Metro Politécnico is the terminal station on Metro Line 5. It’s just west of the giant National Polytechnic University, (IPN). Somewhat confusingly, many students will refer to the main campus here as Zacatenco, for the ancient town and, today, neighborhood of San Pedro Zacatenco, today east of the campus. The station serves not just the campus but the neighborhoods of Industrial Vallejo and Nueva Industrial Vallejo.
The mural in the station, (pictured) is called “La técnica al servicio de la patria,” (Technology in Service of the Fatherland) by José Luis Elías Jáuregui. Jáuregui also completed murals in the Instituto del Petróleo and Pantitlán stations.
- The National Polytechnic Institute began in 1932, with the idea of integrating a complete technical education system. The idea took shape in 1936 under President Lázaro Cárdenas. The Institute combined existing school still operating since the 19th century. These include National School of Homeopathic Medicine, the National School of Biological Sciences (today ENCB), and the Superior School of Commerce and Administration (ESCA). Among the most prominent are the Superior School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (ESIME), and the Superior School of Construction. The school began in the Casco de la ex-hacienda de Santo Tomás. The Santo Tomás campus is still an important part of IPN, just north of the Calzada de Mexico Tacuba. (Metro Normal is therefore the other important IPN Metro station)
- The giant Zacatenco campus was officially opened, here, in 1959.
- The campus extends northward to beneath Cablebús Line 1. Incredible views are available from there, and the second station, Ticomán, is used by some commuting students and staff.
Metro Politécnico is among the busier stations in the network, receiving about 18,000 passengers a day. On campus, international visitors usually head to the Jaime Torres Bodet Cultural Center, but of course, there are dozens of other points of interest.
