Crossing the green strip of the La Plata Forest at the slow pace that the
University Train
maintains at its maximum speed of 40 kilometers per hour - it is sensed from the comfort of the padded seat - is the exact measure for the journey from the Terminal to the station. San Juan de Dios is, from end to end, a quiet
half-hour walk
.
It is more than enough.
Before each of the eight barrier crossings that the
diesel car manufactured in Sweden
crosses , the banderilleros seem like rigorous orchestra conductors dedicated to restraining the caravan of cars, motorcycles, trucks and pedestrians that court the passage of the
light blue and white car
that completes the shortest route of the
Roca line
.
The state railway company and the National University of La Plata jointly created this means of transportation in order to
facilitate the transportation of students
to the classrooms.
With an
average frequency of one hour
, the train provides a service for community purposes that brings together students, neighbors and tourists.
The University Train was created jointly by the state company Trenes Argentinos and the National University of La Plata.
What is the route of the University Train like?
For
visitors to the city
, the adventure begins before the sound of the whistle that announces the departure, under the classic postcard of the main station, on the corner of 1 and Diagonal 80.
It is the recurring photo, crowned by the
dome
decorated with green majolica and circular windows, a classic and art nouveau piece implemented in 1906 by the pioneers of the southbound railway extension.
The Terminal is also the monumental setting chosen in 1997 by director Jean Jacques Annaud to focus on Brad Pitt, in the first scene of the film “Seven Years in Tibet”.
The feeling of traveling through a historical site is reinforced on platform 5, the starting point of the University Train.
Although it is a project conceived in these times - it became a reality in
April 2013
-, the tiny diesel car returns its usefulness to old disused tracks and facilities, among them, part of the route of the Buenos Aires Provincial Railway.
The engine seems about to roar on the cut track in the middle of the closely mown grass, but, far from making any intemperate sound, it calms down again, seeking shelter under the shadows of the trees and glides silently next to the platform of
each one of the ten stops on the itinerary
.
The car forms a harmonious group together with those simple stops and its figure is only dwarfed in the centuries-old Circunvalación and Meridiano V stations, superb living testimonies of the branches that extended to Elizalde, Brandsen, Magdalena, Pipinas, Lezama and the distant Mirapampa area. , near the Buenos Aires border with La Pampa.
One of the first stops of the University Train, in the Bosque de La Plata area.
Photo: www.visitalaplata.com.ar
Groups of students ahead of the school year in the summer arrive at their destination at the stations installed in front of the Computer Science, Medicine and Journalism faculties.
They get off or board the train without rushing, intermingled with
first-time travelers
who look for the
Forest trails or Centenario and Pereyra Iraola avenues
to extend the recreational circuit on the lake, the amusement park that operates on the shore, the
Biopark
, the
Museum of Natural Sciences
, the
Planetarium
, the modern cafeteria of the
new Estudiantes stadium
and the monument and
murals exhibited by Gimnasia y Esgrima
in tribute to René Favaloro, Diego Maradona and Carlos Griguol, central figures in the history of Lobo La Plata.
On its route of
just over eight kilometers
, the University Train skirts the thick vegetation cover of the Forest, until it crosses a curve, stops at the
Diagonal 73 station
and settles alongside the straight line of Avenida 72. From here , the
wide track advances
- without altering its decelerated pace - in its last section to the semi-rural area that surrounds the San Juan de Dios hospital.
An image of the interior of the only car that serves the University Train service, in La Plata.
The final project
foresees an extension
from that final station to the Gambier railway workshops (at 137 and 52, in Los Hornos, part of the western sector of Greater La Plata).
This complete route will have three intermediate stops near the Cemetery and at the intersections of 66th and 60th avenues.
With eyes wide open to capture every detail that sneaks through the carriage windows, at no time does even a minimal drive arise to reach the end point of the journey.
More than that, the colorful
street art murals at the Circunvalación station
(at 12 and 72) stir the impulse to go down to take note of the brightly colored open-air self-managed gallery, the solid installations of the century-old building, the mast erected next to to the grass-covered platform and the old train traction and brake levers.
End point of the La Plata University Train route, at the San Juan de Dios station.
A stopover in Meridiano V: what to see there
For the next stop,
Meridiano V
-head of the Provincial Railway to Meridiano V-, it is directly advisable to spend a long time and wait for the arrival of the next train.
The place fulfilled its primary function from 1910 to 1961 - when the last passenger service stopped - and continued to receive cargo convoys, until it was disaffected by express order of the military Dictatorship in 1977.
After decades of oblivion and abandonment, the neighborhood residents themselves rescued the station and the cobbled beach on 71st Street, to
recover the railway history
of the place and give shape to a
cultural center
supported by music bands, theater, circus, acrobatics , artisan stalls, film and gastronomy exhibitions.
On the tracks of the disused platform, the definitive stillness of a
German Orenstein-Koppel locomotive from 1937
reveals its decisive place in the Buenos Aires railway past, when it dragged wagons overflowing with masses of granite, which the prisoners of Sierra Chica carried in the quarries. close to Olavarría.
Locomotive manufactured in Germany in 1937, at the Meridiano V station.
That simple image of dormant strength, contrasted with the frenetic movements of the boys riding on the
station games
, seems to symbolize the renewed hope that the University Train awakened, when it took to the ring to remove the structures of the La Plata railway past, which has left it lazy. had moved from the center of the scene decades ago.
One kilometer further, where the straight lines of the
San Juan de Dios station
platform end and the horizon clears, the recovered railway tracks remain for the moment half-hidden under the grass, although ready to re-emerge and regain their lost shine. .
Meridiano V Station of the Buenos Aires Provincial Railway.
Useful data
How to get.
From the city of Buenos Aires to the La Plata Terminal Station it is 57 kilometers along the La Plata Highway, 122nd Avenue, 38th Street and Diagonal 80.
How much does it cost.
Single fare for the University Train (only paid with SUBE), $40.
Where to get information.
0800-2228736 / (153) 7008736 / www.argentina.gob.ar / Facebook: University Train.