A Tourist Experience at the Passenger Train of the Vitória-Minas Railroad

Abstract

Due to consecutive political decisions and governmental actions nationwide, the supply of rail passenger transport in Brazil is mainly focused in the urban rail transport present in some populous metropolitan areas. There are rare examples of trains carrying long distance passengers and a few tourist trains that operate short stretches and, not always, have regular frequency. One of the railway sections that has passenger trains, daily and regularly is the Vitória-Minas Railroad, operated by the company Vale, which links the capitals Vitória-ES and Belo Horizonte-MG. This study is based on an exploratorydescriptive research, which used the participant’s observation technique, in order to achieve the objective of registering the experiences of a passenger-tourist, lived by the researcher, when carrying out the aforementioned route. As a result, it was detected that although the passenger service was offered to serve the region’s residents and constitute a factor that promotes regional development, it also presents characteristics that can be enjoyed by tourists and tour operators.