The Reopening of Pirapora Branch

FCA GT26CU-2 #936 leading soybean cars at the new Pirapora yard.
Photo by Alexandre Almeida

For those that are not familiarized with the lines of the old Central of Brazil maybe it is a little confused to understand what means the reopening of the old Pirapora branch by FCA on March 20, 2009.
The Line of Pirapora had been drifts a lot before Central arrives in that area. They consist in old documents that a private railroad was granted to tie Curvelo, MG the Arara hill, in the state of Goiás. We don't know if such work arrived beginning or if it was the Central who accomplished all of the works in that line, but the fact is that the line between Curvelo and Pirapora was built among the years of 1905 and 1910 by Central.
About 1917 Central began the construction of the extension of Montes Claros, that in the decade of 50 it turned line trunk, relegating the line of Pirapora to the branch status. The change felt because of the connection between the Central and Brazilian East Rwy happened in Monte Azul, MG in 1948. But the change of plans didn't go reason to the Central to abandon the line of Pirapora once and for all. Forces politics of the area forced central to maintain the operational extension and to build the bridge on the river San Francisco, doing with that the terminal point of that line changed for the km 1007, in the station of Independence (current Buritizeiros), in 1922. Once transposed the largest difficulty in the southeast area to jump over the interior heading for the north of the country, central gave up the plans of its Centro Line and it passed being devoted to the line of Montes Claros.