Brazil
Artyom Sharbatyan (Artyominc) / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 2010 · cropped
Brazil is the largest country in South America and the fifth largest in the world, with more than 213 million people — the seventh-largest population on earth, and much the largest Portuguese-speaking one. It is a federation of twenty-six states and a federal district holding the capital, Brasília; São Paulo is the most populous city, followed by Rio de Janeiro.
For a country of that size, Brazil has remarkably few passenger trains. Its railways were built for freight — iron ore and grain above all — and the extensive passenger network of a century ago has almost entirely gone, leaving commuter systems in the cities and a small number of long-distance survivors. Those survivors are worth the trouble, and they show the two faces of Brazilian rail: one everyday service still running hundreds of kilometres down a river valley to the sea, and a tourist descent through Atlantic rainforest that is often ranked among the most beautiful rides in the world.
Rail journeys in Brazil
The Santa Teresa Tram
Rio's yellow trams climb to Santa Teresa over an aqueduct finished in 1750, on a gauge set by the widest track its arches could carry.
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The Maria Fumaça
Of a narrow-gauge network over 700 km long, 12.8 km survived — and so did its Baldwin steam engines, because no other line in Brazil could use them.
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The Serra Verde Express
Down the Serra do Mar on a railway they said couldn't be built — 1885 tunnels and viaducts, 113-metre drops and unbroken Atlantic rainforest.
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The Corcovado Rack Railway
Brazil's oldest tourist railway opened up Corcovado in 1884, 47 years before Christ the Redeemer, and carried the statue up in pieces.
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The Vitória a Minas Railway
Brazil's last great passenger train — thirteen and a half hours down the Rio Doce valley, one daily service for people on a heavy iron-ore railway.
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Can you travel Brazil by train?
Only in a few places — Brazil's railways are almost all freight-only now. But three journeys stand out: the scenic Serra Verde Express down the Serra do Mar, the Vitória a Minas, the country's last daily long-distance passenger train, and the Corcovado Rack Railway up to Christ the Redeemer. For getting around generally, most Brazilians fly or take long-distance buses.
What is the Serra Verde Express?
The Serra Verde Express is a scenic tourist train that runs daily from Curitiba down the Serra do Mar to Morretes — about 3½–4 hours through Atlantic rainforest on an 1885 railway of 13 tunnels and 41 bridges and viaducts. You can ride in Tourist, Boutique or the luxury Litorina railcar.
Is there still a real long-distance passenger train in Brazil?
Yes — one. The Vitória a Minas Railway, run by Vale, is Brazil's only daily long-distance passenger service: 664 km and about 13½ hours between Belo Horizonte and Vitória, every day, in executive or economy class. It is a genuine everyday train, not a tourist special.
How do I buy train tickets in Brazil?
Book the Serra Verde Express directly at serraverdeexpress.com.br, and the Vitória a Minas train through Vale at vale.com/tremdepassageiros (online 24/7) or at the stations. Reserve ahead for the summer and July holiday peaks, when the better classes on both trains sell out.