Abstract

Background: This article deals about the implementation and expansion of the rail network in Brazil considering the first one hundred years, since the period of Portugal Regency, the role of the entrepreneur Baron of Mauá, the government of Getulio Vargas, the period of the dictatorship until the democracy and first results of the privatization. A general view of the Brazilian railways history was marked by scattered and isolated network without integration of regions, hindering the integration of the internal market and the economic development. This is the first part of a text that presents the Brazilian railway infrastructure until nowadays with the growth of private investments.

Keywords

railway, infrastructure, Brazil, urban development, privatization, lossy roads, uneconomical rail extensions