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. Track gauge The rail system in Brazil operates on three rail gauges: Broad gauge: gauge Metre gauge: gauge Standard gauge: gauge: Used on lines 4, 5, and 6 of the São Paulo Metro and the Salvador Metro so that they can use "off the shelf" equipment. Estrada de Ferro do Amapá in the middle of the Amazon rainforest also used standard gauge. Dual gauge: and gauges (three rails) (1999 est.) Total: ( electrified).
A 12 km section of the former gauge Estrada de Ferro Oeste de Minas is retained as a heritage railway. Rapid transit and light rail
Metros operating and under construction: Belo Horizonte Metro Federal District Metro Fortaleza Metro Porto Alegre Metro Recife Metro Rio de Janeiro Metro (Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Area) Salvador Metro São Paulo Metro (São Paulo Metropolitan Area)
Light rail (VLT) and interurban systems operating and under construction: Baixada Santista Light Rail VLT do Cairi Sistema de Trens Urbanos de João Pessoa Maceió Urban Rail Rio de Janeiro Light Rail Sistema de Trens Urbanos de Natal Teresina Metro
Tramways and light rail
Steam-powered, horse-drawn and electric tramways operated in Brazil from 1859 until 1989, new systems were introduced in the 1980s and 90s in Rio de Janeiro and Campinas with no success, nevertheless, that may change soon as studies are being conducted to introduce tramway systems in Goiânia, and Curitiba now plans a light metro to replace bus rapid transit (BRT) in a major corridor, and in Cariri, the Cariri MetroTram that will run between Crato and Juazeiro do Norte is under construction.
List of light rail transport (LRT) or tramway systems in Brazil: VLT Carioca in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro Salvador LRT in Salvador, Bahia Baixada Santista LRT, between Santos and São Vicente, São Paulo VLT de Sobral in Sobral, Ceará VLT de Maceió in Maceió, Alagoas VLT do Cariri in Juazeiro do Norte, Ceará VLT de Fortaleza in Fortaleza, Ceará VLT do Distrito Federal in the Federal District (Brasília) VLT de Cuiabá in Cuiabá, Mato Grosso
Passenger Rail Intercity trains Although Brazil has one of the largest rail networks, it lacks passenger transportation. Passenger trains were controlled by state-run companies until a mass privatization occurred in 1996–1999. By then, most tracks and rolling stock were in a very poor condition and most trains would not run over 60 km/h even on broad gauge, forcing the now private-run railway companies to shut down almost every single regional and long-distance service in the entire country in the next 5 years. The situation remains the same as of 2025.
The state of São Paulo used to have an extensive network of long-distance rail running on electrified and mostly rectified tracks, with specifically designed broad-gauge sections in the 1970s built for 160km/h electric train operation. The number of passengers from 1980s dwindled, due to lack of funds, the economic crisis at the end of the military dictatorship era in Brazil, lack of interest from the new governments in railway investment, and several design flaws that were never corrected, mainly:
Severely limited capacity north of São Paulo: The line between São Paulo and Campinas was double-track, but never triple or quad-tracked, which meant that faster trains were incapable of overtaking the ever increasing frequency of stopping commuter trains on Line 7 of São Paulo commuter rail network, which increased journey times between São Paulo and Campinas from 1h 15min to almost 3h. Further connections north of Campinas suffered from poor railway maintenance and winding tracks through the dense urban aglomeration, with electric trains being capable of reaching 120km/h+ only in more sparsely populated sections north of Rio Claro, from where the electrified tracks did not go much further, requiring extra time necessary to swap for slower diesel locomotives, bringing the whole average journey times down. Lack of suitable rolling stock: Most of the passenger train compositions were made with 1930s to 1940s built V8 electric locomotives which suffered from high maintenance due to their age, and a small amount of relatively modern 1950s Budd passenger cars amongst many old passengers cars (many still wooden-built). Diesel locomotives were mostly designed for freight, with maximum speeds of rarely more than 90km/h (which could only be achieved in the unelectrified São Paulo-Rio line), and slow acceleration. During the late 1970s modern DMUs were got from Hungary which were a great improvement in terms of comfort, technology, and speed (140km/h), and were meant to be used on São Paulo-Rio connections to achieve record average speeds in connecting both capitals in 6h. But due to unpredicted design mismatches due to the terrain those trains were designed to run (in mostly flat Hungary), meant that it did not have enough torque to climb the Serra do Mar mountains, and they were repurposed for connections North of São Paulo, which suffered greatly from the above-mentioned point. Mixed gauge: São Paulo had a decently sized broad-gauge network, but most of the network was narrow-gauge. For example, the metre-gauge Mogiana line, which was the most important narrow-gauge line in the state and amongst the main railways in Brazil, had passenger services begin in Campinas and continue all the way to the country capital of Brasilia. Although this railway was partly electrified and mostly rectified, with curve radius that theoretically could achieve over 120km/h, the nature of metre-gauge and lack of suitable higher-speed capable narrow-gauge rolling stock meant that it could still not compete in speed with the connections between Campinas, Ribeirao Preto, Uberaba, Uberlandia and Brasilia, the problem was further aggravated due to the need to switch trains in Campinas, which already took too long to travel from São Paulo due to the previously mentioned bottleneck.
These reasons, amongst others, meant that after privatization, the newly formed operators were not interested in the vast amounts of investment that would be required to make the passenger lines profitable.
Currently the country's rail network is almost entirely used for heavy freight transport only, all of the electrification of routes which were used for intercity passenger trains in broad gauge lines in São Paulo (state) are completely dismantled, as well as most of the train stations that are now in ruins (some were refurbished and are used as museums, government facilities and other purposes). Much of the dual-track lines are also abandoned, with trains making use of only one track now, the vast majority of which are in a very poor state of maintenance, running at very slow speeds. The lines and branch lines which were used for passenger only, which were not profitable for current private operators, and are now completely abandoned. Brazil today has only a few heritage railways and two long-distance trains operated by Vale on narrow gauge that are mainly used of a tourist attraction due to the scenic journey rather than a transportation system, especially due to the slow operating speed (60 km/h maximum), making Brazil's land rail public transportation infrastructure one of the worst and slowest, in average speed, in the world.
Rapid-transit and commuter São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro both have extensive rapid transit and commuter train routes. Although there may be discussed that they are much less than it should be for cities with their proportions, both systems are almost fully electrified and mostly have modern air-conditioned EMUs. Both systems are in constant expansion, but São Paulo is growing much faster, with currently 6 projects of subway and commuter lines being applied (3 in construction and 3 in advanced planning).
Apart from the large systems in Rio and São Paulo, the further cities in Brazil with smaller commuter train systems include the Cariri region, João Pessoa, Maceió, Natal, and Teresina. The other Brazilian metro systems are the Belo Horizonte Metro, Federal District Metro, Fortaleza Metro, Porto Alegre Metro, Recife Metro and Salvador Metro.
Future developments In the light of the problems with the lack of intercity passenger rail transportation, there are many projects to reinstall fast passenger trains back to Brazil, although all of them are on halt due to the current political and financial crisis.
High-speed rail
In September 2008, Brazil's Transportation Ministry announced a high-speed train project for the world cup connecting São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Campinas. This would cost US$15 billion. These lines will use standard gauge.
The current financial crisis has put this high-speed project on complete halt, and has no prediction on when it will be resumed.
Regional Trains in São Paulo
In 2010, São Paulo state government showed off a project to build up 4 regional intercity trains routes connecting the area surrounding São Paulo with high population cities close by, which today rely exclusively on intercity buses that are almost completely saturated and running at very short intervals at full capacity. The original plan was for construction to start 2013–2014, but the Brazilian financial crisis that it is suffering since 2015 has put all projects on standby, and the next prediction is for construction to start only by 2025.
International link On 23 August 2008, Argentina, Brazil, and Venezuela agreed to develop an electrified long-distance passenger railway link between these countries. A minor hurdle is the use of both 50 Hz and 60 Hz railway electrification systems. There is also a confusion of gauges (3 gauges of 1435mm, 1600mm and 1676mm) to overcome.
New freight line A new metre gauge line from Maracaju via Cascavel to Paranaguá for agricultural products is proposed.Railway Gazette International April 2009, page 62
Ferrogrão railway A new north–south (1600mm gauge) line is planned, known as EF-170 and separate from the rest of the network, between Sinop in Mato Grosso state and the inland port of Miritituba in Pará state on the River Tapajós, first phase 933km. The line is expected to be used primarily for moving export grain and soy products from Mato Grosso state, but it would also carry fertilizer, sugar, ethanol and petroleum products: this traffic is currently carried on the BR163 trunk road.
Railway links with adjacent countries Country Location Line Gauge Brazilian Gauge Line Location Argentina Paso de los Libres Urquiza unknown Uruguaiana Bolivia Puerto Suárez unknown E.F. NOB Corumbá Uruguay Rivera Linea Rivera unknown Santana do Livramento Uruguay Rio Branco Linea Rio Branco unknown Jaguarão
Heaviest trains Brazil has some of the heaviest iron ore trains in the world, and these run on the metre gauge track of the EFVM railway, these trains are pulled by a fleet of specially built locomotives that utilize 4-axle trucks or two pairs of 2-axle trucks with span bolsters. The first model of locomotive built specially for this duty was the DDM45, created by EMD in 1970. 83 examples were delivered to the EFVM. Later, in the early 1990s the EFVM also ordered BB40-8M models from General Electric and continues to order further BB40-9W models, also from GE.