The Naples Passante railway (Passante ferroviario di Napoli in Italian, literally "Naples passing railway") is a 23 km-long double track line which connects the line to Rome via Formia at Villa Literno with the line to Salerno near Napoli Gianturco station through Naples and its north-western suburbs. This line is used by Line 2 of the Naples Metro, and by trains on regional, national and international routes.
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Legend
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With the construction of Rome–Naples Direttissima, it was decided to build a through railway ("Passante"), partly on the surface and partly underground, directly connecting the line from Salerno with the line to Rome, without the need to reverse trains. The line would also allow the construction of several railway stations in order to create an urban railway line.
Although work started in 1909, it was not opened until 20 September 1925 due to delays in completing the work, mainly as a result of World War I and the hilliness of the route. The railway consists of three stations outside the city of Naples in Pozzuoli, Giugliano (its station, Giugliano-Qualiano is some distance from the centres of both Giugliano and Qualiano) and Quarto and six in the city at Napoli Garibaldi, Cavour, Montesanto, Amedeo, Chiaia and Fuorigrotta. The entire line was double track and electrified with 750V DC third rail.
In 1927 the names of the stations of Chiaia and Fuorigrotta were changed to respectively in Mergellina and Campi Flegrei. In the same year the Direttissima was completed connecting to the Passante near Villa Literno station and the stations of Bagnoli and Gianturco were opened. In 1929 the station of Piazza Leopardi was opened.
In later years the Passante was electrified with standard Italian Railways 3kV DC Overhead Lines, a new station was opened at Cavalleggeri d'Aosta and the station at Piazza Garibaldi (beneath Napoli Centrale) was rebuilt.
Today the Line 2 of the Naples Metro operates between Gianturco to Pozzuoli on the Passante. Local suburban trains operates on the Passante to Castellammare di Stabia, stopping at all stations and some fast regional trains operates on the Passante to Formia and Salerno. In addition, some InterCity and Eurostar Italia trains also stop at Piazza Garibaldi, Mergellina and Campi Flegrei stations.
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