The Santa Teresa Tram

The bridge that carries the tram into Santa Teresa was built to carry water. The Carioca Aqueduct was finished in 1750 to bring the Carioca river from the hills to a fountain in the middle of colonial Rio de Janeiro: 270 metres of whitewashed stone, 17.6 metres high, on 42 double arches. When the city stopped needing it, the aqueduct was given a second job. On 1 September 1896 electric trams began running along its top, and they still do.

The aqueduct also decided the shape of the railway. The line was rebuilt for electric traction on a gauge of 1,100 millimetres, an unusual width chosen because it was the widest the top of the arches could take, and every tram on the line has been built to fit it since.

From the Carioca terminal in the city centre the yellow open-sided cars cross the arches above Lapa and climb the Santa Teresa ridge through narrow cobbled streets, past old mansions and forest, to Dois Irmãos. Since June 2026 some trips go on to Silvestre, on a branch that had not carried passengers for nearly twenty years.

Trams leave from the Carioca terminal, officially Estação Motorneiro Nelson Correia da Silva, the only stop on the line with a station building. It stands on a garden loop between the conical Metropolitan Cathedral and the Petrobras headquarters, a short walk from Carioca metro station.

Within a few minutes the tram is on the aqueduct, running along the top of the arches above the squares of Lapa, then onto the hillside at the far end. From there it climbs through Santa Teresa on narrow cobbled streets, by way of Largo do Curvelo and Largo dos Guimarães, the neighbourhood's centre, to Largo do França and the terminus at Dois Irmãos. The main line is 6 kilometres long, and the ride to Dois Irmãos takes about 23 minutes. Openings between the houses give long views over the city below.

The branches

Three branches leave the main line. The Paula Mattos branch, reopened in January 2025, runs to Largo das Neves; a short spur up Rua Francisco Muratori is used for a single early trip. Beyond Dois Irmãos, the Silvestre branch adds 2.9 kilometres through Atlantic forest. It was reopened to passengers on 11 June 2026 after more than twenty years without service, at first with four trips a day on weekdays.

The trams

The cars are two-axle open trams in yellow with blue trim, with crosswise wooden benches and running boards along the sides. They look like the cars that worked the line for most of the twentieth century, but they are replicas: after a fatal derailment on 27 August 2011 closed the line, the state ordered 14 new trams from T'Trans of Três Rios. Eight were delivered, numbered 16 to 23, before the builder went bankrupt, and the first came in August 2014. They draw 600 volts from an overhead wire.

Service came back in stages: Carioca to Largo do Curvelo on 27 July 2015, Largo dos Guimarães that December, Largo do França in October 2018, and the whole line to Dois Irmãos on 21 January 2019.

The tram runs every day from the Carioca terminal. The pattern below is the one published by the Rio de Janeiro state government, operator of the line: the main line and the Paula Mattos branch as announced in March 2025, and the Silvestre branch as fixed in July 2026, after its trial period.

The ride from Carioca to Dois Irmãos takes about 23 minutes.

As of November 2026. The state government's public service page (opens in a new tab) points to the current timetable and fares.

One fare covers the whole line: R$ 20 for a return trip, which includes getting off and back on again in each direction on the same day. That makes it easy to ride up to Dois Irmãos, walk part of the way down through Santa Teresa and catch a later tram back to Carioca.

Travel is free for registered Santa Teresa residents, uniformed public-school pupils with their school card, people over 65 and holders of the state's Vale Social card. Fare as published by the state government; checked November 2026.

No rail pass covers the Santa Teresa tram. Interrail and Eurail are European schemes, and Brazil is not among the countries in Interrail's list of covered railway companies. The line sells only its own R$ 20 return fare.

Checked November 2026 against Interrail's list of railway companies (opens in a new tab), updated 21 October 2026.

The tram links two very different parts of Rio: the old centre around Largo da Carioca, with its colonial convent and its modern cathedral, and the hilltop neighbourhood of Santa Teresa, with its mansions, gardens and views over Guanabara Bay.

Stay on the ridge in Santa Teresa itself, a short walk from the tram stops, or in the city centre at the Carioca end of the line, where the large hotels are close to the metro.

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