| Rede Ferroviária Federal Sociedade Anônima | |
|---|---|
| Reporting mark | RFFSA |
| Locale | Maranhão, Piauí, Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Alagoas, Sergipe, Bahia, Minas Gerais, Brazilian Federal District, Goiás, Espírito Santo, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Mato Grosso do Sul, Paraná, Santa Catarina & Rio Grande do Sul |
| Dates of operation | 1957–1996 |
| Track gauge | 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) & 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) |
| Headquarters | Juiz de Fora, MG, Brazil |
| Website | http://www.rffsa.gov.br/ |
The Rede Ferroviária Federal, Sociedade Anônima (RFFSA) (Portuguese: Rede Ferroviária Federal S.A., Federal Railroad Network) was the state-owned national railway company of Brazil. It was created in 1957, and dissolved between 1999–2007.
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The RFFSA was created by the merger of 18 separate regional railways.
In addition, the Estrada de Ferro Santa Catarina and the Viação Férrea do Rio Grande do Sul had been leased to the governments of the respective States, at the time.
Other railroads of the Federal Government would continue under special administration the Estrada de Ferro Ilhéus and the Estrada de Ferro Tocantins.
Privatization was one of the alternatives for investments to return in railroads. The government of the PSDB gave the public rail lines access to transport cargo. However, most of the railroad companies were not interested in seeing a transport of passengers, as the service was nearly extinct.
Between 1996 and 1998, over 22,000 km of rail lines in Brazil (73% of the entire state rail system) were being transferred to various private organizations, which signed 30-year concessions to operate the railroad systems. The organized private railroad companies will invest $2.1 billion dollars within the 30-year concession as well as increase the volume of traffic, modernize, and expand their railroad systems.
The main goal of privatizing the RFFSA and FEPASA was to end the financial and labor troubles of the railroads, mainly due to a lack of investment by Brazil from the 1980s and the 1990s.
On December 9, 1999, the liquidation of the Ferrovia Paulista S.A. (FEPASA) began as a merger to the RFFSA, and then as an auction in the form of a concession for 20 years. Ferroban was the winner, which has an option to renew the 20-year concession. However, the control was split between América Latina Logística and Brasil Ferrovias.
On December 17, 1999, the liquidation of the RFFSA began by the General Meeting of Shareholders. By May 31, 2007, the liquidation was complete, becoming Brazilian Federal Law #11.483.
From 1957 to 1993, the standard scheme of the RFFSA was red and black with two stripes that wrapped around the car body and dipped down in the front and rear (if applicable). The scheme sometimes carried subsidiary markings in which the lower stripe was widened to fit it. With the SIGO System in effect by 1983, almost all subsidiary markings disappeared and were replaced with a simple R F F S A and the number below it.
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the diesel traction presence in the Central Railway of Brazil, the RFFSA held a contest to create an innovative 'new image' paint scheme for its locomotives and rolling stock.
With an initiative well conducted, the contest became a significant rail fest. The 50th anniversary of diesel traction was also a reference to the historic network of the railroad. It recognized the development of diesel locomotives that helped shape the railway system today in Brazil. The event was first held in December 1993; tremendous support from various sectors of the RFFSA, as well as professional associations and even customers attended the event with all sorts of resources.
Citing a journalist from the Management of Social Communication in the RFFSA, a participation of shareholders competed against each other in creating the new scheme. The paint scheme competition event was open to anybody who was interested (regardless of training, schooling of even if they were employees or not from RFFSA). The only requirement was a display board showcasing the design by the participant. Officially, the standard locomotive model chosen to represent the new scheme was a EVSA GT26CUM-2. Once the scheme was chosen, an actual GT26CUM-2 would be painted in the new scheme from the SR-5 Sector.
The completed artwork would be sent to the Department of Communication, as a panel of judges - led by designer Elias Filho and the Sevig Company - would pick the winning drawing. The members of Communication, Engineering & Preserves would also assist into picking the drawing. On December 6, 1993, the new scheme was chosen. Paulo Henrique Cavalieri of Juiz de Fora, MG, was declared the winner in the new scheme. Consisting of Ash Grey, Sunflower Yellow & Black, the scheme refreshed the RFFSA look as well as baptizing the locomotives with names, municipalities, states, or cities of there they respectively operated. Dubbed by rail fans and modelers as 'Phase Two', the scheme was short lived; from 1993 to 1996 the scheme was applied to all sorts of locomotives from all the sectors and easily became dirty after a few months. By 1995 or 1996, the RFFSA was too poor in cleaning or painting a locomotive that even repainting a locomotive into the new scheme varied in success. No two locomotives of the same model were alike in a repaint.
The actual winner "who won but did not win" was Eike Pereira de Souza, an architect from the RFFSA's auto graphics planning department. He won a cash prize of 200,000 Cruzeiros.
The SIGO was a system implemented in 1983 to standardize the numbering system of railway vehicles in Brazil. Each piece of rolling stock is allocated a six-digit number, a check digit, and a letter to indicate its allocation. When the RFFSA began to repaint it's locomotives of both Metric and Irish Gauges in Ash Grey and Sunflower Yellow (1993–1996), the numbers were relocated towards the radiator section of the locomotive. In some cases, the locomotives were baptized with names, municipalities, states, or cities of there they respectively operated.
With locomotives, the first two digits are hidden, and used only on documents, e.g. 905212-7F.
| Number Series | Type of Locomotive |
|---|---|
| 0001–0100 | Steam locomotives – 760 mm (2 ft 5 7⁄8 in) gauge |
| 0101–0400 | Steam locomotives – 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) gauge |
| 0401–0500 | Steam locomotives – 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) broad gauge |
| 0401–0500 | Diesel locomotives – 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) (meter gauge) |
| 0751–1000 | Diesel locomotives - 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) broad gauge |
| 2001–3000 | GE diesel locomotives - 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) meter gauge |
| 3001–4000 | GE diesel locomotives - 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) broad gauge |
| 4001–5000 | GM diesel locomotives - 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) meter gauge |
| 5001–6000 | GM diesel locomotives – 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) broad gauge |
| 6001–7000 | Alco diesel locomotives – 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) meter gauge |
| 7001–8000 | Alco diesel locomotives – 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) broad gauge |
| 8001–9000 | Electric locomotives – 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) meter gauge |
| 9001–9999 | Electric locomotives – 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) broad gauge |
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