1830 - Liverpool and the Withstable Railway, England, replaced all animal traction with steam locomotives.
1845 - Inauguration of the first railway in Brazil, with 14.5km, at the bottom of Guanabara Bay. Venture of the future Barão de Mauá.
1858 - Inauguration of the 2nd railway of Brazil, Recife and São Francisco Railway Company, in Pernambuco. Completion of the first segment, between Rio de Janeiro and Queimados, of the future E.F Central do Brasil.

1922 - Electrification of the Campinas - Jundiaí stretch of the Paulista railway, a pioneering event in Brazil.
1923 - Consolidation of British railways, with the merger of 123 companies into four large conglomerates (The Big Four).
1925 - The first US diesel-electric locomotive circulates on the Central Railway of New Jersey.
1930 - German train beats the speed record: 230km / h. Electrified the suburban lines of Rio de Janeiro, operated by E.F Central do Brasil.

1984 – Created the Brazilian Company of Urban Trains - CBTU.
1985 - Inauguration of E. F. Carajás - EFC, in the North of Brazil, by Vale do Rio Doce Co., to flow iron ore from the state of Pará.
1987 - (JNR), with its subdivision in six privately owned regional companies: JR Hokkaido, JR East, JR East, JR Central, JR West, JR Shikoku and JR Kyushu.*

((now América Latina Logística - Delara) and Ferrovia Teresa Cristina - FTC. Privatized an excerpt from the state railway of Paraná (Ferroeste), assumed by Ferrovia Paraná - Ferropar.
1998 - Privatized in Brazil, the northeast and São Paulo networks of RFFSA, with the new concessionaires being Cia. Ferroviária do Nordeste - CFN and Ferrovia Bandeirantes - Ferroban.

New Railways
FIOL:: The West-East Integration Railway (FIOL) is designed to interconnect the North and Northeast regions of Brazil. There will be 1,537 km of road, between Figueirópolis, in the State of Tocantins, to Ilhéus, on the coast of Bahia. The new railway will mainly serve the grain production of the West of Bahia and the exploitation of iron ore, typical of the region of Caetité, in the central area of that State. The stretch inserted in the PPI connects the municipalities of Ilhéus and Caetité, both in the State of Bahia. The objective of the project is specifically to enable the production of iron ore produced in the region (where Bahia Mineração - BAMIN is located) through the Porto Sul (an important port complex to be built in the vicinity of Ilhéus)
North-South Railway - FNS:: The North-South Railway was aimed at promoting national integration and minimizing transportation costs, through its connections to new and existing railways. It is considered with the centralizer, that is, the backbone of the Brazilian rail system and one of the main plans for the country´s agricultural production. There will be 1537 km long, beginning in the city of Porto Nacional, crossing the State of Tocantins and passing through the State of Goiás until arriving at Estrela D´Oeste in São Paulo. In Porto Nacional, it connects to the North Section of the FNS, allowing access to the Port of Itaqui, in Maranhão, in broad gauge; and in Estrela D´Oeste will be linked to the Paulista Mesh, currently granted to Latin America Logística Malha Paulista (ALLMP), which will allow the connection of the FNS to the Port of Santos and to the economic and industrial center of São Paulo, also in broad gauge.
Ferrogrão: The EF-170, also called Ferrogrão, has the longest concession period, 65 years and aims to consolidate the new rail export corridor of Brazil by Arco Norte. The line will run between Lucas do Rio Verde in Mato Grosso, Itaituba, in Pará, and will be 1,142 km long, with a capacity to transport 13 million tons by 2020 and 42 million tons by 2050, at a total cost of R $ 12.6 billion.