The first railroad in Brazil was inaugurated in 1854 by Emperor Dom Pedro II and had a length of 14.5 km, known as Estrada de Ferro de Mauá. Over the years, the railways underwent several expansions and also suffered from abandonment and oblivion. Rail transport is one of the most used in the world and knowing its origin is essential. Read about the history of Brazilian railroads and stay on top of the subject.

The history of railways in Brazil begins in 1854 with the inauguration of the Estrada de Ferro Mauá, inaugurated by Dom Pedro II, but conceived thanks to the genius of Irineu Evangelista de Souza (Barão de Mauá). With a length of 14.5 kilometers, the stretch leaves the city of Rio de Janeiro to Petrópolis.

The Mauá Railroad brought integration between waterway and rail transport. Its operation was considered the first intermodal transport in Brazil. The vessels docked at the port at the bottom of the Guanabara Bay and, then, the cargo was transferred to rail transport. This railroad was operated by the company “Imperial Companhia de Navegação a Vapor e Estrada de Ferro Petrópolis”, of the Visconde de Mauá.

The evolution of railroads continued in the 20th century, in 1900 Brazil expanded its extension of the rail network to 15,316 total kilometers. In 1919, the country already had 28,128 kilometers of railways. The State of São Paulo was the one that achieved the greatest expansion, at this stage it started to have 18 railroads, with that the industrial and agricultural growth of São Paulo was gigantic (Ministry of Infrastructure, 2016).

The evolution of steam engine locomotives for electric traction took place in the 1920s and later in 1938 diesel-electric traction appears. In addition, other important railways were created between 1900 and the 30s, they are:

1903 Vitória-Minas Railroad;
1912 Madeira-Mamoré Railway;
1917 Expansion of railroads in the south of the country connecting the ports of São Francisco do Sul and Paranaguá;
1935 Connection of the city of Ourinhos (SP) to Londrina (PR).

In 1990, the privatization era began through the National Privatization Program (PND), created by the Federal Government with the aim of improving services and investment in the sector. Today, the length of the railways in the country is 30,485 kilometers, where 29 of them are managed by public-private concession (ANTF, 2018).

Brazil has 13 privatized regional networks, operated by private concessionaires or publicly traded companies such as VALEC - Engenharia, Construções e Ferrovias S.A.. The privatized railways are:

Teresa Cristina Railway;
West Paraná Railroad;
North Mesh Course;
North South Railway (north section);
North South Railway (central frame);
Vitória to Minas Railroad;
Carajás Railway;
MRS;
West Mesh Course;
Towards Malha Paulista;
Transnordestina Railway;
Central-Atlantic Railroad; and
South Mesh Course.
At the beginning of 2019, the Federal Government resumed the privatization plan. The first step was to hold an auction for the concession of the Norte-Sul railroad, which connects the municipality of Estrela D'Oeste (SP) to the municipality of Porto Nacional (TO), passing through several Brazilian states and covering a total length of 1,537 km. , the winning company was Rumo Logística, with a bid of 2,719 billion reais.

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