the incline system was approved by Brunlees and the São Paulo Railway Company (SPR) was established to build the railway system and operate it for 90 years. Since the capital of the company was mainly British also the official company name was in English, not Portuguese. The railway company contracted with Robert Sharpe & Sons to acquire the land, execute the works and supply all rolling stock and plant. Construction on the long adhesion railway Santos – Piaçaguera began on 15 March 1860 and on the incline system in the year 1861. The road was constructed without explosives since it was felt that the slopes were very unstable. The rock was excavated only with plug and feathers. Embankments of in height were constructed to protect the tracks from the frequent torrential rains in the area, which used about rocks. The line did not have any tunnels. In spite of all the difficulties, the construction finished 10 months ahead of the date specified in the contract, which was eight years. The São Paulo Railway was opened on 1867-02-16. Serra Velha – the first incline system The part of the route climbing the Serra do Mar consisted of four 10.3% grade cable railway sections with the following length: section 1: section 2: section 3: section 4: At each section the wagons were attached to a steel wire rope with the help of a specially fitted brake van called Serrabreque (transl.: Hill Brake). The steel cable was driven by a stationary steam winding engine at the top end of the section, where a extension with a 1.3% grade was also fitted, so that the wagons could be led to the next section. The incline system was later called Serra Velha (transl.: Old Mountain) to distinguish it from the later built second incline system called Serra Nova. Serra Nova – the second incline system The large volume of coffee shipments and the growth of the cities in the São Paulo region required more transport capacity. Therefore, the construction of a second incline system started in 1895. The new line ran parallel to the already existing one in about distance. It had five sections using continuous steel wire ropes which were moved by stationary steam engines. Each section was about long and had a grade of 8%. Two to three wagons were coupled to the rope with the help of small locomotives fitted with grip