Sainte Therese Tram

The Konka line (using, however, not horses , but mules , as a force of 914 mm , common in Latin America , was built in the Santa Teresa region in 1877 ; it ran from the upper station of the funicular’s length 513 m, connecting the elevated area with the city center.

The line in Santa Teresa was electrified in 1896 , thus becoming the first electric tram line in South America ^[2] . In connection with the change in the type of traction, the line was changed to the traditional for Brazil 1100 mm gauge. A year later, the line was extended to the center of the city along the Aqueduct of Carioca , which shortly before it ceased to be used for its intended purpose. The terminal station (terminal) in the city center was located on the second floor of the office building of the company, the operator of the Empreza de Carris de Ferro de Santa Theresa line , located on Largo da Carioca square .

Since 1967 the St. Theresa Tram has become the only tram network that continued to operate in Rio de Janeiro.

In 1975 , a terminal in the city center was moved to the gardens of the Petrobras company, where it was located on the roof of the parking garage. There he is to this day.

Currently, the line operator is Companhia Estadual de Engenharia de Transportes e Logística ^[2] .

Since June 5, 2016 , after the opening of the first line of the light rail tram Rio de Janeiro , the Tram St. Teresa has lost the status of the only tram network of Rio de Janeiro.

The network consists of two routes.

• Route number 1 , a length of 6 kilometers, connects Largo da Carioca, in the center of the city, and the area of ​​Mount Dois-Irmans ( Mount Two Brothers , port. Morro Dois Irmãos ) ^[3] .

• Route number 2 , 6 kilometers long, connects Largo da Carioca and Largo das Nevis in Santa Teresa. Two thirds of its length coincides with route number 1 ^[3] .

• • Route No. 1 used to be longer, from Dois-Irmans, going further to the Silvestri area , to the Silvestri station of the Corcovado rack railway , which leads to the statue of Christ the Redeemer . This site was closed in 1966 due to damage caused by a strong storm ^[3] , and was not restored until 1999 .

However, the renewed movement was not regular, trams to Silvestri went only on Saturdays in the morning. The movement was actually ceased in 2006 , and in 2008 the termination was officially announced, due to the theft of the contact wire in most of the Dois-Irmans-Silvestri section ^[4] .

The tramway of St. Theresa has three end stations on two routes: in the city center on Largo da Carioca, near Doiz-Irmans mountain and on Largo das Nevis, in the Santa Teresa region. The tram depot is also located in Santa Teresa.

Single yellow cars, open on the sides, are used. Initially, at the opening of the line, the cars were green, but after the residents complained that the green cars were lost among the foliage of the trees, the trams were repainted yellow.

In the best of times, up to 35 cars went on the line, in 1975 there were 28 cars in the depot, of which 18 went to the line. By the time traffic closed in 2011, there were 10 cars left on the line.

Currently, the old cars are in the depot, and their fate has not yet been determined ^[5] . After the resumption of traffic, 14 new replicas of old cars come out on the line, some of which are parked on the city ring on Largo da Carioca ^[1] .

Since the end of the last century, the tram in Rio was in desolation, the rolling stock and track facilities were not repaired. All this led to a number of incidents, the worst of which was a disaster on August 27, 2011 . Crowded tram derailed on Joaquin Murtinho Street, steeply descending down the hills of Santa Teresa and slammed into a pole at full speed. Six people died, including the driver, more than 50 were injured, ten of them - hard. The cause of the disaster called brake system failure.

This accident, as well as the death of a French tourist who had fallen from a tram on the Carioca aqueduct, which preceded it, led to an immediate cessation of exploitation. Only two years later, in the summer of 2013 , a project worth 110 million reais was launched to renew the St. Theresa Tram, including the reconstruction of the rails and contact suspension, as well as the purchase of 14 new cars that were supposed to be replicas of old ones ^[6] .

The timing of the reopening of the tram (initial - June 2014 , on the eve of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil) was postponed at least five times. In particular, because the delivery of new trams, which was to be built by a local manufacturer - the company T'Trans from Tres Rius , which in the state of Rio de Janeiro , scheduled for November 2013 , began only in August 2014 - go

The tram movement was only opened on July 27, 2015 , and then along a shortened route, from Largo da Carioca to Largo do Curvelo, 1.7 km long, and then according to a limited schedule: from Monday to Saturday, from 11 to 16 hours, intervals of 20 minutes ^{[7] [5]} . From December 28, 2015 , the movement was extended from Largo do Curvelo to Largo do Guimaraes, the length of the line was slightly more than 2 km - while maintaining hours of operation and intervals of movement ^[1] . Only during the Summer Olympic Games of 2016, the operating time of the tram was increased from 8 to 4 pm from Monday to Saturday, the traffic intervals were reduced by half, from 20 to 10 minutes ^[8] .

Reconstruction of the track infrastructure along the entire length of the Tramway St. Teresa along the seven-kilometer stretch of the route did not develop until 2015 ^[7] , however, it was suspended in April 2016 with the aim of concentrating efforts to launch the Rio de Janeiro light rail ^[9] .

The renewal of the movement of the Tramway of St. Theresa along its entire length, including the restoration of the abandoned route to the Silvestri area in 2008 , to the Silvestri station of the Corcovado cog railway leading to the statue of Christ the Redeemer will take place no earlier than December 2017 years ^[9] .

• From 1967 to 2016 was the only tram network operating in Rio de Janeiro.
• Despite the fact that the cars are open on the sides, after the resumption of movement, for security reasons, it is forbidden to pass outside the car on the steps, holding the vertical pillars of the window openings. It is also forbidden to get into the car and get out of it on the move, landing is allowed only at bus stops ^[10] .

• Morrison, Allen. "The Tramways of Brazil: A 130-Year Survey"
• Line diagram of the Tramway St. Theresa in 1998 , from the book of Allen Morrison
• Line diagram of the Tramway of St. Theresa in 2010 and Corcovado Railway , from the book of Allen Morrison
• Photos of the former terminals of the Tram St. Teresa on Largo da Carioca