The question of which railroad or highway is the best is common, so we will cover everything about the two sectors in this one. railroads and highways are, in Brazil and in the world, the main means of transporting cargo and people. To answer this complex question, it is necessary to know a little more about each sector and understand its contexts here in the country. We will then talk about the road sector, explaining how it developed and how it is established today.
To start our explanation about Brazilian highways, we need to show you how it was to insert this type of transport in the country. In 1861, when Brazil was not yet a republic, the then Brazilian emperor, D. Pedro II, participated in the inauguration of the first Brazilian road. Estrada União e Indústria was built to connect the city of Petrópolis, in Rio de Janeiro, to Juiz de Fora, in Minas Gerais. In the case of the first construction, paving applications on the roads were not made in the same way as they are today. At the time, Estrada União e Indústria was paved by the macadam model, where the floor structure was composed mainly of stones.
The evolution of the road sector is quite visible. Since this first construction opened in the 19th century, when the highway was used mainly for the transport of coffee to the ports, the changes in this sector are quite expressive, from the amount of mileage of the roads, the functionality of the sector, the structuring of roads and everything that encompasses the Brazilian road segment.
Nowadays, the mileage of roadways reaches marks exceeding 1.7 million kilometers, and is the largest transport sector in the country. In order for the road sector to achieve its importance in the transportation of cargo and people, it was necessary that this evolutionary process received high government investments. The potentialization of this sector began mainly in the mid-1920s, in the last century, when the President of Brazil, Washington Luís, inaugurated the first paved road in the country, which connected the city of Rio de Janeiro to Petrópolis, both located in the state of Rio, capital of Brazil at the time.
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Why have investments grown?
Since when the paved roads were implemented, the new governments started to look with affection for this sector, and saw on the roads a great form of economic development and, also, a very effective way of interconnecting Brazilian cities and states. The growth of the road sector peaked in the late 1950s, when then President Juscelino Kubitschek invested massively in the implementation of new highways.
Until then, the government's discussion was focused on which sector would be most worth investing in, by rail or highway. However, the Brazilian president chose to prioritize highway roads for some aspects. First, he saw on the highways a great possibility of interconnecting Brazilian cities. In this way, the sector would allow both cargo transportation and outflow to Brazilian ports, as well as allowing people to move between cities. Juscelino was also one of the main Brazilian leaders who invested in the industrial sector, raising foreign capital and expanding the size of industries in Brazil. Therefore, another point that made the president, having to choose between railroad or highway, opt for the second option, was the possibility that he saw of expansion of the auto industries. The reasoning is simple: the more roads, the more automotive vehicles could circulate and, thus, they would become a highly sought after consumer item. In this way, foreign industries would be attracted to invest in the construction of factories here in Brazil, in order to increase the production and creation of automotive vehicles.
Benefits and harms of railroads or highways
As in any space or sector, especially when comparing railroads or highways, the road sector brings a number of benefits to the population and the Brazilian economy, but it can also be fraught with problems. First, it is important to point out the positives of the road sector. As we mentioned in the previous paragraphs, the roads made it possible and still enable a great interconnection of Brazilian cities and states, in addition to providing the growth of the automobile industries.
Other points in favor of this sector are that governments have seen a very lucrative way of collecting taxes for the improvement of infrastructure in different areas. On almost all Brazilian highways these days, where they are divided into sections, several toll booths are installed. Tolls are used to collect a certain amount of money for each vehicle that passes through the stretch of highway where there is a toll. As the movement of vehicles on the highways is quite large, the amount collected is also numerous, making the road sector very profitable and, therefore, investments in it remain so intense.
On the other hand, there are some problems that surround Brazilian highways. Highways still pose a potential danger to people's lives. According to data from the National Transport Confederation (CNT), every day Brazil accounts for an average of 14 deaths and 190 accidents of different proportions on Brazilian highways. This data is very important and scary, and can be explained by the lack of structural quality of some roads and the way they are built. The data from the National Department of Transport Infrastructure (DNIT), points out that in the last few years the number of paved roads was much lower than those not paved. About 1.3 million kilometers of roads are not paved with asphalt, which is the safest and most suitable element for moving automotive vehicles. Thus, the roads continue with these dangerous numbers of accidents, mainly due to the lack of paving of the roads.
Brazilian railroads
As our focus is to understand which space, railroad or highway, is the most important for Brazilian transport, it is also necessary to contextualize the situation of the railroads in the country. The railroad sector was once the main means of transporting cargo and people, mainly because it was the first model built. The doubt between railroad or highway did not exist until the mid-1950s, when the railroad sector was still prevalent.
Currently, railroads are still important for the transportation of cargo and people. The length of the railroad tracks reaches the 30 thousand km mark. Despite the fact that, in the comparison between railroads and highways, railroads have undergone a long process of abandonment to the detriment of road lines, the sector is beginning to see new growth possibilities emerging today.
There was an important change in the legislation of the railroad sector in the 90's, which made it easier for private companies to acquire the concession of the lines and start to manage the railroads. In this way, the private sector and governments began to make new investments in the sector, giving hope for new air for rail transport. You can understand a little more about this by accessing the link, , in which we explain what are these new investments that have been emerging in this segment.
There are several benefits that the railroad sector brings to the Brazilian economy. The quantity of items transported in this sector is quite impressive, being one of the main ways of transporting cargo to Brazilian exporting ports. In addition, they are great means of interconnecting cities that contain a large production and that need the items produced to be transported to the appropriate terminals.
The rail sector is also important for the general population in some states. The implementation of train and subway lines for the transportation of passengers is one of the main ways that people have to move in an accessible way through major cities in Brazil, such as São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
Railroad or highway comparison
Finally, we need to compare the sectors to determine which is the most important, railroad or Highway. As you have noticed throughout the text, both segments, railroad or Highway, are fundamental in the transportation of cargo and passengers within the country.
We could see that currently the length of the highways is much greater than that of the railroads. This was mainly due to the choice of Brazilian governments in the last century that saw the road sector as an excellent form of economic growth, leaving the railroads a little aside. To give you an idea, according to data from the National Transport Confederation, more than 60% of cargo transported in Brazil goes through the road sector, while only 20% goes through the rail sector. This number exemplifies this comparison of the current moment when we talk about Railroad or highway.
Conclusion on which mode of transport is best, railroad or highway?
We noticed throughout the text that Railroads or Highway form the main composition of the networks for transporting cargo and people in Brazil. Both have undergone major changes over the years to become what they are today. It is not possible to determine the fate of the sectors, but it has become clear that the highway is dominant today. Even though the scenario for the near future of the railroads is encouraging, the distance between the two segments is still quite large. Each of these sectors has advantages and disadvantages, which we have shown in the previous paragraphs. Thus, it is difficult to determine which sector, railroad or highway, is best. However, we can conclude that, at the present time, highways stand out in relation to railroads, as they are more profitable for governments and also bring with them a series of investments.
https://www.cnt.org.br/agencia-cnt/como-funciona-nomenclatura-rodovias-federais
