It connects the city's centre with the primarily residential, inner-city neighbourhood of Santa Teresa, in the hills immediately southwest of downtown.

It is mainly maintained as a tourist attraction and is nowadays considered a heritage tramway system, having been designated a national historic monument in 1985.

Following studies after the 2011 suspension, it was decided to buy new trams that would be replicas of the previous vintage fleet, and an order for 14 such cars was placed in 2012.

[11] The full 6-kilometre (4 mi) route between Largo da Carioca and Dois Irmãos was finally restored to operation and passenger service in January 2019.

Before the 1960s, Rio de Janeiro trams served the entire downtown area and all nearby suburbs, but since 1967 only the Santa Teresa line remained.

[11] Having closed in 1966, the short branch was reopened in late 2015 and formally "inaugurated" in January 2016, but actual public service was not introduced until sometime later in 2016 and has been very limited and intermittent since then.

[15] However, operation of these trips became sporadic and is thought to have ceased by 2005 or 2006; the section of tramway between Dois Irmãos and Silvestre was closed definitively in 2008, after the theft of most of the overhead trolley wire.

[18] Rio de Janeiro's first tramway was a 7-kilometre (4.3 mi) horsecar line on which service was inaugurated on 30 January 1859 (testing began in 1858).

[1] A new horse-drawn tramway was built in 1868 by Charles B. Greenough and a service running from Rua do Ouvidor to Largo do Machado commenced on 9 October, extended to Botafogo six weeks later.

Another tramway using horse-drawn vehicles, constructed by Albert H. Hager and run by the Rio de Janeiro Street Railway, opened on 25 November 1869.

A new horse-drawn tram, constructed by João Batista Viana Drummond and run by the Companhia Ferro-Carril da Vila Isabel, opened in 1873.

Further routes were opened to the Vila Isabel zoo, Engenho Novo, Méier and the suburbs along the Dom Pedro II Railroad on the northwest side of town.

The Ferro-Carril de Jacarepaguá company opened a new line in 1875, running from the Dom Pedro II Railroad's Cascadura station to Taquara and Freguesia.

In 1896 electric trams replaced the horsecars on the Santa Teresa line, and the line was extended across the then-abandoned aqueduct between Santa Teresa and Santo Antonio hills (the Carioca Aqueduct), with the city terminus uniquely being built on the second floor of the company's office building on Largo da Carioca.

Depots at Cascadura, Penha, Méier, Alto da Boa Vista, Usina, Triagem, 28 de Setembro, Vila Isabel, São Cristóvão, Bonjardim, Rua Larga, Santo Antonio (neighbourhood), Largo do Machado, Largo dos Leoes and Cosme Velho are all now closed, and the only depot still operating is Santa Teresa itself.

Most termini are also now closed, including Freguesia (Jacarepaguá), Taquara, Madureira, Irajá, Cavalcante, Inahauma, Caxambi, Piedade, Quintino Bocaiuva, Caju, Andarai, Santa Alexandrina, Estrela, Praia Vermelha, Leme, Gávea and Silvestre.

[20] By the 2000s, the cars and tracks were not in good repair, so the ride was slow and bumpy, though the carriages were regularly repainted in keeping with the tram's heritage image.

The new replica trams, which began to arrive in 2014, have new safety features, but retain the appearance of the old cars, for heritage-preservation value and tourist appeal.

[20] After additional delays, the first segment finally reopened on 27 July 2015, with very limited service initially, covering only the 1.7-kilometre (1.1 mi) section from Carioca terminus to Largo do Curvelo and running only between 11:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., every 20 minutes, Monday to Saturday.

[26] By that time, mid-2016, additional delays had caused the estimated date of restoration of service over the full line to Dois Irmãos to be postponed to at least December 2017.

[11] The final stage was reached on 21 January 2019, making the route once again Largo da Carioca to Dois Irmãos, a length of 6 kilometres (4 mi).