Las Torres Light Rail

Las Torres Light Rail Station is the first outside of the Tasqueña terminal. As such, international travelers likely won’t pay the station much mind. It’s named for the Avenida Cerro de las Torres which is interrupted here by the more prominent Calzada de Tlalpan.

The now truncated Avenida Cerro de las Torres once ran to the Canal Nacional northeast of the station we see today. This was the site of the original Cerro de las Torres Campus of the Iberoamerican University. During the twilight of the tramvia period in Mexico City, the 1970s, the station was important for students traveling up the avenue to the campus that opened there in 1961. A 1979 earthquake destroyed most of the campus, albeit with very few human casualties. Thereafter, the Jesuit leadership of the school made plans to move the university to Santa Fe where it remains today. The site of the former campus is today an office complex of the GNP Insurance Group.

The far stretch of the Avenida de Las Torres is a good example of an early linear park. As the overhead high-voltage lines prevent development underneath, they have left some space open for greenery and recreational space. This is ironic, as the powerline crosses the Campestre Churubusco neighborhood. The colonia developed as a residential complement to the country club directly to the west of most of the neighborhood. Opened in 1900, it’s still likely the most important private golf club within Mexico City.