La Raza metro station opened on 25 August 1978 with service on Line 3 southward toward Hospital General station. Southeasterly service on Line 5 toward Pantitlán station began on 1 July 1982. The station facilities are partially accessible to people with disabilities as there are braille signage plates; inside, there is an Internet café, a library, and a mural titled Monstruos de fin de milenio, painted by Ariosto Otero Reyes. Outside, there is a bicycle parking station and a bus terminal. The transfer tunnel has an approximate length of 600 meters (2,000 ft), the second-longest in the system. Inside the tunnel, there is a permanent science exhibition called El Túnel de la Ciencia ("The Tunnel of Science"), installed by the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) to provide scientific information to passengers, which was opened on 30 November 1988. The exposition features information about science and astronomy using pictures.
In 2019, the station had an overall average daily ridership of 40,937 passengers. Since it was opened, La Raza metro station has had some incidents, including a shooting and a train crash, where one person died and 106 others resulted injured.
Southwest: Insurgentes Norte Avenue, Vallejo (Line 3).
West: Insurgentes Norte Avenue, Héroes de Nacozari (Line 3).
North: Leoncavallo Street and Paganini Street, Vallejo (Line 5).
South: Paganini Street, Vallejo (Line 5).
History and construction
Line 3 of the Mexico City Metro was built by Ingeniería de Sistemas de Transportes Metropolitano, Electrometro, and Cometro (a subsidiary of Empresas ICA);[9] La Raza Line 3 opened on 25 August 1978, on the first day of the La Raza–Hospital General service.[10] It was built underground;[11] the Potrero–La Raza stretch goes from the street level to the underground level,[12] and its length is 1,106 meters (3,629 ft),[13] while the La Raza–Tlatelolco interstation tunnel is 1,445 m (4,741 ft) long.[13]
Line 5 of the Mexico City Metro was built by Cometro;[14] the station was opened on 1 July 1982, on the first day of the La Raza–Pantitlán service.[10] The station was built at grade level.[15] While the La Raza–Autobuses del Norte interstation is 975 m (3,199 ft) long,[16] the one between La Raza and Misterios measures 892 m (2,927 ft)[16] and goes from the street level to the underground one.[13]
The passenger transfer tunnel that connects Line 3 with Line 5 has an approximate length of 600 m (2,000 ft),[17] and is the second-longest in the system after Atlalilco metro station, which connects Lines 8and 12 (the Green and Golden lines, respectively), whose length is 880 m (2,890 ft).[18] La Raza's pictogram depicts the Monumento a la Raza, a pyramid-shaped construction erected in 1940 in honor of la Raza,[3][19] an ethnic movement by indigenous peoples of Mexico.[2] The facilities are partially accessible to people with disabilities as there are braille signage plates, and there is an Internet café, a help desk,[3] and a library.[20]
In 2008, Metro authorities had maintenance work done on Line 5 station's roof.[21]
In August 2016, the Government of Mexico City built a bicycle parking station outside La Raza station.[22]
Incidents
On 28 September 1995, Ernesto Cruz Jiménez, a Huixquilucan police officer, entered a parked train and shot seven passengers, killing two of them.[23][24] After being arrested, Cruz said he felt depressed. He was sentenced to 50 years in prison.[25][26] After the incident, the Government of Mexico City had walk-through metal detectors installed in the metro system.[24][27]
On 7 January 2023, at 09:16 CST (UTC−6),[28]two trains crashed inside the La Raza–Potrero interstation tunnel killing one person and injuring 106 others.[29] Both trains were going northbound towards Indios Verdes metro station. Service between Indios Verdes and Guerrero metro stations was suspended temporarily.[30]
The station floods during periods of heavy rainfall.[31][32]
Ridership
According to the data provided by the authorities since the 2000s, and before the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on public transport, commuters averaged between 30,700 and 34,000 on Line 3 daily entrances and between 9,500 and 10,700 daily entrances on Line 5 between 2013 and 2019.
In 2019, the station's ridership totaled 14,942,281 passengers. For Line 3, the ridership was 11,364,171 passengers (31,134 passengers per day), which was a decrease of 397,769 passengers compared to 2018. For Line 5, the station had a ridership of 3,578,110 (9,803 passengers per day), which was a decrease of 46,541 compared to 2018.[33][34]
In 2019, the Line 3 station was the 38th busiest of the system's 195 stations and the line's sixth busiest. The Line 5 station was the 155th busiest in the system and the line's fifth busiest.[33]
The El túnel de la ciencia Museum (English for "The Tunnel of Science")[41] is the longest permanent exposition in the world.[42] Science and astronomy pictures and information are mounted on the walls located inside the transfer tunnel. It was opened on 30 November 1988—the first Latin American scientific exhibition installed in a public transport location.[20] Its purpose is to provide scientific information to passengers. It is aimed at young people since many of them are students at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN).[43] The tunnel's area is 6,177 square meters (66,490 sq ft)[44] and features images of the autumn-sky constellations,[43] planets and satellites, the Milky Way,[45] and, in the middle of the tunnel, there is a drawn-to-scale representation of the celestial sphere displaying the 12 zodiac constellations, drawn with luminous paint.[20][46] The exhibition was installed by Universum, UNAM's science museum.[43] It is estimated that 60,000 people visit it with the guided tour service.[20] In 2018, the Institute of Astronomy of the UNAM [es] remodeled the tunnel.[20]
Other exhibitions
On 25 November 2008, the Metro authorities installed the 1997 mural Monstruos de fin de milenio (lit. transl. Monsters from the End of the Millennium), which was painted and donated to the metro system by Mexican painter Ariosto Otero Reyes [es].[47]
In June 2015, the Center for Research and Advanced Studies (CINVESTAV) of the IPN exhibited multiple human brains, their anatomy, and some injuries they had suffered.[48] In April 2016, the Geology Museum of the UNAM [es] displayed rocks, fossils, minerals, and a shark jaw.[49] In June 2016, the system featured an exhibition of 80 preserved human body parts by the Tominaga Nakamoto University, a display of 50 sculptures by Nour Kuri representing human bodies, and six photographs by Duilio Rodríguez representing pain.[50][51] In May and June 2018, La Raza metro station hosted exhibitions by Manuel de la Cera, Norma Patiño, Teresa Olalde, and the Metropolitan Autonomous University (UAM)'s LibroFest.[52]
Monstruos de Fin de Milenio mural by Ariosto Otero Reyes
The June 2016 exhibition on the human body displaying the nervous system
Síntomas by Duilio Rodríguez
Landmarks and exhibitions at La Raza
Notes
^The Mexico City Metro system counts the entries from interchange stations separately. When counted individually, 9,077,998 passengers accessed through Line 3, while 3,418,439 passengers did it through Line 5.[1]
^"Línea 3, Ciudad de México" [Line 3, Mexico City] (in Spanish). iNGENET Infraestructura. 20 July 2009. Archived from the original on 10 September 2014. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
^"Línea 5, Ciudad de México" [Line 5, Mexico City] (in Spanish). iNGENET Infraestructura. 20 July 2009. Archived from the original on 2 September 2014. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
^"Le dan 50 años" [Sentenced to 50 years] (in Spanish). vLex.com. 28 April 1998. Archived from the original on 8 May 2020. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
^Nájar, Alberto (10 May 1998). "Todo el Metro" [All about the Metro]. La Jornada (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 5 June 2020. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
^ abc"Afluencia de estación por línea 2018" [Station traffic per line 2018] (in Spanish). Sistema Transporte Colectivo Metro. 2019. Archived from the original on 6 June 2019. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
^ ab"Afluencia de estación por línea 2021" [Station traffic per line 2021] (in Spanish). Sistema Transporte Colectivo Metro. 2022. Archived from the original on 7 March 2022. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
^ ab"Afluencia de estación por línea 2020" [Station traffic per line 2020] (in Spanish). Sistema Transporte Colectivo Metro. 2021. Archived from the original on 21 June 2021. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
^ ab"Afluencia de estación por línea 2017" [Station traffic per line 2017] (in Spanish). Sistema Transporte Colectivo Metro. 2019. Archived from the original on 3 May 2020. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
^ ab"Afluencia de estación por línea 2016" [Station traffic per line 2016] (in Spanish). Sistema Transporte Colectivo Metro. 2017. Archived from the original on 3 May 2020. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
^ ab"Afluencia de estación por línea 2015" [Station traffic per line 2015] (in Spanish). Sistema Transporte Colectivo Metro. 2016. Archived from the original on 3 May 2020. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
^ ab"Afluencia de estación por línea 2014" [Station traffic per line 2014] (in Spanish). Sistema Transporte Colectivo Metro. 2015. Archived from the original on 3 May 2020. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
^López, Jonás (30 November 2019). "Cumple 31 años el Túnel de la Ciencia" [The Tunnel of Science turns 31]. Excélsior (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 1 July 2020. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
^"Túnel de la Ciencia en el metro La Raza" [The Tunnel of Science at La Raza metro station]. Dónde Ir (in Spanish). GIN Media. September 2019. Archived from the original on 1 July 2020. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
^"Fotogalería: Exhiben cerebros en Metro La Raza" [Photo Gallery: Brains on display at La Raza metro station]. Excélsior (in Spanish). Mexico City. 10 June 2015. Archived from the original on 29 December 2015. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
^Ahumada, Dulce (11 April 2016). "Fósiles y dinosaurios llegan al Metro La Raza" [Fossils and dinosaurs arrive to La Raza metro station] (in Spanish). máspormás. Archived from the original on 1 July 2020. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
^Notimex (25 January 2020). "Exponen obras de H. R. Giger en el Metro La Raza" [H. R. Giger's works on display at La Raza metro station]. El Universal (in Spanish). Mexico City. Archived from the original on 24 May 2020. Retrieved 25 June 2020.