🇧🇷 Country
Train routes in Brazil
11 routes · classic 2 · scenic 2 · heritage 5 · mountain 2
11 routes cross Brazil in the World Train Map atlas. The longest is the Estrada de Ferro Carajás at 892 km; the fastest is the Trem Vitória a Minas, running up to 80 km/h; the oldest line dates to 1874. Every route links to its facts, photo and story, and to the interactive world map.
Open the world railway map →Classic (2)
- Trem Vitória a Minas
Brazil’s busiest long-distance train: daily along the Rio Doce, sharing metre-gauge tracks with 200-plus-wagon iron-ore trains.
Wikipedia ↗ - Estrada de Ferro Carajás
One of the world’s great everyday long hauls: 16 hours through Amazon-edge towns, sharing rails with 300-plus-wagon iron-ore trains bound for Carajás.
Wikipedia ↗
Scenic (2)
- Serra Verde Express
Down the Serra do Mar through Brazil’s Atlantic rainforest: an 1885 line of viaducts pinned to green cliffs.
Wikipedia (PT) ↗ - Bonde de Santa Teresa
Latin America’s oldest electric tramway (1896) rattles across the Carioca Aqueduct’s arches and up Santa Teresa’s cobbled lanes high above downtown Rio.
Wikipedia ↗
Heritage (5)
- Maria Fumaça de Tiradentes
Baldwin steam locomotives have worked this 76 cm-gauge line ever since Emperor Pedro II opened it in 1881.
Wikipedia ↗ - Trem do Vinho
A 1941 steam engine ambles 23 km through the Serra Gaúcha wine country to a soundtrack of tarantellas and popping corks.
Wikipedia (PT) ↗ - Campos do Jordão Railway
Brazil’s highest railway climbs the Serra da Mantiqueira to the mountain resort of Campos do Jordão at 1,743 m, a metre-gauge line electrified since the 1920s.
Wikipedia (PT) ↗ - Maria Fumaça (VFCJ)
Brazil’s flagship steam railway: ABPF volunteers fire century-old locomotives up the 1875 Mogiana trunk from Campinas to Jaguariúna every weekend.
Wikipedia (PT) ↗ - Expresso Turístico
A 1952 ALCO diesel and 1960s Budd cars leave Luz station on weekends for Paranapiacaba, the fog-wrapped English railway village at the rim of the Serra do Mar.
Wikipedia ↗
Mountain (2)
- Trem do Corcovado
Brazil’s first electrified railway (1884): a rack train climbing 700 m through Tijuca rainforest to Christ the Redeemer above Rio.
Wikipedia ↗ - Plano Inclinado Gonçalves
Built in 1874 with Esslingen machinery, Salvador’s cliff-face inclined plane still links the Comércio to UNESCO-listed Pelourinho, free of charge.
Wikipedia (PT) ↗
Photos via Wikimedia Commons — each route page credits the author & licence
What is the fastest train in Brazil?
The Trem Vitória a Minas, running Vitória to Belo Horizonte at up to 80 km/h. It is one of 11 routes in Brazil in this atlas.
Are there night trains in Brazil?
Not in this atlas. Brazil has 11 routes here and none of them is a scheduled sleeper, though night trains from neighbouring countries may still reach it.
Can you cross the border by train from Brazil?
No route in this atlas crosses a land border out of Brazil. Every line listed here begins and ends inside the country.
Which is the most scenic railway in Brazil?
Brazil has 4 scenic or mountain lines in this atlas. The longest is the Serra Verde Express, 110 km.