Commuters riot over train delays

Commuters enraged by delays in evening train services set fire to one of South America’s biggest stations, looted nearby shops and attacked riot police.

Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas as rioters pelted them with rocks. The fighting at Buenos Aires’ Constitucion station spilled into a nearby street as demonstrators shattered windows, set fire to a ticket sales area, looted shops and ripped pay phones from walls.

Hundreds of passengers fled the fighting inside the station, one of the largest in South America with an estimated 300,000 users daily.

Twelve police officers were injured by flying rocks, mostly with cuts and bruises to the head and chest, and nine people were also treated at the scene for smoke inhalation, said Alberto Crescenti, a spokesman for emergency medical workers.

Police Commissioner Ricardo Falana reported 16 arrests, including two minors.

He said about 100 police were needed to quell the rioters, who he said threw a “hail of rocks” at officers.

During the disturbances, a motorcycle was set ablaze and angry youths used metal poles to try to break down tall wooden doors to a security office in the station.

Firefighters quickly put out small fires in trash cans and the ticket area. Shattered glass, bricks and sticks littered the hall afterwards.

The fighting threw evening rush hour into chaos, forcing a cancellation of all train service early today.

Fernando Jantus, a spokesman for the Metropolitano train concession, said service was interrupted at the evening rush hour because a train broke down on a key track just outside the station, blocking other trains from leaving the station.

“The problem happened at the worst moment,” he said, noting the rioting began in the peak evening rush around 6.30pm local time.

Passengers have long complained about poor commuter rail service on lines leading from Constitucion station in downtown Buenos Aires to poor southern suburbs of the Argentine capital.

The riot was the second major outbreak of violence at the station since passengers angry over cancellation of train service one day last September set three train carriages ablaze and police made seven arrests.

Buenos Aires area commuter rail lines were privatised in the 1990s under then-President Carlos Menem, but passengers have complained for years about the failure of new operators to provide timely service on often crowded routes.