The railroad which link Curitiba, the capital of Paraná, and Paranaguá, across Serra do Mar (Brazil's coastal mountains range), has a length of 110 km and initially was the only way that products from southern states arrived to the Paranaguá port, and from there to the rest of Brazil or anywhere in the world. It was, at the time of inauguration (1885), one of the world's boldest engineering works. Some sources say that in the five years as it took to build the railway, over 50% of the more than 9,000 workers hired for the job, died.
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