CHAPTER I
Lines of railroad transportation
Art. 45. There shall be constructed in the valley of the Amazon lines of railroad transportation of two classes:
1. Large lines of transportation, making an integral part of the general line of Federal railroads, with identical characteristics and comprising the same principles.
2. Economic lines of transportation, of reduced gauge, provisionally established for easy ways of penetration, whatever may be their development, sufficient to facilitate access to and permit the exploration of the virgin seringas and the good lands for cultivation situated on the upper banks of the Rivers Xingú, Tapajóz, Branco, Negro, and others situated in the States of Pará, Matto-Grosso and Amazonas.
Art. 46. Those lines belonging to the first class shall be immediately begun and constructed as quickly as possible, the following:
1. Parting from the Port of Belém (Pará) and joining the general line of railroad in Pirapóra, in the State of Minas Geraes and in Coroatá, in the State of Maranhão, with the necessary branches to unite the initial points or terminals of navigation on the Rivers Arguaya, Tocantins, Parnaluyba, and S. Francisco.
2. Beginning at a convenient point chosen on the Madeira-Mamoré railroad, near the mouth of the River Abunã, passing by the Villa Rio Branco, and the point most appropriate between Senna Medureira and Catay and terminating in Villa Thaumaturgo, with a branch to the frontier of Perú by the valley of the River Purús.
Art. 47. The rules for the construction of these lines is prescribed by law, number 1,126, Dec. 15, 1903, and both shall be let at public bidding.
Art. 48. The Minister of Transportation is to command the studies to be made, to contract for the construction and inspect the traffic of these roads, but he will furnish the Minister of Agriculture a copy of the plans relative to the route and give descriptive memoranda of the project, and when drawing up the papers for the bidding, shall include the clauses which he shall judge necessary and opportune for the colonization of the bordering lands and the development of the industries of the zone tributary to the line as well as to attend to the eventual necessities of the commerce.
Art. 49. The construction and the concession for construction of the roads of the second class may be made by the Union or by the States interested.
Art. 50. The Minister of Agriculture is the proper person to construct or permit the construction of those Government resolves to carry into effect at the account of the Union, as well as to authorize the payment of the subvention of 15,000 mibreis per kilometer to those which were contracted for by the States.
Art. 51. The technical conditions of the railroads of which Art. 45 treats in the second part, are the following:
A portable line of the Decauville type.
Weight of the rails, 15 kilos per metre.
Gauge 0.60 cm between the rails, least radius of curvature 40 M. O.
Greatest incline OmO10.
Weight of locomotives 18 to 20 tons.
Art. 52. The concessions for these roads shall be let at a public bidding according to the rule established in law number 1,126 of 1903, or independently of bidding with a person or corporation sufficiently able with the help of the payment of the maximum subvention of 25 contos per kilometer, according to the difficulties of the land it passes through, paid by sections of not less than 30 kilometers, completely ready and furnished with the necessary rolling stock, within 90 days of the date of the respective inaugurations.
Art. 53. The concession for these railroads cannot be given to those who agree to build then simply as transportation enterprises, but only to those who will obligate themselves to colonize and explore, in proportion as they may be justified, the respective marginal lands.
It is an essential condition for the validity of the concession, that the contractor presents to the Minister of Agriculture within the maximum term of one year, proof that he has disposed of the lands for colonization, and a descriptive memorandum of the character and extent of the industries he intends to develop.
Art. 54. Those railroads of this type which in the future may be joined to any general line of transportation, shall be obliged as soon as its gross earnings amount to 10,000 mibreis per kilometer, to make its gauge conform to the same, and from then for all purposes becoming a part of the general federal transportation system.
Independently of being joined to any railroad in general, these economical railroads shall pass to the jurisdiction of the Minister of Transportation and Public Works and shall be obliged to enlarge their gauge to 1 meter, without other favors from the Government, there not being a supplementary term of the contract, if it is wanting for its termination in less than 60 years, when the gross receipts have reached 15,000 mibreis per kilometer during 3 successive years. Before this the railroad may pass to the Minister of Transportation and the gauge be widened, on his own account, when he shall think it to his interest, or by a new contract, when the Government thinks it necessary to have it done for the necessities of the administration or the defense of the country.
Art. 55. In addition to the subvention per kilometer, there shall be given to these railroads all the indirect favors received by the other railroads of the country.
Art. 56. The maximum term for a concession shall be 90 years, at the end of which the railroad will revert to the control of the Union.
Art. 57. Under the right of experiment, the Government shall promote at once the following lines of economical railroads:
1. Parting from “Antiga Souzel,” or other point more convenient on the left bank of the Xingú and ascending the left side of the valley to the margin of the River Cariahy, with a branch which parting at a convenient point, shall go to the Tapajóz and ascend the right hand side of the valley until it reaches the S. Manoel which may appear advantageous, ascending the secondary valley and continuing to the dividing of the waters of the two principal rivers.
2. Parting from the confluence of the River Negro with the Branco and by the valley of the River Seruiny, gaining the right side of the valley by the Caratimani river and continuing to the upper Uraricoera, with a branch parting at a convenient point at the request of the upper Paduiry and a branch in the direction of the Villa Boa Vista.