The São Paulo Railway Company (SPR, nickname ''Ingleza'', transl.: ''The English''
) was a privately owned British railway company in Brazil, which operated the gauge railway from the seaport at
Santos via
São Paulo
São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...
to
Jundiaí
Jundiaí is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo, in the Southeast Region, Brazil, Southeast Region of Brazil, located north of São Paulo. The population of the city is 443,221, with an area ...
. The company was nationalised in 1946 and became the
Estrada de Ferro Santos-Jundiaí
Estrada de Ferro Santos-Jundiaí was a gauge railway line in São Paulo, Brazil.
On 13 September 1946, the São Paulo Railway was nationalised by the federal government, and passed to be managed by the Brazilian Ministry of Transportation and P ...
.
The São Paulo Railway consists of three parts:
* The long
adhesion railway
An adhesion railway relies on adhesion traction to move the train, and is the most widespread and common type of railway in the world. Adhesion traction is the friction between the drive wheels and the steel rail. Since the vast majority of railw ...
at the coast from Santos to Piaçaguera near
Cubatão
Cubatão is a city in the state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Brazil, 12 kilometers away from Santos (São Paulo), Santos seaport, the largest in Latin America. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of the Baixada Santista. The population i ...
* The long
steep grade from Piaçaguera to
Paranapiacaba
* The
adhesion railway
An adhesion railway relies on adhesion traction to move the train, and is the most widespread and common type of railway in the world. Adhesion traction is the friction between the drive wheels and the steel rail. Since the vast majority of railw ...
on the plateau from Paranapiacaba via São Paulo to Jundiaí
Three different systems were used to climb the steep grade between Piaçaguera and Paranapiacaba:
* A four section
cable railway
A cable railway is a railway that uses a Wire rope, cable, rope or chain to haul trains. It is a specific type of cable transportation.
The most common use for a cable railway is to move vehicles on a Grade (slope), steeply graded line that is t ...
with stationary steam engines, in use from 1867 till 1970, called ''Serra Velha'', transl.: ''Old Mountain''
* A five section cable railway with stationary steam engines, in use from 1901 till 1982, called ''Serra Nova'', transl.: ''New Mountain''
* An electrified
rack-and-adhesion railway built on the right of way of the abandoned ''Serra Velha'' opened in 1974, called ''Sistema Cremalheira-Aderência'', transl.: ''System Rack-and-adhesion''
Planning
In 1859, a group of people led by the
Barão de Mauá convinced the Brazilian government that it was important to construct a railroad connecting São Paulo to the seaport at Santos. The main purpose of the project was the transport of the coffee grown on the inland plateau to the Atlantic coast for export. The biggest difficulty was the task to overcome the steep east slope of the 800-meter high
Serra do Mar
The Serra do Mar (; ) is a system of mountain ranges and escarpments in Southeast Region, Brazil, Southeastern Brazil.
Geography
The Serra do Mar runs parallel to the Atlantic Ocean coast from the state of Espírito Santo to southern Santa Ca ...
, which was considered to be nearly impracticable. Therefore, Barão de Mauá asked Britain to clarify the feasibility of a railway line for locomotive hauled trains within a budget limit of 200,000 £. The greatest technician for this subject was consulted: Scottish railroad engineer
James Brunlees
Sir James Brunlees FRSE MICE (1816 – 1892) was a Scottish civil engineer. He was President of the Institution of Civil Engineers for 1882-3.
He was born in Kelso in the Scottish Borders in 1816.
Early life
Brunlees was the son of John Brun ...
.
Brunlees visited Brazil and considered that the project was feasible. He recommended engineer
Daniel Makinson Fox to Barão de Mauá for the execution of the project. Fox was at that time only 26 years old but had already experience in the construction of railways through the mountains of northern Wales and the hillsides of the
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees are a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. They extend nearly from their union with the Cantabrian Mountains to Cap de Creus on the Mediterranean coast, reaching a maximum elevation of at the peak of Aneto. ...
. He realised that the railway could only climb the slope in the Serra do Mar if a long
incline system was built. An adhesion railway would have used to overcome the slope and would have also overrun the 200,000 £ budget.
Construction
Daniel Fox's proposal for the railway line from Santos to Jundiaí including the incline system was approved by Brunlees and the ''São Paulo Railway Company'' (SPR) was established to build the railway system and operate it for 90 years.
Since the capital of the company was mainly British also the official company name was in English, not Portuguese. The railway company contracted with
Robert Sharpe & Sons to acquire the land, execute the works and supply all rolling stock and plant.
Construction on the long adhesion railway Santos – Piaçaguera began on 15 March 1860 and on the incline system in the year 1861.
The road was constructed without explosives since it was felt that the slopes were very unstable. The rock was excavated only with
plug and feather
Plug and feather, also known as plugs and wedges, feather and wedges, wedges and shims, pins and feathers and feather and tare, is a technique and a three-piece tool set used to split stone.
Description
Each set consists of a metal wedge (the ...
s. Embankments of in height were constructed to protect the tracks from the frequent torrential rains in the area, which used about rocks. The line did not have any tunnels.
In spite of all the difficulties, the construction finished 10 months ahead of the date specified in the contract, which was eight years. The ''São Paulo Railway'' was opened on 1867-02-16.
''Serra Velha'' – the first incline system

The part of the route climbing the
Serra do Mar
The Serra do Mar (; ) is a system of mountain ranges and escarpments in Southeast Region, Brazil, Southeastern Brazil.
Geography
The Serra do Mar runs parallel to the Atlantic Ocean coast from the state of Espírito Santo to southern Santa Ca ...
consisted of four 10.3% grade
cable railway
A cable railway is a railway that uses a Wire rope, cable, rope or chain to haul trains. It is a specific type of cable transportation.
The most common use for a cable railway is to move vehicles on a Grade (slope), steeply graded line that is t ...
sections with the following length:
* section 1:
* section 2:
* section 3:
* section 4:
At each section the wagons were attached to a steel wire rope with the help of a specially fitted
brake van
Brake van and guard's van are terms used mainly in the UK, Ireland, Australia and India for a Rolling stock, railway vehicle equipped with a hand brake which can be applied by the Conductor (transportation), guard. The equivalent North Americ ...
called ''Serrabreque'' (
transl.: ''Hill Brake''). The steel cable was driven by a stationary steam winding engine at the top end of the section, where a extension with a 1.3% grade was also fitted, so that the wagons could be led to the next section.
The incline system was later called ''Serra Velha'' (transl.: ''Old Mountain'') to distinguish it from the later built second incline system called ''Serra Nova''.
''Serra Nova'' – the second incline system
The large volume of coffee shipments and the growth of the cities in the São Paulo region required more transport capacity. Therefore, the construction of a second incline system started in 1895. The new line ran parallel to the already existing one in about distance. It had five sections using continuous steel wire ropes which were moved by stationary steam engines. Each section was about long and had a grade of 8%. Two to three wagons were coupled to the rope with the help of small locomotives fitted with grip engaging with the cable. These locomotives were also able to handle the wagons in the terminal station and between the sections so that the operation of the incline system was facilitated. The locomotives have been called ''Locobreque'' (transl.: ''Brake locomotives''). In case the weight of the wagons to be lifted was too heavy compared to the wagons lowered at the same time, tank cars filled with water were used to
counterbalance
A counterweight is a weight that, by applying an opposite force, provides balance and stability of a mechanical system. The purpose of a counterweight is to make lifting the load faster and more efficient, which saves energy and causes less wear ...
the system. The incline system was used in revenue service till 1982.
File:5ª Machina - Novos Planos Inclinados.jpg, Power house of the fifth ''Serra Nova'' section in Paranapiacaba
File:Paranapiacaba pic10.JPG, ''Locobreque'' with two coaches on a tourist trip in 1987
File:Paranapiacaba pic04.JPG, Grip of the ''Locobreque''
File:Paranapiacaba pic06.JPG, Steam engine in the power house at Paranapiacaba
Protests
In 1889, the first protests were made against the British monopoly over the route to Porto de Santos, which culminated in the construction of ''Mairinque–Santos'' in 1937, by the .
Nationalisation
On 1946-09-13, the railroad was nationalised by the Brazilian government, and renamed the
Estrada de Ferro Santos-Jundiaí
Estrada de Ferro Santos-Jundiaí was a gauge railway line in São Paulo, Brazil.
On 13 September 1946, the São Paulo Railway was nationalised by the federal government, and passed to be managed by the Brazilian Ministry of Transportation and P ...
, and on 1948-09-27, it was merged with most of the other Brazilian railways into the ''
Rede Ferroviária Federal SA'' (
RFFSA
The Rede Ferroviária Federal, Sociedade Anônima (RFFSA, pronounced as ''Refesa'') () was the State-owned national railway company of Brazil created from ''Brazilian Federal Law #3.115'' on March 16, 1957, after several railroads were nationali ...
).
''Sistema Cremalheira-Aderência'' – the Rack-and-adhesion railway
In the 1970s (well after it had been renamed), the
haulage system was replaced by an
Abt rack system
A rack railway (also rack-and-pinion railway, cog railway, or cogwheel railway) is a steep grade railway with a toothed rack rail, usually between the running rails. The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with t ...
with a maximum gradient of 10.4 %, which was installed by Japanese firm
Marubeni
(, OSE: 8002, NSE: 8002) is a '' sōgō shōsha'' (general trading company) headquartered in Otemachi, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. It is one of the largest ''sogo shosha'' and has leading market shares in cereal and paper pulp trading as wel ...
. The locomotives for this changeover were constructed by
Hitachi
() is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1910 and headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo. The company is active in various industries, including digital systems, power and renewable ener ...
with the help of
SLM. They work with 3 kV DC supplied by
overhead lines
An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, Electric multiple unit, electric multiple units, trolleybuses or trams. The generic term used by the International Union ...
.
Starting from 2012, the original Hitachi locomotives were replaced by seven new-built machines supplied by
Stadler.
File:Cremalheira 1.jpg, Top end of the rack railway section in Paranapiacaba
File:Paranapiacaba Nov 2003.jpg, Two Hitachi-Locomotives with a downhill train entering the rack railway in Paranapiacaba
See also
*
Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos
The Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos (CPTM) () is one of the rapid transit companies serving the city of São Paulo, alongside the São Paulo Metro, Via Quatro and Via Mobilidade, all four forming the largest metropolitan rail transpo ...
*
List of funicular railways
This is a list of funicular railways, organised by place within country and continent. The funiculars range from short urban lines to significant multi-section mountain railways.
A funicular railway is distinguished from the similar incline elev ...
References
External links
History of the São Paulo Railwayin Portuguese
A Very British Railway (book by Paul Catchpole)* illustrated description of the São Paulo Railway
*Fawcett, Brian, "Coffee on a Shoestring", ''
Trains
A train (from Old French , from Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles th ...
'' magazine (USA), June 1956 (Concise early history, and description of operations on the second incline section as it was in 1956)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sao Paulo Railway
Transport in São Paulo
Railway companies of Brazil
5 ft 3 in gauge railways in Brazil
Railway lines in Brazil
Rack railways in Brazil