Sorocabana Station in Bauru (São Paulo, Brazil): Diagnosis for Restoration

Abstract

Bauru is a city located in the State of São Paulo, southeastern Brazil; created at the end of the nineteenth century as part of the territorial occupation process of western São Paulo, where coffee plantations for export, followed by the railroad, played a key role. Three railroad companies were installed in the city: Companhia Sorocabana (1905), Northwest of Brazil (NOB) (1905), and Companhia Paulista (1910). The most expressive for the urban development of the city was the Northwest of Brazil (NOB) railway company, due to its headquarters in Bauru, its size, and the significant strategic and pioneering role toward the west of the country. However, the NOB company only established its headquarters in the city due to the pre-existence of the Sorocabana Company station. The historical importance of this small construction, still existing, is its size; in 2015 a project for its restoration was proposed. There are two main objectives of this work: to draw a history about the installation of the railroads in Bauru and to present the diagnosis of conservation of the building of the old Sorocabana station, used for the elaboration of the restoration project, but unfortunately, not yet executed.