Buenavista railway station (1873)

This article is about the former station operated by Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México. For the current station operated by Ferrocarriles Suburbanos, see Buenavista railway station.

Buenavista Station (Spanish: Estación Buenavista), also called Buenavista Terminal (Spanish: Terminal Buenavista), was a passenger train station in Mexico City. The station opened in 1873 and since 1909, the station was fully operated by Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México. The station was closed in 2005. By June 2008, the station was replaced by the terminus of the Tren Suburbano commuter rail service.^[2]

Buenavista
Train station
A EMD FP9 at the platforms in 1966
General information
Location	Cuauhtémoc, Mexico City
Coordinates	19.4478°N 99.1522°W / 19.4478; -99.1522
Owned by	N de M (1909-2001)
Line(s)	Various destinations
Platforms	5 island and 2 side platforms
Tracks	10
Construction
Structure type	At-grade
Platform levels	1
History
Opened	January 20, 1873 (1873-01-20)[1]
Closed	1958, 2005
Rebuilt	1961
Former services
Preceding station Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México Following station Terminus Águila Azteca Huichapan toward Nuevo Laredo El Jarocho Valle de México toward Veracruz El Regiomontano San Luis Potosí toward Monterrey El Tapatío Lechería toward Guadalajara Mexico City-Querétaro electric passenger train 1994-1996 Cuautitlán toward Querétaro
Location Buenavista Location within Mexico City Central

History

The train station c. 1885

The station served to inaugurate passenger rail service in Mexico on January 20, 1873, when Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México ran its first passenger rail trip from Mexico City to the Port of Veracruz.^[3] Among the passengers of the inaugural trip was Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, President of Mexico at the time.^[3] The rail trip took three days due to a number of official presidential events along the route.

The original structure was demolished by Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México in 1958 to construct a new station nearby.^[3] The plot on which the original station stood was redeveloped. Buenavista Station was re-inaugurated in 1961 by President Adolfo López Mateos.

The headquarters of Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México were built in front of the station and to the north of the station, an automated postal facility was constructed. To the south of the station, the borough hall of the Borough of Cuauhtémoc was inaugurated in September 1976.^[4] The traffic circle in front of the station holds a statue of Christopher Columbus, which was inaugurated on October 12, 1892, in celebration of the 400-year anniversary of the explorer's discovery of America.

The principal intercity destinations served by Buenavista station were:

• Cuernavaca, Morelos
• Guadalajara, Jalisco
• Querétaro, Querétaro
• Veracruz, Veracruz
• Monterrey, Nuevo León
• Mérida, Yucatán
• Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua
• Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas
• Durango, Durango
• Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes
• San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí
• Oaxaca, Oaxaca
• Morelia, Michoacán

Buenavista Station in 2006

Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México used the train terminal for passenger train traffic to connect the United States, Guatemala, and Belize with other Mexican cities.

See also

• Rail transport in Mexico
• List of Mexican railroads

References

1. Moreno, Sergio (29 November 2019). "Estación Buenavista, el legado historico del ferrocarril en México". Retrieved 16 April 2020.
2. "Tren Suburbano inaugurated". Railway Gazette International. 1 July 2008. Archived from the original on 15 January 2016. Retrieved 23 August 2011.
3. De Mauleón, Héctor (26 September 2009). "Estación Buenavista" (in Spanish). Ediciones Impresas Milenio. Archived from the original on 2010-10-22. Retrieved 27 August 2011.
4. "Delegación Cuauhtémoc" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 15 May 2011. Retrieved 27 August 2011. Delegación Cuauhtémoc; Aldama y Mina s/n; Colonia Buenavista; Cuauhtémoc, D.F.

External links

• Media related to Buenavista Station (Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México) at Wikimedia Commons