Map of the Madeira-Mamoré Railway
The Madeira-Mamoré Railway is a Brazilian railway, built between 1907 and 1912, linking the cities of Porto Velho and Guajará-Mirim, in the state of Rondônia.
Also known as the Devil's Railroad (Portuguese Railroad) due to the thousands of deaths during its construction, the last stretch of the railway was inaugurated on April 30, 1912. Such an occasion registers the arrival of the first train to the city of Guajará Mirim, city founded in that same date. The railroad was started by the US mega-entrepreneur Percival Farquhar and its main purpose was to transport rubber production from Bolivia and Brazil to the port of Belém in the Atlantic Ocean.
The railway line was partially deactivated in the 1930s and totally deactivated in 1972. It started operating again in 1981 on a stretch of just seven kilometers from the original 364 and for tourist purposes only.
The writer Alberto Vázquez-Figueroa refers to this train in Manaus (1975) through which the protagonists flee to freedom.
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