SALVADOR
Bahia - Brazil
Rapid transit lines and
freight railways are still being
built in Latin America, but most of the historic old railways
have disappeared or have discontinued passenger service.
The new lines use standard or a wider gauge
and some suburban trains are pulled by diesel locomotives.
An exception to this trend is a railway that still runs today in
Salvador, Brazil, and is remnant of one of Brazil's oldest
railroads,
the Ferrovia da Bahia ao S. Francisco, which opened in 1860.
The present line runs from Calçada station in the port
area
to Paripe, is 14 km long, electrified, uses meter gauge
and carries passengers - but has rarely been photographed.
Operator is the Companhia Brasileira de Trens Urbanos -
which runs suburban railways in several Brazilian cities
and wants to rebuild the Salvador line as a modern metro.
See map showing this line and the metro under construction.
The following pictures were taken
in February 1992 by Alexandre Santurian of Brazil
and in September 1999 by Andrew Ludasi of the United States.
Mr. Ludasi's slides were digitalized by Dave Porter.
Interior of
Calçada station, the terminus of the line
in Salvador's Cidade Baixa (Lower City).
[Andrew Ludasi]
The yard behind
Calçada station.
A section of Salvador's "Cidade Alta" (Upper City)
can be seen beyond. [Andrew Ludasi]
The railway uses 18
motor cars
built in 1962 by ACF/GE in the United States
and 31 trail cars from Pidner in Brazil.
Note CBTU logo on the side. [Andrew Ludasi]
About 4 km north of
Calçada the line crosses São João Bridge
over part of Todos os Santos Bay. The bridge was built in 1952
and is 540 m long. It replaced the original bridge of 1860.
[Alexandre Santurian]
Almeida Brandão
station, just north of the bridge,
is one of eight stops on the line.
[Alexandre Santurian]
The railway skirts the
shore of Todos os Santos Bay,
which is about 30 km wide.
The scene here is near Itacaranha.
[Alexandre
Santurian]
Periperi station is
inland and 10.4 km from Calçada.
[Alexandre Santurian]
The Periperi tunnels,
between Periperi and Coutos stations.
The left tunnel is the original English structure of 1860
and is the oldest railway tunnel in South America
(the San Pedro tunnel near Limache, Chile, opened in 1861).
The right tunnel was added when the line was
double-tracked and electrified in the 1940s.
Electrification - and passenger service - ends at Paripe
about 2 km beyond the tunnels. [Alexandre
Santurian]
This webpage
was created by Allen
Morrison on 15/10/1999.
Additional photographs were added on 15/3/2002.