Retiro has cleaned itself up in the past couple of years. Buenos Aires overall has become a clean…read morecity. Just a few years ago it was common to see people just throw trash down where they were standing even when a trashcan was three feet away. Not anymore. As for train service, the network of trains in Argentina is limited and from Retiro you can only really get to the surrounding areas, nothing long-distance. The electronic tickets sales speed things up and are easy to use. Security is present and keeps things mostly in order just use common sense because... Argentina. I'm an American-Argentinian writing this review (no, don't try to convince me that everyone from N. or S. America is American, the A. in USA is for America, put America in the name of your country and we'll call you American also).

The direct train from Retiro was temporarily shut down the week of my visit due to renovations on…read morethe track so I took an Uber over to Estacion Maipu to catch the Tren de la Costa. Maipu was about 1/2 hour from Palermo SOHO. The Tren de la Costa was a more scenic route to/from Tigre. Trains were running about every 1/2 hour that day and took a little over 1/2 hour to reach Tigre . Ride went as expected for a small train plus it was clean and somewhat comfortable plastic and fabric seats. In Tigre, the line conveniently ended at the Delta Station right next to the Parque de la Costa or a short walk to the Puerto de Frutos (shopping stalls) or Estacion Fluvial (for river cruises). Fare was around 560ARS using an unregistered SUBE card. You only need to scan the SUBE card when entering through the gates. Do NOT tap the SUBE card on the train as I mistakenly did since that debits your card 2 times. There were a few stations along route that one could get off and grab a coffee/pastry, see a nearby church, shop at a weekend bazaar or walk over to a beach with views of BA. Overall a nice and cheap way to get to Tigre from BA if the regular Mitre train line was running.