately assigned to Line D instead of Line A.[19]

After 96 years of continuous service, the La Brugeoise cars were nearing their final withdrawal from service in 2009. Spare parts for these trains were no longer available on the market so they had to be custom-made by request at Polvorín Workshop, where La Brugeoise units and other Buenos Aires Underground rolling stock were maintained and repaired by highly skilled and qualified personnel. At this point, it was already being discussed that these surviving vintage cars could continue operating as a tourist attraction on holidays and Sundays.[20]

According to Metrovías, the Buenos Aires Underground private operator, the La Brugeoise cars underwent a routine check-up every 20 days, while every four years heavy maintenance was performed. Despite their many years of uninterrupted service, La Brugeoise trains had one of the lowest mechanical failure averages in the network: 19 every 100,000 km.[20]

Interior of the 200 Series rolling stock, used from 2013 onwards.

CNR train at San Pedrito.

By 2013, after nearly 100 years of continuous service, the Brugeoise cars were definitively withdrawn from service on January 12, 2013, 11 months before their 100th anniversary. They were replaced by new CNR rolling stock, which has been slowly introduced as units arrive from China.[21] The original rolling stock has since been maintained, some in exhibition and some being converted to 1500 V to run tourist services on the line.[22] In December 2013 a law was passed which meant that the entire La Brugeoise fleet would receive protection status and would thus only be donated to organisations dedicated to their restoration and preservation.[23]

The 45 200 Series CNR cars which arrived in 2013 were not sufficient to cover the entire fleet of the line, so it had to be supplemented by a temporary fleet of 35 Fiat-Materfer cars, which was still not enough to replace the 120 La Brugeoise units.[24] Some additional refurbished Siemens-Schuckert Orenstein & Koppel trains were added to the temporary fleet in addition to the Materfer trains. However, the replacement of the rolling stock coincided with the opening of the San José de Flores and San Pedrito stations, so the line was still left with insufficient rolling stock causing a decline in passenger numbers.[25]

In the meantime, a further 105 200 Series cars were ordered from China so that the line would be served in its entirety by 150 of these cars. This mean that the Siemens O&K cars could be completely retired from service and the Materfer cars moved to Line E in time for its extension to Retiro.[26] These cars steadily arrived in Argentina from 2015 and were incorporated into the line in order to deal with the declines in frequency and passenger numbers since the retirement of the La Brugeoise cars. The last of the CNR units arrived during 2016 and 2017, by which time Line A's rolling stock consisted entirely of the 200 Series.[26][27]