Santa Teresa Tram

The Santa Teresa Tram (Portuguese: Bonde de Santa Teresa, IPA: [bõˈdʒi dʒi ˈsɐ̃tɐ teˈɾezɐ]) is a historic tram line in Rio de Janeiro,Brazil, connecting the city centre with the primarily residential, inner-city neighbourhood of Santa Teresa, in the hills immediately southwest of downtown. It is currently maintained mainly as a tourist attraction, and is nowadays considered a heritage tramwaysystem, having been designated a national historic monument in 1988.^[1] The line has a very unusual gauge: 1,100 mm(3 ft 7 ⁵⁄₁₆ in). The main line is 6.0 kilometres (3.7 mi) long.^[2]

Having run continuously since its opening in 1877, it is one of the oldest street railway lines in the world^[1] and, having been electrically powered since 1896, it is the oldest electric railway in all of Latin America.^[3] It is also the only remaining metropolitan tram system in Brazil. The only other original tram systems in the country to have survived past 1971 are the Campos do Jordãointerurban tram/light rail line and the Itatinga line (near Bertioga), a rural and non-public tram line,^[4] which both continue to operate today.^[3] All other cities closed their systems by 1971 (Santos being the last), but since that time, three towns, Belém, Campinas &Santos, have reinstated trams as heritage services.

All service on the line has been suspended since 2011, as a result of a serious accident on the line,^[5] but a new fleet of 14 tramcars has been ordered,^[6] the line is being rebuilt, and reopening is projected for 2015

Routes

The Santa Teresa tram route rises from downtown Rio de Janeiro and follows a circuit of Santa Teresa hill, offering a high-level view of the city. It passes over the 45-metre (148 ft) high Carioca Aqueduct, a former aqueduct constructed in the 18th century^[1] and beneath which standard-gauge electric trams used to run.^[8] Except for the aqueduct, the route is shared by motor vehicles.

Before the 1960s, Rio de Janeiro trams served the entire downtown area and all near suburbs, but since 1967 only the Santa Teresa line remained. Lastly, it offered two regular services.

History

If horse-drawn tramways are included, trams have operated in Rio de Janeiro continuously since 1859. There are only four cities in the world in which trams have run longer: New Orleans (since 1835), Boston (1856), Mexico City and Philadelphia (both 1858).^[11]

Rio de Janeiro's first tramway was a 7-kilometre (4.3 mi) horsecar line on which service was inaugurated on 30 January 1859 (testing began in 1858).^[1] Constructed by Thomas Cochrane and operated by the Companhia de Carris de Ferro da Cidade a Tijuca, the service ran between the city centre and Tijuca. In 1862 steam trams replaced the horsecars, making the Tijuca line the first steam-powered tramway in South America, but the higher speed and poor condition of the track led to many derailments and the line was closed in 1866.^[1] It was reopened in 1870, by a different company.

A new horse-drawn tram was built in 1868 by Charles B. Greenough, and a service running from Rua do Ouvidor to Largo do Machado commenced on 9 October, extended to Botafogo six weeks later. By January 1871, the line had reached Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden, 10 km from the city centre.

Another horse-drawn tram, constructed by Albert H. Hager and run by the Rio de Janeiro Street Railway, opened on 25 November 1869. The first route ran to the palace grounds at Quinta da Boa Vista, with routes to Caju and São Cristóvão following later.

In 1870 the Rio de Janeiro Street Railway (soon to be renamed the Companhia de São Cristóvão) reopened the route of Cochrane's pioneer tramway to Tijuca. A new horse-drawn tram, constructed by João Batista Viana Drummond and run by the Companhia Ferro-Carril da Vila Isabel, opened in 1873. Further routes were opened to the Vila Isabel zoo, Engenho Novo, Méier, and the suburbs along the Dom Pedro II Railroad on the northwest side of town. The Ferro-Carril de Jacarepaguá company opened a new line in 1875, running from the Dom Pedro II Railroad's Cascadura station to Taquara and Freguesia.

In name only, the Santa Teresa tramway's first horse-drawn line, operated by Empreza de Carris de Ferro de Santa Theresa, opened in the same year of 1875, but served only the flat terrain within the city centre, not actually serving any of the Santa Teresa neighbourhood (or any part of the line that survives today); it was 820 mm (2.69 ft) gauge. The same company built both a funicular (513 m long) to take passengers from the city centre up to Santa Teresa hill, and a separate hilltop tram line which started at the top of the funicular. The hilltop Santa Teresa tramway, the predecessor of the current line, opened on 13 March 1877, with a gauge of 914 mm (3.0 ft).^[1][12] It ran from the funicular station east to Curvelo and west to Largo do França. This main Santa Teresa line was extended from Largo do França to Silvestre in 1890. The operating company's name changed in 1885, 1887 and 1891, but kept the name Companhia Ferro-Carril Carioca from 1891 until 1960.