Enhancing the Cultural Value of Railways in the Western Region of São Paulo State (Brazil)

Abstract

In order to improve the knowledge of the influence of the railways in the State of São Paulo (Brazil), this article presents the proposal of an industrial inventory to upgrade this infrastructure. The French were pioneers in the field of inventory. In addition, their railway system has become an international model. This is why the best known of their achievements have served as a reference for historical research. The railway has been an essential factor of progress in the western region of the State of São Paulo, its development accompanying that of coffee, the region's major production. However, the cities of the Estrada de Ferro Araraquarense have had more important cultivations for their development than coffee. In each city the railway was able to attract a huge industrial legacy and to cause many urban transformations. Araraquara is just the first city of this line influenced by this infrastructure, but it had one of the main State stations, as Lille, Lyon and Marseille in France. Thus, like the beginning of a jigsaw puzzle, working on the inventory of the urban and industrial heritage of Araraquara reveals the role played by the railway in the development of town planning and industry, as well as in the mobility of goods, people and knowledge.