LEOPOLDINA RAILWAY

The Leopoldina railway history began with the construction of a railroad stretch from Além Paraíba to Leopoldina, in the state of Minas Gerais. The construction was made by the engineer Antonio Paulo de Mello Barreto and the inauguration of the first stretch of 27 km, was in October 8th, 1874, when the stations of São José, Pântano and Volta Grande were inaugurated, with the presence of the emperor D. Pedro II and many authorities. Also, in 1874 the stations of São Luís and Providência were concluded, but only in July 1877, this stretch was completed with the inauguration of Cataguases (former Santa Rita of Meia Pataca) and Leopoldina stations, a total of 120 km. The railroad was not only used by passengers, but was also  used for the continuous transportation of goods, with  predominance of coffee.

 
In August of 1887 the Leopoldina railroad reached  Rio territory, when Cantagalo railroad, which linked  Porto das Caixas to Macaé, was acquired. In Minas Gerais the railroad had a lot of branches. In 1890, the Leopoldina incorporated several lines located in Rio de Janeiro and Espirito Santo, expanding so, its services in both provinces. The following extensions have been added to the main branch: Araruama, Príncipe do Grão Pará Railroad, Norte Railroad, Central de Macaé Railroad, the extension from Imbetiba to  Campos and from Campos to Sâo Sebastião, Santo Antonio de Pádua , Cantagalo Railroad  and the extension from Santo Eduardo to Itapemirim.

When the traffic was opened in August 1891, from the Campos railroad to São Fidelis and with the inauguration of the extensions of the Barão de Araruama to Ventania (later Trajano de Morais) and from Paraoquena to Cisneiros, the total extension of the  Leopoldina Railway Company railroad was 2,127,582 km thus distributed: 844,117 km in Minas Gerais; 1,246,465 km in Rio de Janeiro and 37 km in the Espírito Santo.

The financial situation of the company, however, began to deteriorate around 1890 and so the imperial government decided to help it  with a foreign loan to allow its reorganization. On April 3rd, 1897 its liquidation was approved and according to a proposal from the British creditors, a corporation was organized in London to continue operating its network, changing its name to The Leopoldina Railway Company Limited., Whose LR symbol became widely known.

 
The situation of facilities and infrastructure of the Leopoldina Railway lines was quite precarious, forcing the company to invest a reasonable amount of money to enable its functioning and also to extend the mesh. Thus, the stations, the railway and the rolling stock were repaired,  services were  reorganized, new lines were constructed and an agreement with the Central Bank of Brazil that allowed reciprocal benefits was made and the Leopoldina Railroad began to present new performance improving the economic situation.

Besides all the  improvements, other extensions were made. One of the greatest work undertaken by the Leopoldina Railway Company was an extension of the line from Itapemirim to the city of Vitória, a claim of the state government. To do this, on June 20th, 1907, the company acquired from the Federal Government the Railroad Sul do Espirito Santo, promoting, then, improvements and extensions necessary to connect Vitoria to the Federal Capital and the state of Minas Gerais.
 

81 km of rail were built from Matilde to Muniz Freire with a relatively high cost due to difficult conditions and the uneven land. In 1931, the network of Leopoldina Raiway was going through the Federal District and spread through the states of Rio de Janeiro, Espírito Santo and Minas Gerais.

 
The commercial decline of railway transportation, as occurred with other railways, also affected the Leopoldina and its traffic capacity has been significantly reduced. On December 20th, 1950, to resolve the crisis, the Federal Government took control of the railway adopting its original name  Leopoldina Railway. In that same decade, Leopoldina received from the Central Station  several stretches, especially the Railroad Marica, between Neves (Niterói) and Cabo Frio (RJ) and the link between Magé and Teresópolis. In the following decade, it received a stretch of the Auxiliary Line, between Japeri e Três Rios, probably replacing the line of Petropolis, eradicated at the same time. It is worth mentioning that between the 1960s and 1970s, during the Rede Ferroviária Federal S. A. (RFFSA)  control over the railway several Leopoldina’s extensions were eradicated.

 
With the creation of RFFSA in 1957, the Leopoldina Railway was incorporated to it and in 1969 it became  known as the 7th Leopoldina Division. In the 1970s it was incorporated to Rio de Janeiro Regional Superintendence- SR3 as Campos Production Superintendence-SP3.2. It was later transformed into the Campos Regional Superintendence -SR8, remaining this way until 1996 when, due to the privatization program of RFFSA, began the concession of the Center-East railway, which included the lines of the former Leopoldina Railway, to the Atlantic Railway.

 
In January 2010, Serra Verde Express put into operation the Capixabas Mountain Train, which passes through the towns of Viana, Marechal Floriano and Domingos Martins. The Litorina, with  capacity for 56 passengers, runs all weekends and holidays, two times in round-trip rides. The rides offer many attractions, from the landscape, to the history, culture and also ecotourism and extreme sports practices.


The little railroad that integrates the Center-East mesh under the concession of the Ferrovia Centro-Atlantica (FCA) – ascends from Viana, from an altitude of 15 meters above the sea level to 530 meters in an abrupt aclive when reaching its final point, Araguaia Station in Marechal Floriano. The itinerary offers breathtaking landscapes, including bridges, tunnels, abysses and waterfalls that emerge from the authentic Atlantic Forest that still covers the Mountain Range of Paraná.