Estrada de Ferro Araraquara

This railroad, which building was initiated in the 1900's, serves the nortwestern region of the São Paulo state. Its original goal was to link Araraquara to Cuiabá, the capital of the Mato Grosso state. However, only in the fifties this railroad reached the Paraná river, at Rubinéia/Porto Presidente Vargas, still in the São Paulo-Mato Grosso states boundary. This huge river was a too big obstacle to be surpassed at that time, specially because railroads were not to so healthy as before. My father worked in this railroad at that time... In the late fifties, with the adoption of wide gauge, this São Paulo state owned railroad and the Companhia Paulista increased traffic cooperation, as they connect in Araraquara. In 1967, some years after the take over of the Companhia Paulista by the São Paulo state, this company take the responsability for the E.F. Araraquara administration. In 1971, both were absorbed by FEPASA and now, after the privatisation of this company in 1998, they belong to the FERROBAN network.

After several decades of projects and promises, finally in 1998 a new railroad resumed the mission to link Cuiabá to the Brazilian railroad network: the FerroNorte.