Line E was opened on 20 June 1944, after construction began in 1938, with an original route that ran from
Constitución railway station to
General Urquiza. Soon after, it was decided to abandon the terminus at Constitución (which also served as the connection with
Line C) and instead reroute the line towards the
Plaza de Mayo. Work began in 1957, and in 1966 the
San José,
Independencia,
Belgrano and Plaza de Mayo (now
Bolívar) stations were opened to the public by president
Arturo Umberto Illia. For many years, the two stations that had been closed as a result of the Line E re-route remained unused until the mid-1990s when one was converted into a workshop to service the rolling stock of the line. The line was further extended in 1973 to
José María Moreno and then again in 1985 to
Plaza de los Virreyes. The
PreMetro E2 tramway was completed in 1987 and was linked to Line E with the intention of connecting a larger
Premetro network to the line, although this never materialised following privatisation. Under the private operation of the Subte by
Metrovías, the colour of the line was changed from yellow to purple during the 1990s. Purple had previously been used for
Line C, while yellow is now used for
Line H.
Extension to Retiro As part of a general effort to extend the Buenos Aires Underground, it was decided to extend Line E from Bolívar to
Retiro railway station (with intermediate stations at
Catalinas and
Correo Central) where it would re-connect with
Line C and the
Mitre Line, and eventually
Line H when its extension was completed. By 2014, all the major structural works had been completed on the three new stations with the tracks and signalling systems still to be completed. In July 2015, the City of Buenos Aires confirmed that, despite the advanced state of the works, the extension would not be opened until 2019 citing delays that came about as a result of the transfer of the works from the National Government to the City Government in 2012. The city completed the additional work required by the new deadline. On Monday 3 June 2019 the extension to Retiro was completed. The extension was expected to increase ridership on the line by 25%. ==Rolling stock==