The Carajás Railway (; EFC or EF-315) is a
railway
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...
line linking the cities of
Parauapebas,
Pará
Pará () is a Federative units of Brazil, state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins (state), Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas (Brazilian st ...
and
São Luís,
Maranhão
Maranhão () is a States of Brazil, state in Brazil. Located in the country's Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region, it has a population of about 7 million and an area of and it is divided into 217 municipalities. Clockwise from north, it ...
, in Brazil. The line is one of the few in Brazil to carry passengers as well as cargo.
It is one of the largest passenger railways in operation in Brazil, with five stations and ten stops, covering São Luís,
Santa Inês,
Açailândia,
Marabá and Parauapebas. However, the EF-315 is specialized in transporting mineral cargo, extracted from the
Serra dos Carajás mines, and taken to the ports of
São Marcos Bay in Maranhão for export. It transports over 120 million tons of cargo and 350,000 passengers a year.
The EF-315 is also interconnected with two other railway lines:
São Luís–Teresina Railway and Norte-Sul Railway. The first crosses states in the Northeast region and the second crosses the states of Maranhão, Tocantins, Goiás, Minas Gerais and São Paulo, facilitating the export of grains and industrialized products through the
Port of Itaqui, in São Luís.
References
{{Reflist
5 ft 3 in gauge railways in Brazil