Rail transport in Brazil

Rail transport in Brazil
Train at Luz Station, São Paulo
Operation
Infrastructure companyInfra S.A. [pt]
Major operatorsRumo Logística, MRS Logística, Vale S.A., VLI Multimodal S.A. [pt], CBTU [pt], CPTM
Statistics
Ridership2.48 billion (2023)[1]
System length
Total30,576 km (18,999 mi)[2] (2015)
Freight only29,074 km (18,066 mi)[3] (2022)
Track gauge
Metre gauge[3]
1,000 mm (3 ft 3+38 in)
22,539 km (14,005 mi)
Irish gauge
1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)
7,432 km (4,618 mi)
Dual gauge
1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) and 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+38 in)
514 km (319 mi)
Electrification
3 kV DC[4]1,121 km (697 mi)
Features
Longest tunnelTunelão, 8.645 km (5.372 mi)[5]
No. stations631 (2023)[1]
Map
Brazilian railway network in 2016

Rail transport in Brazil began in the 19th century and there were many different railway companies. The railways were nationalized under RFFSA (Rede Ferroviária Federal, Sociedade Anônima) 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.

Most railways in Brazil are for freight transportation or urban passenger transportation. Only two inter-city passenger railways survive: the Carajás Railway (connecting Pará and Maranhão) and the Vitória-Minas Railway (connecting Espírito Santo and Minas Gerais), both operated by Vale S.A.

  1. ^ a b "Balanço do Setor Metroferroviário 2023" (PDF). ANPTrilhos. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  2. ^ "Extensão da Malha Ferroviária - 2015". ANTT.
  3. ^ a b Pelissari, Felipe Cesar Sabino; Biedacha, Marina Myszak; Noronha, Marcos Aurélio Marques; Bisconsini, Danilo Rinaldi (30 June 2023). "Bitolas ferroviárias no Brasil: uma análise de integração da malha nacional". Observatório de la Economía Latinoamericana. 21 (6): 5711–5732. doi:10.55905/oelv21n6-132. ISSN 1696-8352. S2CID 259725182.
  4. ^ Secretaria Nacional de Transportes Terrestres (2022). "Produto 1.A.1 – Proposição de Diretrizes para a Formulação de Proposta de PDTFP e de Planejamento do Transporte Ferroviário de Passageiros" (PDF): 249. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  5. ^ disse, Paulo César de Oliveira (16 December 2021). "Conheça o Tunelão, o maior túnel do Brasil". Ferrovia Vez e Voz (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 5 October 2023.