MaracanãStation

Let's start with the fact that Maracanã station once had another name: Derby Club. It was opened in 1885 and, according to the 1902 report of the Estrada de Ferro Central do Brasil (EFCB), it was a platform used on race days at the Derby Club — which stood next to the station — where Turf, as horse racing is known, was practiced.

Derby Club station ticket office. Author unknown. Image taken from the website Estações Ferroviárias do Brasil

Image description: The image is a black-and-white photograph of a building's facade. On the left side, there is a door with metal bars. In the center, there is a large sign with big, bold letters that read "Estação do Derby Club." Below these letters, "Trôco" is written in smaller letters. The facade is covered with white tiles and has two square windows at the bottom.

Starting in 1895, the station also began serving the E. F. Melhoramentos (an auxiliary line of the D. Pedro II Railroad). After a while, the name was changed to Maracanã Station because of the stadium next to the station. On June 16, 1950, the stadium was inaugurated under the name Estádio Mendes de Moraes, also called Estádio Municipal do Derby, since it was built on the grounds of the former club.

Maracanã Stadium in 1950. Arquivo Nacional. Image taken from the Brasil Escola website

Image description: This is a black-and-white photograph of a packed stadium during a soccer match. From left to right, we see the green grass of the playing field, with players scattered across it. In the center, there is a goal. On the right, the crowd is seated in the stands, completely filling the available space. In the background, we see a mountain covered in vegetation.

After 16 years, the stadium's official name was changed to Estádio Jornalista Mário Filho, in honor of one of the country's most influential sports journalists, who fought hard for its construction and passed away on September 17, 1966. To this day, this remains the official name, but it is better known by its popular name, Maracanã, because it was built alongside the Maracanã River. Besides lending its name to the stadium, the river also gave its name to the neighborhood where it is located and to the train station, which, it's worth remembering, is not exactly in the same place as the old Derby Club station.

The new Maracanã station in July 2014, renovated for the World Cup. Photo by Caroline Gonçalves. Image taken from the Estações Ferroviárias do Brasil website

Image description: This is a photograph of a train station at dusk. The image shows a yard with train tracks in the center, flanked by side platforms. On the left, we see people walking along the platform, wearing a variety of clothing. On the right, there are stairs leading to an upper level. The station's roof is covered by metal structures and tiles in blue and beige tones. The sky is dark, suggesting it is close to nighttime.

Personal account

After a successful interview, we managed to recover a memory related to Maracanã Station.

On October 8, 2006, the band RBD, the main cast of a Mexican soap opera (Rebelde) that was very popular with young people at the time, came to Brazil to perform a show at Maracanã Stadium, drawing a crowd of about 50,000 people.

Image description: This is a photograph of a concert held at the Maracanã Stadium. In the image, six people are on a stage, raising their arms in a sign of triumph. From left to right, there are two women wearing dance outfits with gold and white details, followed by two men in yellow t-shirts and jeans, one of them wearing a gray jacket. To the right, there is another woman in dance attire and a man in a red t-shirt. The audience is standing, with hands raised, appearing excited and enthusiastic.

Everything went very well during the show, the problem was the trip back home. Since so many people left at the same time, the walkway leading to Maracanã Station exceeded its weight limit and there was a serious risk of collapse. Because of this, police officers and firefighters had to hold back the crowd, making them form a GIANT line outside the station and around Maracanã, so that they could enter the train station in smaller groups and in an organized manner.