Introduction

El The first way of mechanic transport by land that worked out in Argentina was the railroad. The Ferrocarril del Oeste (West Railroad) was inaugurated on August 29 of 1857 between the Parque (where today is the Colón Theatre) and Floresta stations, with two twin railway engines that went though a 10 Km distance of only one rail, with 4 intermediate stations (11 de Sptiembre, Almagro, Caballito y Flores).  
 

The 14th of July of 1863 a blood traction tramway is fitted out that enlarges the North Railway line between its terminal at Retiro and the actual Plaza Colón, and on February 27th, 1870 the two first urban tramway lines had their opening, also pulled by horses: the Tramway Central of Lacroze brothers and the Once de Septiembre of Méndez brothers. A few years went by and the tramway and railroad companies multiplied y formed a dense net that congested the narrow roads of Buenos Aires. Soon, projects of elevated or subway lines with systems of funicular traction and the incipient electric traction came up. In a decade the electric tramways replaced almost the whole other street systems, and the railroads started to electrify their traction since 1908, and to elevate or depress their rails, since 1899

Near 1909, one of the tramway companies –the Anglo-Argentina- had acquired most of its competitors and exploited almost the 80% of the tramway system. This enterprise constructed our first subway line, opened in 1913 between the Mayo and 11 de Septiembre squares, and prolonged in 1914 up to Caballito. The second subway line for passenger transport was not opened until 1930 and was constructed by the railway and tramway group Lacroze. Finally, in 1933 a third enterprise begins the construction work of a net that almost doubles the extension of the prior ones: the Campaña Hispano-Argentina de Obras Públicas y Finanzas (CHADOPYF) (Spanish-Argentine Company of Public Construction Work and Finance).

In 1936 a mixed private-state entity, operator and coordinator: the Corporación de Transportes de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires (CTCBA) that should consolidate the tramway, coaches and subways enterprises, in addition to those of buses. The Corporación begins its management in February of 1939, but in a few years it loses its autonomy because of its debts. In 1948 it enters in liquidation and the national state substitutes it in 1952 for the Administración General de Transportes de Buenos Aires (ACTBA) (Buenos Aires Transport General Administration), dependant of the Ministerio de Transportes de la Nación (National Transport Ministry).

In middle 1955 AGTBA begins to come off the bus lines, that were privatized. Later on, the government applies the same policy to the rest of the electric systems and surface self-propelled transport, until the subway network was the only one left in the state orbit.

AGTBA is also liquefied and in June 1963 a new public entity was created, Subterráneos de Buenos Aires (SBA), to operate the subway network in the orbit of the Secretaría o Subsecretaría de Transporte de la Nación (National Secretary or Sub-secretary of Transport). In 1977 the government assigns to SBA the character of an enterprise with wide autonomy, Subterráneos de Buenos Aires, Sociedad del Estado (SBASE) whose auctions package is transferred in 1979 to the Municipalidad de Buenos Aires.

In 1991 the national government decides to give in concession the subway network services in a sole concession with the Urquiza suburban line. The winner consortium forms the METROVÍAS enterprise, which is responsible for the net in quality of concessionary on January 1st, 1994. The period was of 20 years, but in 1999 is extended until the 31st of December of 2017.

The first subway line –today the Line A- expended tickets that were controlled by the ticket inspector before entering the platform, and that must be given back on the way out. In the posterior lines little mills were installed that allowed the entrance only by depositing a 10 cent coin, and later on, one or two of major value, until it was opted to coin cospels. These were used until magnetic tickets and non-contact cards were implanted in 2001.

The first subway lines were identified by the proprietary enterprises, and by a number when they were more than one. When they became part of the Corporación de Transportes, this latter assigned each line a letter, in order of antiquity.

When lines A, B and C were already working, the trip in any of them was 10 cents, without combinations. The fitting out of Line D allowed the combinations through the station Carlos Pellegrini (now 9 de Julio), having to pay an additional or a new trip, until June 1st, 1956 when it was permitted to travel between all the lines without an additional charge.