Companhia Paulista de Estradas de Ferro
The Companhia Paulista de Estradas de Ferro was a Brazilian railway company that operated a main line in broad gauge (1600 mm) and numerous branch lines (in gauge 1000 mm) in the hinterland of São Paulo between 1868 and 1971 . The company, based in Jundiaí , was one of the innovators in its industry and was known by its customers for good service and punctuality.
founding
The idea of building a railroad came about in the early 1860s when landowners, traders, and capitalists were looking for a way to transport the coffee that was being grown in interior São Paulo. They wanted the São Paulo Railway , also called Inglesa ( the English ), which had already built and operated the Santos - Jundiaí line, to extend that line to São João do Rio Claro (today's Rio Claro ), mainly because it already had the license for it.
The decision to found the Companhia Paulista was made after the São Paulo Railway refused to extend the route and justified this with the losses suffered in the Paraguay War. Even an extension to Campinas was impossible and the route of the São Paulo Railway only reached as far as Jundiaí, where the route of the Companhia Paulista was to begin and continue inland.
The then President of the São Paulo Province, Joaquim Saldanha Marinho , played a crucial role in the establishment, pooling the interests of landowners and capitalists, who were normally incompatible.
The company was incorporated on January 30, 1868 . Its first president was Clemente Falcão de Sousa Filho . However, construction began more than a year later after the imperial government approved the company's statutes. On August 11, 1872 , the first section was inaugurated. It reached with a track width of 1600 mm from Jundiaí to Campinas.
expansion
The expansion of the inland route continued and reached Rio Claro in 1875 and Descalvado in 1876 . The expansion then halted after the company refused to bow to political pressure from influential fazendeiros , who demanded that the extension to São Carlos via Morro Pelado (today's Analândia ) should lead.
The company was not allowed by the provincial administration under Laurindo Abelardo de Brito to continue its main route towards Ribeirão Preto , although this would have been the logical direction. Thus Descalvado was initially the end point of the line.
The concession for this route construction was awarded to the Companhia Mogiana , which meant an obvious break in their logical route. She therefore founded a new company called Companhia Rio Claro , which received the concession for the extension to São Carlos and Araraquara , with branch lines to Jaú and Bauru , starting from Itirapina .
A few years later, the Companhia Rio Claro, which belonged to the Arruda Botelho family of Conde do Pinhal , proposed a merger with the Companhia Paulista. However, this was rejected by the then President of Companhia Paulista, Fidêncio Nepomuceno Prates , although his technicians, who had inspected the Companhia Rio Claro facilities, recommended his approval.
The Companhia Rio Claro was subsequently sold to a The Rio Claro Sao Paulo Railway , which was based in London , and which had improvements to the facilities and other branch lines built.
Finally, after rumors of a possible merger of The Rio Claro with the Companhia Mogiana , The Rio Claro was bought by the Companhia Paulista President Antônio da Silva Prado in 1892 for the price of £ 2,775,000 of which £ 2,750,000 was borrowed in London and £ 25,000 paid immediately.
At the same time three other small railway companies were taken over: the Companhia Itatibense de Estradas de Ferro ( 1890 ), the Estrada de Ferro de Santa Rita and the Companhia Descalvadense (both 1892 ). <
These acquisitions paved the way for Companhia Paulista to expand further inland. The railway became the driving force in the region around the Moji-Guaçu and Rio do Peixe rivers , on the other hand it had feeders such as the Companhia Douradense , Noroeste do Brasil , Estrada de Ferro Araraquara , the São Paulo-Goias, Funilense and Ramal Ferreo Campineiro.
The São Carlos train station was demolished after the purchase of The Rio Claro and replaced by a larger building. After the inauguration of the new station in 1912 , the branch lines Ribeirão Bonito (Sao Carlos to Novo Horizonte ) and the Água Vermelha line (São Carlos to Santa Eudóxia ) met the main line.
In the early 20th century, the railway was further expanded and now extended to the border of Mato Grosso do Sul ( Alta Paulista and Panorama region , which was first colonized by rail links) and to the border of Minas Gerais ( Colômbia ). On this branch line, Companhia Paulista owned a cold store in Barretos .
In the 1950s, Companhia Paulista continued to grow by taking control of Companhia Estrada de Ferro do Dourado ( 1949 ) and Estrada de Ferro Barra Bonita ( 1951 ).
modernization
From 1922 , on the initiative of the then General Inspector Francisco Paes Leme de Monlevade , a large part of the main line was electrified. The electrification extended to Bauru and Araraquara.
Companhia Paulista was also the company that brought a number of technical improvements to Brazil. It was the first railway company to electrify its routes, to use steel wagons for travel and to build them themselves in their workshops, and to promote the construction of eucalyptus plantations in order to get cheap wood for the sleepers.
The Companhia Paulista passenger trains achieved a high standard of comfort and punctuality. Especially the R ( Rapido ) or Trem Azul ( Blue Train ) train , which consisted of three-class wagons, Pullman, First and Second Class and was equipped with dining cars, achieved a level of comfortable travel that is still difficult in Brazil to this day was achieved.
maintenance
The Companhia Paulista had four workshops where wagons and locomotives were serviced and repaired: In Jundiaí, Campinas, Rio Claro and Sao Carlos.
Decline
During the presidency of Juscelino Kubitschek , the Brazilian economy experienced great upheavals. Among other things, road transport was promoted at the expense of rail transport.
Strikes and dissatisfied employees as well as political interference lowered the level of service.
In 1971 the Companhia Paulista de Estradas de Ferro was taken over by Ferrovia Paulista SA .
Web links
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- ^ A b Adolfo Augusto Pinto: História da Viação Pública de São Paulo (Brazil). Tipografia de Vanorden, 1903.
- ^ Adolfo Augusto Pinto: Minha Vida - Memórias de um Engenheiro Paulista. Imprensa Oficial do Estado, 1969.
- ↑ Marcello Tálamo: História da Cia. Itatibense de Estradas de Ferro ( Memento from February 20, 2009 in the Internet Archive ). Visited on August 11, 2007.
- ↑ Ralph Mennucci Giesbrecht: Companhia Paulista de Estradas de Ferro - O ramal de Descalvado ( Memento of the original of March 22, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Visited on August 11, 2007.
- ↑ Marcello Tálamo: Ribeirão Bonito ( Memento of the original from January 28, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Visited on August 11, 2007.
- ↑ Ralph Mennucci Giesbrecht: Ramal da Água Vermelha . Visited on August 11, 2007.
- ^ Revista Ferroviária: História da Cia. Estrada de Ferro do Dourado ( Memento of December 18, 2001 in the Internet Archive ). Visited on August 11, 2007.
- ^ Nílton José Gallo: EF Brasil - Estrada de Ferro Barra Bonita . Visited on August 11, 2007.
- ^ Antonio Augusto Gorni: O Mestre e sua Obra Prima , visited on August 11, 2007.
- ↑ João Baptista Soares de Faria Lago: Descrição dos trens de passageiros da Companhia ( Memento of February 9, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), visited on August 11, 2007
