Deteriorating passenger trains

[sergio]

I overheard a restaurant employee saying that her commute to her Recoleta job takes two and a half hours each way. Now she has to contend with reduced service, more crowded trains, higher fares and less safety:

Train commutes in Buenos Aires have become a blood sport - Buenos Aires Herald

Budget cuts, deteriorating services and privatization plans don’t just turn the ride to work into a battle — they’re a warning that Argentina’s railways are forgetting a lethal lesson

buenosairesherald.com

 

[Redpossum]

Another example of vengeful, small-minded pettiness on the part of the Milei government.

I see it on the Subte line B as well. Things are really going to hell in a handbasket in terms of maintenance. And it shows in different places. I was ascending from the depths of the Rosas station, dragging myself up the stairs with my fucked-up knees and depending heavily on the handrail, when I found that the last 30 meters or so of the handrail was torn loose from the wall and just flopping around.

 

[sergio]

Another example of vengeful, small-minded pettiness on the part of the Milei government.

I see it on the Subte line B as well. Things are really going to hell in a handbasket in terms of maintenance. And it shows in different places. I was ascending from the depths of the Rosas station, dragging myself up the stairs with my fucked-up knees and depending heavily on the handrail, when I found that the last 30 meters or so of the handrail was torn loose from the wall and just flopping around.

Travelling twice this winter from Constitucion to Pinamar by train I noted how much older and worn out the Chinese equipment which I believe was bought by Macri has started to look. To get to Pinamar you have to change trains at Guido. There are a lot of employees both there and at Pinamar who are not needed. It's really ridiculous at Pinamar how they have loads of guards telling passengers where they must stand. What happened to the promises of efficiency? The train from Guido (bought from Spain, probably 1970s rolling stock) to Pinamar is a complete filthy wreck. Why not have people cleaning instead of standing about ordering passengers into lines? Incidentally, daily service has been reduced to 3X a week and substantially higher fares.

 

[Lisandra]

Imagine that, living in a third world country and the trains are decrepit? Socialism dies hard.

At least here people aren't being pushed from the platforms into oncoming trains by NYC psychopaths.

As my Argie friends always say about disgruntled gringos..... there are multiple flights every day from Ezeiza to the U.S.

Their country, their rules. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[sergio]

Imagine that, living in a third world country and the trains are decrepit? Socialism dies hard.

At least here people aren't being pushed from the platforms into oncoming trains by NYC psychopaths.

As my Argie friends always say about disgruntled gringos..... there are multiple flights every day from Ezeiza to the U.S.

Their country, their rules. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

That's a ridiculous comment. Do you think you can compare Argentina to Bangladesh? Let's not get into the business of calling Argentina a third world country. Even if that is your view, people in 'third woirld countries' deserve safe and clean transport. Did you even bother to read the newspaper article (by Fernando Romero Nuñez) that was the subject of this thread? It's the Argentines who don't like these conditons. I doubt that you commute 2.5 hours to work each way on trains, buses and subways.

 

[Lisandra]

That's a ridiculous comment. Do you think you can compare Argentina to Bangladesh? Let's not get into the business of calling Argentina a third world country. Even if that is your view, people in 'third woirld countries' deserve safe and clean transport. Did you even bother to read the newspaper article (by Fernando Romero Nuñez) that was the subject of this thread? It's the Argentines who don't like these conditons. I doubt that you commute 2.5 hours to work each way on trains, buses and subways.

No, I don't compare Argentina to Bangladesh. Because Bangladesh only has an annual rate of inflation somewhere around 12%.

Not sorry if the truth hurts. Elections have consequences.

 

[LuckyLuke]

There's no easy solution to this problem. The government has a budget surplus, which of these moles do you whack?

Public Universities threatening to strike over budget cuts
Aerolineas Argentina threatening to strike over budget cuts
Bus Lines threatening to strike over subsidy cuts
Train lines falling apart
Petrol sector threatening to strike over ganacia tax
Agro sector threatening to withhold grains over low exchange rate
US Justice threatening to confiscate YPF shares & public bonds over unpaid litigation awards
Provincias threatening to segregate over unpaid "participation" & suspended public works

The list goes on and on....pick your gripe and stand in line, because nobody thinks their sector deserves a budget cut.

 

[Redpossum]

There's no easy solution to this problem. The government has a budget surplus, which of these moles do you whack?

Public Universities threatening to strike over budget cuts
Aerolineas Argentina threatening to strike over budget cuts
Bus Lines threatening to strike over subsidy cuts
Train lines falling apart
Petrol sector threatening to strike over ganacia tax
Agro sector threatening to withhold grains over low exchange rate
US Justice threatening to confiscate YPF shares & public bonds over unpaid litigation awards
Provincias threatening to segregate over unpaid "participation" & suspended public works

The list goes on and on....pick your gripe and stand in line, because nobody thinks their sector deserves a budget cut.

Of that list, "train lines falling apart", along with the parallel problems on the Subte, presents an immediate and undeniable threat to public safety, with a very real risk of a mass casualty event right now.

How many of the others do? I don't see any others that present the same risk, with the possible and partial exception of the airline issue, but even that is reaching.

I was on the B line again today. For those not familiar with it, there are two kinds of cars, the newer ones are 1980's looking orange and white, with hard plastic seats facing fore-and-aft. You have to lift a handle to open the doors. The older ones are ancient Mitsubishi cars with plush velvet bench seats facing side-to-side. The former have all but disappeared in recent months; 4 out of 5 trains, maybe more, are the Mitsubishi museum pieces. I was on one of those both ways today, and the couplings between the cars are dangerously slack in many cases. They slam back and forth as the train accelerates away from a station. That slamming of tons of mass back and forth, again and again, means metal fatigue. Sooner or later, those couplings are going to fail.

The other alarming thing I noted is that the brakes are not working right, and that is a safety issue of the highest order.

First world or third, arrogant Yanqui or humble Argentino, these are serious issues of public safety, with a very real risk of mass casualties. These problems, if they continue to be ignored, will kill people.

 

[Quilombo]

That's a ridiculous comment. Do you think you can compare Argentina to Bangladesh? Let's not get into the business of calling Argentina a third world country. Even if that is your view, people in 'third woirld countries' deserve safe and clean transport. Did you even bother to read the newspaper article (by Fernando Romero Nuñez) that was the subject of this thread? It's the Argentines who don't like these conditons. I doubt that you commute 2.5 hours to work each way on trains, buses and subways.

These people are just trolls. I've ignored (we can't block, so they still comment on my posts and get mad when I don't engage) a number of members who simply shitpost, engage in bad faith arguments, or are poorly educated.

If people earnestly think Argentina was ever socialist, that it's a "third world country", that only NYC has psychopaths, or that only gringos complain about the state of the railway here, well, they're obviously one of the above or a combination of all three.

 

[elhombresinnombre]

Of that list, "train lines falling apart", along with the parallel problems on the Subte, presents an immediate and undeniable threat to public safety, with a very real risk of a mass casualty event right now.

<snip>

You don't have to wait for a future event: it's already happened. Does nobody remember the derailment in Palermo on the LSM this May? Many injured; thankfully nobody killed. IIRC the derailment wasn't caused by the theft of the signalling equipment but by the badly-thought-out workaround that was developed because there was no money available to fix the problem properly. Of course far more money then had to be found to deal with the consequences.