Red de Expresos Regionales (RER, English: Regional Express Network) is a planned commuter network system in Buenos Aires, Consist in a tunnel connecting the 3 mainline railway stations of the City: Retiro, Constitucion and Once, in the north, south and west respectively, The new tunnels we have 2 new stations, the Central Station in the Obelisco and the Correo Central in these building, In Central Station a big interchange to the Underground network in the stations of Lima (A Line), Carlos Pellegrini (B Line), Diagonal Norte and Avenida de Mayo (C Line) and 9 de Julio (D Line), and the Metrobus BRT network, In Correo Central a new interchange also to the Underground in the namesake station in B and E lines, These tunnels they will reconnect the network of commuters, disconnect since 1897 with the fire and clausure of the Buenos Aires Central Station, construyed by British company Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway and connection of the railways, a few meters of the Plaza de Mayo, The RER system we connect only the routes from Constitución, Retiro and Once, and electric
History and Overview
The idea of linking the main commuter rail lines of Buenos Aires through a tunnel dates back to 1969, resulting in a 1973 study which suggested creating a Red Expresa Regional. While the original proposal sought to link the Mitre Line and Roca Line through the centre of the city, more recent proposals suggested creating tunnels between Retiro railway station, Once railway station and Constitución railway station - the three biggest rail terminals of the city.
Such a line would connect all urban and suburban commuter rail lines in the city, with the exception of the Urquiza Line which has access tunnels to Line B at of the Buenos Aires Underground Federico Lacroze railway station and the Belgrano Sur Line, whose inclusion in RER first depends on the current plans for the extension of the line to Constitución being completed.
The current RER proposal was put forward by Buenos Aires mayor Mauricio Macri in 2015. The project includes the construction of of tunnels to link the three main railway terminals and the construction of five new underground stations: one at each of the terminals, one underneath the Obelisco in the centre of the city and another in the Central Business District underneath the Buenos Aires Central Post Office.
The total cost of the project will be US$1.8 billion and will integrate the existing network through the tunnels. The central station will connect with the Metrobus network, as well as the Buenos Aires Underground lines , , and , while the Correo Central station will also connect with .
The first stage of the project will take four years to complete and consists of building the Obelisco station and the North-South tunnels from Retiro railway station to Constitución railway station, integrating the Mitre Line, Roca Line and San Martín Line. The second stage will take a further two years and will see the building of the East-West tunnels connecting Once railway station to the central station and the building of the Correo Central station, integrating the Sarmiento Line into the network. The final stage will take a further two years and will extend the Belgrano Sur Line to Constitución from its existing terminal using viaducts (a project already under way independently of RER) then build a new tunnel between Constitución and Retiro connecting the two metre gauge railways after they are electrified.
Perhaps the most notable omission from the project is the inclusion of the Urquiza Line whose terminal as at Federico Lacroze railway station in the West of the city. The line is distinctive from the other lines due to its standard gauge configuration since it was originally intended to be part of Line B of the Buenos Aires Underground. Urquiza Line trains without any modification could use the access tunnel at the Federico Lacroze underground station and travel through the line's tunnels to Carlos Pellegrini station which is where Line B would combine with RER regardless of the inclusion of the Urquiza line.
Challenges
The main challenges to the implementation of the RER network are found in the differing track gauges and state of electrification found in the different lines in Greater Buenos Aires: