This 1985 cover image depicts the world’s largest iron ore mine, Carajas, in the state of Para in Brazil, developed by CVRD, now known as Vale.
The remote location, hills and plateaus with a lot of jungle and full of malaria between the Tocantins and Xingu rivers, posed a great challenge. The solution was an 890 km railway line to bring the ore to the port of Sao Luis.
Construction was limited to the six-month dry season and lasted seven years, with 14 contractors placing 105 million cubic meters of embankment fill.
The route crosses a floodplain coastal plain, savanna and tropical forest and only required one major bridge, 2,310 meters long, that crosses the Tocantins River at Maraba. Main contractor Odebrecht used a track welding method pioneered by the French.
Twelve meter long sections of railway were passed through a feed line, their ends heated to 1,050°C to improve electrical conductivity, and then flash welded into ropes 396 meters long. Two million ties of native jatoba wood were first dried and then creosoted in a vacuum chamber.
The workforce for the entire Grand Carajas Project (mineral processing facilities, rail line and port) peaked at 27,500. Given the remote location, a temporary city had to be built for 8,000 workers. Jobs and amenities proved powerful lures for the poor inhabitants of the region.
To prevent a possible flood of itinerant workers, CVRD improved the existing village of Parauapebas by installing public services and erecting a hospital, a school, an administrative building and a prison.
Looking for quick answers on construction and engineering topics?
Try Ask ENR, our new intelligent AI search tool.
Ask ENR →
