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 The Central do Brasil Station, c. 1890s | |
 System map | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| Reporting mark | EFCB |
| Locale | Southeastern Brazil |
| Dates of operation | 1858–1957 |
| Successor | RFFSA |
The Estrada de Ferro Central do Brasil was one of the principal railways of Brazil, uniting the states of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Minas Gerais.
On 9 February 1855, The imperial government of Brazil signed a contract with Edward Price for the construction of the first section of a railway which had the aim of linking the court (then in the city of Rio de Janeiro) with the provinces of São Paulo and Minas Gerais.
It was constituted as the Companhia de Estrada de Ferro Dom Pedro II, under the directorship of Christiano Benedicto Ottoni. Works commenced on 11 June 1855 and on 29 March 1858, the 48 km 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) gauge [1] section from Rio de Janeiro to Freguesia de Nossa Senhora da Conceição de Marapicu (now Queimados) was completed.
At this time there were 5 stations: Campo, Engenho Novo, Cascadura (all in the city of Rio), Maxambomba (now Nova Iguaçu) and Queimados. On 8 November the railway was extended to Belém (now Japeri) at the foot of the Serra do Mar.
In 1860, the Japeri to Macacos branch was completed. On 12 July 1863 Rodeio (now Engenheiro Paulo de Frontin) was reached and, in 1864 the Paraíba do Sul. The first passenger train ran to Barra do Piraí on 9 August 1864.
After crossing the Serra do Mar the line forked with the main line going in the direction of Entre Rios (now Três Rios) and the other, the São Paulo branch, heading for Porto de Cachoeira (now Cachoeira Paulista), reaching there on 20 July 1875.
In Entre Rios (which was reached on 13 October 1867), the EF Dom Pedro II connected with the Estrada de Rodagem União e Indústria (1861) which went from Petrópolis to Juiz de Fora. From there it went on to other municipalities of Minas Gerais, reaching Queluz de Minas (now Conselheiro Lafaiete) in 1883.
When the Brazilian republic was proclaimed in 1889 the Estrada de Ferro Dom Pedro II was renamed Estrada de Ferro Central do Brasil (officially changing on 22 November). Meanwhile the extension works continued.
In 1895 the Minas Gerais tracks arrived at General Carneiro and split in the directions of Belo Horizonte and Sete Lagoas. The city of São Paulo had been reached in 1890 after the incorporation of the São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro railway which connected Cachoeira to São Paulo .
At the close of the 20th century, the EF Central do Brasil was still being extended, mainly by the incorporation of existing lines. However, some of the branch lines were loss making, often prejudicing the profitability of the main lines.
The railway arrived at Monte Azul in Minas Gerais near the border with the state of Bahia, on 10 September 1947 and in 1950 the Viação Férrea Federal Leste Brasileiro from Salvador also arrived there connecting with the Central do Brasil.
On 16 March 1957 the company came under the control of Rede Ferroviária Federal S.A. (RFFSA). One of the main consequences was the dividing up of various suburban systems which had been part of the Estrada de Ferro Central do Brasil, the closure of unprofitable lines and the absorption of some sections into other railways.
With the construction and later doubling of the Presidente Dutra motorway between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro in 1967 (competing with its most lucrative line), the railway ceased to be a major player, a process aggravated by inefficient administration in the RFFSA and the fact that railway transport had ceased to be a priority of the federal government.
During the petroleum crisis of 1973 there were attempts to modernize passenger transport; like the use of Ganz-Mavag locomotives – the so-called Hungarian train – between 1974 and 1978 in a failed attempt to develop a fast connection between Rio and São Paulo. In 1990 services between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo and between São Paulo and Belo Horizonte had all but ceased. There was an attempt to reinstate the Trem de Prata (silver train), a luxury service between the Rio and São Paulo run by a private company which ran for a short while but could not compete with the air and road connections between these two cities. A sparse service continued until 1996 but these ceased with the privatization of the RFFSA.
Nowadays, the suburban lines of São Paulo are run by Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos (CPTM) and those of Rio de Janeiro by Supervia . The rest of the network was divided up between 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) broad gauge (under the responsibility of MRS Logística ) and the 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) metre gauge (under Ferrovia Centro-Atlântica (FCA)).
The name "Central do Brasil" now only exists in the terminal station of SuperVia in Rio de Janeiro. This station was the setting for the film Central Station which was nominated for the best foreign language film Oscar in 1998.
Transport infrastructure in Brazil is characterized by strong regional differences and lack of development of the national rail network. Brazil's fast-growing economy, and especially the growth in exports, will place increasing demands on the transport networks. However, sizeable new investments that are expected to address some of the issues are either planned or in progress. It is common to travel domestically by air because the price is low. Brazil has the second highest number of airports in the world, after the USA.
Além Paraíba is a city in the southeastern Zona da Mata region of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The name indicates its position on the far bank of the Rio Paraíba do Sul. It was known as São José d'Além Parahyba until 1923.
The War of the Emboabas was a conflict in colonial Brazil waged in 1706-1707 and 1708-1709 over newly discovered gold fields, which had set off a rush to the region between two generations of Portuguese settlers in the viceroyalty of Brazil - then the Captaincy of São Vicente. The discovery of gold set off a rush to the region, Paulistas asserted rights of discovery and non-Paulistas challenged their claims. Although the Portuguese crown sought more control in the area and the Paulistas sought protection of their claims, the Emboabas won. The crown re-assessed its position in the region and made administrative changes subsequently.
The Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos (CPTM) is a rapid transit and commuter rail company owned by the São Paulo State Department for Metropolitan Transports. It was created on 28 May 1992, from several railroads that already existed in Greater São Paulo, Brazil.
Lavras is a municipality in southern Minas Gerais state, Brazil. Located at an altitude of 919 m, it has a population of 104,761 inhabitants (2022). The area of the municipality is 564.495 km2. The average annual temperature is 19.6°C and the average annual rainfall is 1,511 millimetres.
The Rede Ferroviária Federal, Sociedade Anônima was the State-owned national railway company of Brazil created from Brazilian Federal Law #3.115 on March 16, 1957, after several railroads were nationalized by the Brazilian government. However, the railroad did not take full effect until September 30, 1957. The RFFSA linked 42 railways together, creating a regional system composed of 22 railroads. The goal of the RFFSA was to promote and advance the railroad sector of Brazil, creating a north-south-east-west rail network in all five regions of Brazil. But it failed and the RFFSA only served four of the five regions with a north-south rail network win 19 units of the federation of Brazil. By 1999, freight service of the railroad was liquidated and privatized, with the passenger service of the railroad liquidations occurring in 2007.
The Estrada de Ferro Oeste de Minas (EFOM) was a 2 ft 6 in narrow-gauge railway located in the southeastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. At its peak the railway's route totalled 775 km (482 mi). A portion of the railway still operates as a heritage railway, and one of the major stations is now Brazil's largest railway museum.
Rail transport in Brazil began in the 19th century and there were many different railway companies. The railways were nationalized under RFFSA in 1957. Between 1999 and 2007, RFFSA was broken up and services are now operated by a variety of private and public operators, including Rumo Logística, Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos and SuperVia.
MRS Logística S.A. is a freight rail company located in Brazil that operates 1,643 kilometers (1,021 mi) of track. It is the concessionary company that operates the Southeastern Federal Railroad Network, in the populous states of Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo.
Companhia Paulista de Estradas de Ferro was a Brazilian railway company located in the state of São Paulo. It was known for its high standard of quality in customer service.
Engenho Novo is a neighborhood of middle class and lower middle of the North Zone of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The history of rail transport in Brazil dates back to 1835. In that year, Brazil's first Imperial decree was assigned to authorize a railroad which would connect Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Bahia, São Paulo and Rio Grande provinces and the main station would be in the Neutral Municipality (Corte) of Rio de Janeiro. However, the first railway line, with a gauge of 1,676 mm, was completed between the port of Mauá, in Guanabara Bay in the then province of Rio de Janeiro, and Fragoso, north of the Guanaraba Bay. Three steam locomotives made in England by William Fairbairn & Sons - which the more famous is the "Baroneza", hauled the trains on this 14 km (8.7 mi) short line.
São Cristóvão Station is a railway station in São Cristóvão, Rio de Janeiro which is serviced by the Rio de Janeiro Metro and SuperVia.
Events in the year 1960 in Brazil.
The São Paulo Metropolitan Train is a public transit rail system implanted in Greater São Paulo, serving 23 of its 39 municipalities. It has 273 km (170 mi) of length, 7 lines and 94 stations, transporting approximately 3 million passengers per day. Currently, it is operated by the state-owned company Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos (CPTM), but two of the lines were auctioned to ViaMobilidade, which began operating their administrations in January 2022.
Ferrovia Paulista S/A (FEPASA) was a São Paulo state-owned freight and passenger railway company, created by merging Paulista Railroads Company (CPEF), Mogiana Railroads Company (CMEF), Sorocabana Railroad (EFS), Araraquara Railroad (EFA), and São Paulo-Minas Railroad (EFSPM). It remained in activity from October 1971 until May 1998, when it was extinguished and incorporated into the Federal Railway Network S/A (RFFSA).
The GE 2-C+C-2 was an electric locomotive built by General Electric employed in the Companhia Paulista de Estradas de Ferro and later in the Estrada de Ferro Central do Brasil, based on the EP-4 model built for the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad. It had 3817 hp of power and total weight of 165 tons, being classified in the AAR standard as 2-C+C-2. They were employed between 1940 and 1998 when the last ones were deactivated by obsolescence by Fepasa in São Paulo.
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The Leopoldina Railway was the first railroad established in the current state of Minas Gerais. Located in the southeast of Brazil, it was inaugurated in 1874. it reached over 3,200 kilometers of track, including racks on the stretches of the Serra do Mar.
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