The Rio Branco railway station, in Três Lagoas (MS), immediately attracts the attention of anyone who looks at it: unlike other buildings that belonged to the Northwest Railroad of Brazil, it was not built with bricks, but with wood.
Inaugurated in 1912, the station used by the so-called Death Train, between Bauru and Corumbá (MS), is now abandoned.
Wooden construction is uncommon today, but it was not in the trajectory of Northwest Brazil. Unlike other railway companies, which had standardized constructions, the company often used simple materials for its stations, such as wood and sand, with the aim of connecting the then huge state of Mato Grosso (there was no Mato Grosso do Sul) to São Paul.
“It was the existing workforce in her region”, says railway researcher Ralph Giesbrecht, author of three books on the railway system, the most recent of which is “O Desmanche das Ferrovias Paulistas”.
Many of the stations were rebuilt in masonry at some point in its trajectory, but Rio Branco was not contemplated with improvements and retains part of its original characteristics.
The 1,272-kilometer railroad between Bauru and Corumbá (MS) was named after the original Death Train, which connects Puerto Quijarro to Santa Cruz de la Sierra, in Bolivia.
The Bolivian route got its name due to the large number of accidents and for being used in the past for the transport of sick people.
Over time, the Brazilian “extension”, since Corumbá is neighboring Puerto Quijarro, gained the same name, thanks to the gradual slowdown in investments in the railroad.
The initial situation of many of the properties in the Northwest was changed when the federal government took over the railroad, rebuilding sections and erecting stations in masonry, in the 1920s.
Noroeste do Brasil became part of the RFFSA (Rede Ferroviária Federal SA) in 1957, where it remained until the concession to Novoeste in the 1990s.
From the company, in partnership with Ferroban and Ferronorte, Brasil Ferrovias emerged, which later became Nova Novoeste, until it was incorporated into ALL (América Latina Logística).
This, in turn, was absorbed by Rumo Logística, current holder of the railroad concession — the station in Três Lagoas is not part of the concession contract.
Built on a weathered concrete base, the station had a slightly higher boarding platform compared to others in the Northwest.
In its surroundings, two wagons, one of them a tank, are totally abandoned. The tank is even covered by vegetation and has a sign with the inscription “Returning RFFSA”.
The Federal Railroad Network was already extinct, but the wagon is still there waiting for some destination, which will possibly be the junkyard, given the degradation in which it is.
Of the 122 stations built between Bauru and Corumbá, at least 80 were demolished or are in an advanced process of deterioration, abandoned or closed, with no use whatsoever.
Most of them are under the responsibility of the federal government.
The report on the state of the Três Lagoas railway station is part of a series on the extinct Northwest of Brazil.
If you want to check the general state of the stations that belonged to the railroad, we tell this story here.
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