Study Tour Brasil 2003
Bahia: Gargalo do Paraguaçú
A bottleneck is about to disappear! The (ill-)famous
bottleneck between the communities of São Felix and Cachoeira
in the state of Bahia will be disappearing soon. Originally, the federal
railway RFFSA planned to build the "Variante do Paraguaçú",
a 120 km long bypass from Taperi in the southwest to Santo Amaro in the
northeast of Cachoeira, to circumvent the bottleneck and the steep inclines
in and out of the Paraguaçú valley. But only 2.5 km track
was laid from Taperi and on a further 10 km the track ground was
prepared, and then the money was finished. Now the FCA
(Ferrovia Centro Atlântico) (it belongs to the CVRD,
Companhia do Vale do Rio Doce) has prepared a replacement project which
envisages a short line but with many bridges. The connexion will start
near Engenheiro E. Machedo and end near Conceição north of
Cachoeira and shorten the former 22 km section to approximately 17 km.
Thereby, the Paraguaçú valley would be crossed by 20 m high
bridge, and this would also make the Paraguaçú river passable
for ships west of the present railway bridge. The state of Bahia, the two
communities concerned and the FCA receive generous financial support from
ANTT,
Agência Nacional de Transportes Terrestres. Detailed planning should
have been finished by the end of 2003, and the line is due to open by 2007
at the latest (FLB was able to visit the old bottleneck). According to
a statement by the director of FCA, Elias Nigri, FCA nees this bypass as
soon as possible, because at present it transports on the only railway
line connecting the northeast of Brasil with the remainder of the country
less than 20% of the goods on offer which however means for the communities
concerned up to six trains per day, and thus blocking both of the local
streets and the bridge during approximately twelve hours per day.
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Present Situation
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New Projects
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Gargalo do Paraguaçú at
Cachoeira and São Felix: New Projects
The steel supporter bridge (Ponte Dom Pedro
II) is almost 100 years old and replaced a train ferry which transferred
during the first years the goods wagons. Later the bridge received an asphalt
cover so that it could also be used by cars. During RFFSA times about two
to four trains were the rule, and until 1979 there were also passenger
trains Salvador - Monte Azul three times a week. The very tight curves
and the lack of real railway station layouts (at Cachoeira two tracks inside
the station hall!) on both sides of the river forces the railway to split
long trains and to distribute them on several urban streets (many streets
on both sides of the river are equipped with tracks). Then, the wagons
must be pushed "portionwise" (always according to length of wagons and
weight, two to four wagons each time) onto the bridge and be pulled down
on the other side. All this happens in the midst of road traffic of the
two communities, at the same time as this comes to a complete standstill
for bridge crossings during this operation. In the meantime, the number
of daily trains has risen to six, and for each train both communities are
blocked for at least two hours. In addition, the railway has to provide
shunter locomotives for this. As the bridge cannot receive full loads any
more, the wagons can only be loaded partially which requires additional
trips. FCA has thus arrived at the limit of usability. Even if the scenery
for the observer (if he is a railfan) certainly is of interest, it can
be understood that the communities concerned will be very happy for a replacement
solution, specially as both communities send or receive very few goods
by rail.
Webmasters comment: according to press
reports from March 2003,
it is earnstly planned to solve the
problem (without any time scale!)...
Photographs from the Study
Tour 2003
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Bridge to São Felix
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Drawing the first part of the train
out of Cachoeira station
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Advancing towards bridge
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The cars disappear into the streets
of Cachoeira
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Advancing second part of the train
out of the station
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Departure to São Felix
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At São Felix
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End of the shunting, São Felix
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