RFFSA

The Rede Ferroviária Federal, Sociedade Anônima (RFFSA, pronounced as Refesa) (lit. 'Federal Railroad Network, S.A.') was the State-owned national railway company of Brazil created from Brazilian Federal Law #3.115 on March 16, 1957, after several railroads were nationalized by the Brazilian government. However, the railroad did not take full effect until September 30, 1957. The RFFSA linked 42 railways together (both on documents and actual railroads), creating a regional system composed of 22 railroads. The goal of the RFFSA was to promote and advance the railroad sector of Brazil, creating a north-south-east-west rail network in all five regions of Brazil. But it failed and the RFFSA only served four of the five regions with a north-south rail network win 19 units of the federation of Brazil. By 1999, freight service of the railroad was liquidated and privatized, with the passenger service of the railroad liquidations occurring in 2007.

Federal Authority

According to Article 7 of Law #3.115 which created the RFFSA, the company was given the following powers for the operation of the railroads:

The following powers were given to the RFFSA from Law #6.171 in 1974

The company must manage, operate, maintain, refurbish, expand, improve and maintain traffic on the railways it built.
Introduce (at face value) bearer bonds of its own issue or the issue of the companies that will be organized with a limit of two for paid-in capital, with or without a guarantee from the Treasury.
Subscription of capital from companies under its control and the consent to grant them loans or guarantees.

Paint schemes

From the first appearance of diesel locomotives in 1957 to the adoption of the SIGO System in 1983, the standard colors of the RFFSA were Cadmium Red accented with two Lemon yellow stripes and black undercarriage. Depending on the RFFSA subsidiary that existed, the lower stripe was widened to accommodate the subsidiary's reporting marks. From 1983 until 1996, the RFFSA removed all subsidiary markings and applied the locomotive's number in the same position.

In 1993, the RFFSA held a contest celebrating the presence of diesel traction in Brazil.[1] This contest created a new paint scheme for its locomotives in recognition of the development of Brazil's railway system from the use of diesel locomotives. Held at the D. Pedro II Railway Station in Rio de Janeiro, the contest became a rail festival as it was open to the public with a plethora of support from various sectors of the RFFSA, professional associations, and the railroad's customers.

To participate in this contest, the only requirement was a display board showcasing the new paint scheme design by the participant. The locomotive model chosen as the template for the new paint scheme design was an EVISA GT22CUM-1. When the winning design was selected from the contest, an actual GT22CUM-1 would receive the paint scheme.

On December 6, 1993, Paulo H. S. Cavalieri from Juiz de Fora was declared the winner of the new paint scheme out of 97 participants. Cavalieri was not the first-place winner but was third. RFFSA President Renato Almeida chose Cavalieri's Ash Grey and Lemon Yellow design based on the factors of a good way to promote the company systemwide and the simplicity of cost saving graphics/paint for easy application.

Shortly before an actual GT22CUM-1 was to receive the new paint scheme, the RFFSA management did a final adjustment to the design where a large RFFSA logo was to be applied along the locomotive's carbody instead of Cavlieri's fading strokes version.

On March 2, 1994, EVISA GT22CUM-1 #4605-4L emerged from the workshops of Ponta Grossa with Cavalieri's modified scheme. The locomotive was named Curitiba in honor of the city where the new paint scheme was put into effect on March 1, 1994. Shortly after the 4605-4L was released, any locomotive scheduled for maintenance was to receive the new scheme. Depending on various reasons from the workshops, the locomotives are permitted to be named.[2]

With the paint scheme known to railfans as "Fase II", it was short lived from 1993 to 1996. Although visibility increased from far distances with the yellow, it was flawed with easily becoming dirty after a few months. By late 1995 and into 1996, the RFFSA was heavily in debt to clean or paint a locomotive that most of the grime left the locomotives black.

In contrast to Cavalieri's scheme being selected, the actual winner who won first but was not the selected scheme was Eike Pereira de Souza, an architect from the Department of Auto Graphics of the RFFSA. He won a cash prize of 200,000 Cruzeiros.

Present day Brazilian railway companies

Metropolitan transit

Freight services

Compania Brasileira de Trens Urbanos -- CBTU – controlled by Ministry of Cities and Ministry of Transports – gauges: - commuter metropolitan services operating in Belo Horizonte, Recife, João Pessoa, Natal and Maceió Cities

Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos – CPTM – commuter services in São Paulo city and suburbs; controlled by the state of São Paulo – gauges:, on the two former Sorocabana lines

Concessionária de Transporte Ferroviário S.A. – SuperVia – commuter services in Rio de Janeiro city and suburbs – gauges:, on the former Estrada de Ferro Leopoldina

Empresa de Trens Urbanos de Porto Alegre – TRENSURB – commuter services in Porto Alegre, RS and suburbs – gauge:

América Latina Logística S.A. – ALL (former Ferrovia Sul Atlântico (FSA)) – gauge:

Companhia Ferroviária do Nordeste – CFN – controlled by Transnordestina Logística S.A. – gauge:

Estrada de Ferro do Amapá – from 1953 to 2006 controlled by Empresa Indústria e Comércio de Minério S.A. (ICOMI), since then by MMX Mineração e Metálicos S.A. (MMX); this is one of two Brazilian railways with gauge, the other being Line 5 of São Paulo Metro.

Estrada de Ferro Carajás – EFC – controlled by Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD) – gauge:

Estrada de Ferro Campos do Jordão – EFCJ – controlled by the department of tourism of the state of São Paulo – gauge:

Estrada de Ferro Jari – EFJ – gauge:

Estrada de Ferro Trombetas – EFT – controlled by Mineiração Rio do Norte – gauge:

Estrada de Ferro Vitória a Minas – EFVM – controlled by Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD) – gauge:

Ferrovia Centro-Atlântica S.A.[3] – FCA – controlled by Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD) – gauge:

Ferrovia Norte-Sul – FNS – controlled by Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD) – gauge:

Ferrovias Bandeirantes – FERROBAN – formerly controlled by Brasil Ferrovias, then incorporated by ALL (Sorocabana network) and FCA (Mogiana network) – gauges: (Mogiana and Sorocabana networks) and (Paulista and Araraquarense networks)

Ferrovia Norte Brasil – FERRONORTE – formerly controlled by Brasil Ferrovias, then incorporated by ALL – gauge:

Ferrovia Novoeste S.A. – NOVOESTE – formerly controlled by Brasil Ferrovias, then incorporated by ALL – gauge:

Ferrovia Paraná Oeste – FERROPAR – also known as FERROESTE

Ferrovia Teresa Cristina S.A. – FTC – gauge:

MRS Logística S.A. – MRS – gauge:

Tramway Bertioga – Itatinga – controlled by the state of São Paulo's port authority Companhia Docas do Estado de São Paulo (CODESP); more a local railway than an actual tramway – gauge:

trade name	Rede Ferroviária Federal S.A.
type	State-owned enterprise
industry	Rail transport
genre	Sociedade anônima
founded	March 16, 1957
defunct	December 7, 1999
fate	Extinct
successors	CPTM, SuperVia, CBTU, MRS Logística and others
hq location	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
area served	South Region, Southeast Region, Central-West Region, Northeast Region
products	Passenger and cargo transportation
owner	Federal government of Brazil

Federal Authority

Unification of Railways

Privatisation and liquidation

Paint schemes

The SIGO System

Locomotives

Present day Brazilian railway companies

Preservation Groups

See also

External links

References