Hello all ;
Since the next issue of Trains is going to have a feature aout Brazil's Vale Railroad, here's a glimpse of their 'new' passenger train. Ah and the whole outfit is metre gauge. Really strange to see a big GE on metre gauge with DD trucks. Can't get used to
Great Video of the train. Why don't they have Sleeping car service on this train?? Its a 14 hour long run.
No sleepers because this is a (long) daylight run. By the by--this is one of only a handful of non-commuter services still running in Brazil. Most surprisingly all passenger service from Rio to Sao Paulo is gone. Freight on all lines--but very few passenger services.
Sadly this is true in most of South America. Non-stop long-haul buses, usually leaving only when full and not on any predictable schedule, now rule on most of the services on the South American continent. The best "decent" passenger train services survive in Peru and as tour services to Quito over the Devil's Nose--see TRAINS a few issues back. A handful of long-hauls survive in Argentina, but track conditions are terrible and they run as infrequently as once week--often on isolated routes. Alas.
Carl Fowler
President, Rail Travel Adventures
Mario_v Hello all ; Since the next issue of Trains is going to have a feature aout Brazil's Vale Railroad, here's a glimpse of their 'new' passenger train. Ah and the whole outfit is metre gauge. Really strange to see a big GE on metre gauge with DD trucks. Can't get used to
Locomotive trucks appear to be B-B with a span bolster linking the trucks under each end of the locomotive.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Railvt No sleepers because this is a (long) daylight run. By the by--this is one of only a handful of non-commuter services still running in Brazil. Most surprisingly all passenger service from Rio to Sao Paulo is gone. Freight on all lines--but very few passenger services. Sadly this is true in most of South America. Non-stop long-haul buses, usually leaving only when full and not on any predictable schedule, now rule on most of the services on the South American continent. The best "decent" passenger train services survive in Peru and as tour services to Quito over the Devil's Nose--see TRAINS a few issues back. A handful of long-hauls survive in Argentina, but track conditions are terrible and they run as infrequently as once week--often on isolated routes. Alas. Carl Fowler President, Rail Travel Adventures
Chile still has a nice service, with imported EMUs from spain (basically the Santiago to chillan looks like an imported line from spain, ince even the signal sisytem is equal) and they run at 100 Mph. See here ; http://www.trencentral.cl/link.cgi/itinerarios.act
As dor chilean trains and their spanish look, on this video de only concessions are the 2 power cars and the motive power, wich is purely american (it's the train from Temuco in southern chile, but from chillan ownwards it uses the electrified main line)
conrailman Great Video of the train. Why don't they have Sleeping car service on this train?? Its a 14 hour long run.
It's actually a 13 hour daily trip. I'll post the train's 'official' schedule, and it seems to have been shortened, since it no longer serves vitoria, but another station on the city's metropolitan region called Cariacica
EFVM's official page for this train
http://www.vale.com/brasil/PT/business/logistics/railways/Passenger-Train-Vitoria-Minas/Paginas/default.aspx
A video depicting how 'american' (well, they're american, from the South) this railroad is. The only diffence is the gauge. this is an older one, in wich the passenger train still has the older rolling stock (not the present romanian built cars) and it's hauled by a 'DD40-3', an SD40-2 (I believe it's one of the several bought second hand from US Railroads, then converted to metre gauge) converted to operate over there, wich got frame extensions, to acomodate the extra trucks, therefore getteing a super front porch where it's possible to have a BBQ
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