Metro Balderas


Metro Balderas is an underground station on the Mexico City Metro. It is located in the Cuauhtémoc borough in the center of Mexico City. It is a transfer station along Lines 1 and 3.

Name and iconography

The station receives its name from the nearby Balderas street, which in turn was named in honor of Lucas Balderas, a Mexican military officer that participated in the Mexican–American War and was killed at the Battle of Molino del Rey in 1847. It is said that his last words were "poor country of mine".
The station pictogram depicts the colonial-era cannon preserved on the nearby Plaza de La Ciudadela. The cannon is a reminder of the Ten Tragic Days, which was a period a little bit longer than 10 days in which a coup the democratically elected government of Francisco I. Madero took place. This chapter would end with the murder of President Madero and Vice-President José María Pino Suárez, as well as the rise to the presidency of Victoriano Huerta.

General information

Nearby Metro Balderas are some interesting places, like La Ciudadela market, filled with Mexican handicrafts, the José Vasconcelos Central Library of Mexico City, and facilities of broadcaster Televisa. Next to the library lies a tianguis full of books old and new, comics, collectibles, etc.
This station has an information desk and facilities for the disabled. It also displays a plaque unveiled on 19 September 2004, celebrating Mexican rock musician Rockdrigo González, killed exactly 19 years earlier in the 1985 Mexico City earthquake and composer of a song titled "Metro Balderas". In September 2011 a real-size bronze statue of Rockdrigo was also unveiled inside the station.
Although this station is totally underground, cellular phone signals are able to reach the platform. The station also has charging stations for mobile devices.

History

Metro Balderas was opened on 4 September 1969, as part of the first stage of Line 1, going from Chapultepec to Zaragoza.
The station became the network's second transfer station, when the first stretch of Line 3, from Tlatelolco to Hospital General, was opened in November 1970.

Incidents

On Friday, 18 September 2009 a shooting occurred on the platform. A man was tagging one of the station walls with a marker, therefore, he was confronted by a police officer. He reacted by taking out a gun and killing him and a construction worker, who tried to disarm him, leaving also five wounded. The man later claimed that he committed the killings "in the name of god" and was sentenced to 151 years in prison.
On 29 December 2018, a woman gave birth to a child inside the station, at the Line 1 platforms, helped by personnel of the Mexican Red Cross.

Nearby

Line 1

Gallery