Corcovado Rack Railway
The Corcovado Rack Railway (Portuguese: Trem do Corcovado, "Corcovado Train") is a mountain railway line in the city of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. The line runs from Cosme Velho to the summit of the Corcovado mountain at an altitude of 710 m (2330 ft). The summit is known for its statue of Christ the Redeemer and its views over the city and beaches of Rio.
The line is 3.8 km (2.4mi) long. It is a rack railway using the Riggenbach rack system. The line was opened by Emperor Dom Pedro II on the 9th October 1884. Initially steam hauled, the line was the first railway to be electrified in Brazil in 1910, and was re-equipped in 1980 with new trains built by SLM of Winterthur in Switzerland.
Corcovado Rack Railway is one of the few remaining railways using three-phase electric power. As a result, the Corcovado Rack Railway has two overhead wires.
There are four trains, each made up of two cars. The rail trip takes approximately 20 minutes and departs every half hour, giving a passenger capacity of 360 passengers per hour. Due to the limited passenger capacity, the wait to board at the entry station can take several hours. The year-round schedule operates from 8:30am to 6:30pm.
Over the years the line has been ridden by many famous people, including Pope Pius XII, Pope John Paul II, Alberto Santos-Dumont, Albert Einstein and Diana, Princess of Wales.
References
- Article Rio de Janeiro: City of contrasts, quality metro by C.J.Wansbeck, in Tramways & Urban Transit magazine, March 2005, published by the Light Rail Transit Association.
- Web page http://www.pell.portland.or.us/~efbrazil/efcorc.html and descendants, retrieved 2nd March 2005, 21:00 GMT.
- Web page http://www.corcovado.com.br/principal.asp?lingua=English and descendants, retrieved 2nd March 2005, 21:00 GMT.
- Wikipedia article Corcovado, last updated on the 13th March 2005 at 18:10.
