Rio de Janeiro
subway, heritage tramway, monorail, LRT planned

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Rio's metro, opened in 1979, encompasses 25.5 km, 2 lines and 25 stations. Many feel the system is paltry for this huge city of 11 million. Line 1 is completely underground. Line 2, considered by some a "pre-metro" and others a light rail line, it was actually once a light rail line, called a VLT in Brazil. 10 km of Line 2 are above ground, and the line uses upgraded LRT rolling stock.

In December 2009, General Osorio station in Ipanema, opened. Construction took a paltry 30 years. Also opened was Rio metro's newest Line, 1A. The Cidadae Nova station, also under construction, is expected to open in 2049.

And, this paraphrased courtesy of Allen Morrison, Latin American transit expert extraordinare:

On July 4, 1988, after 11 years of dynamiting Rio de Janeiro Metro finally got under São João Mountain and opened Arcoverde station on Copacabana Beach. The first subway station on the ocean (the city is blocked by a mountain range). It is inside the mountain and 59 FEET BELOW SEA LEVEL, connected to the street by 8 escalators and 3 moving sidewalks.

The 10 km line 4 from Gávea to Jardim Oceânico was expected to get  underway in 2004.  It is controversial in that it will not connect with lines 1 and 2.
 
Finally, SuperVia plans to convert four of its suburban lines (Santa Cruz, Japeri, Belford Roxo and Saracuruna) to a surface metro. The project, which has been given the name PRO XXI, is expected to increase ridership from 366,000 per day to as much as 1.4 million per day.

Metro do Rio de Janeiro by Juan Martin Cejas
Underground projects in Rio
The story of Line 2, by Allen Morrison.
Rio Trilhos - Official Home Page of the Metro
Rio light rail project
Metrorio official home page
Another official home page!
A Sad Story - Agoraphobic girl leaves house for the first time and is killed in the Rio metro




The Santa Teresa Tramway is a100 year old tram line which runs from Rio Central to Santa Teresa. And, Rio's Silvestre streetcar line abandoned 32 years ago was completely rebuilt and  reopened in September, 1998. The Santa Teresa line is street running in Rio and takes you up just short of the famous Christ statue (very similar to those found on dashboards but bigger) near Silvestre. From there, you can take the Corcovado cog railway to the statue. The Santa Teresa tramway is also famous for it's aqueduct crossing.

History of Santa Maria tramway by Allen Morisson
Santa Teresa Tramway Official Home Page
Le Tramway infernal
Bondes Electricos de Santa Teresa

Supervia


Rio's Flumintrens is a 264 km suburban commuter rail network with many characteristics of an interurban. In 1999, Flumintrens was privatized and renamed SuperVia.

Photo of commuter rail train
Photos of Rio commuter trains from Luxembourg rail site (go figure)

Trem do Corcovado, a cog railway in Rio, will take  you to visit Christ. Bring your own wafers.


Monorail

This 1.56 km, three station monorail links a parking lot with the Barra shopping mall, said to be the largest in Latin America. The monorail may be extended to Barra da Tijuca to connect with a planned extension of line 1 of the metro. A light rail line (VLT) is also being debated.

Monorail station
LRT proposal for Barras