Siracusa railway station

Siracusa

View of the station building

View of the station building
Location Piazzale Stazione
96100 Siracusa
Syracuse, Syracuse, Sicily
Italy
Coordinates 37°04′7.76″N 15°16′50.64″E / 37.0688222°N 15.2807333°ECoordinates: 37°04′7.76″N 15°16′50.64″E / 37.0688222°N 15.2807333°E
Owned by Rete Ferroviaria Italiana
Line(s) Messina-Catania-Siracusa
Siracusa-Gela-Canicattì
Siracusa-Ragusa/Vizzini[1]
Platforms 5 (9 tracks)
Train operators Trenitalia
Connections
  • Urban and suburban buses
Other information
Classification Silver
History
Opened 1871
Location
Siracusa
Location within Sicily

Siracusa is the main railway station of the Italian city of Syracuse (It.: Siracusa), in Sicily. Like Palermo Centrale, Catania Centrale and Messina Centrale it is one of the most important stations in Sicily. It is owned by the Ferrovie dello Stato, the national rail company of Italy.

History

The station was inaugurated on 19 January 1871 as the southern terminal of the line from Messina and Catania. On 13 August 1892 a short rail connection to the port and the station of Siracusa Marittima was opened, originally named Siracusa Porto,[2] not used for passenger traffic. The original building of Siracusa Porto remains but the tracks have mostly disappeared and the area is now a car park. At the end of the 1990s, on the line from Catania, a new double-track siding from Targia with a tunnel under the city was built, causing the closure of the historical line and of the Syracusan station of Santa Panagia. Nowadays, except for the station of Targia, located in the petrochemical park in the north of the city, this station is the only one serving Syracuse. Some online maps still show the old railway lines including Google Maps. Other rail stops located in the municipality are situated in the villages of Santa Teresa Longarini, Fontane Bianche and Cassibile.

Structure and transport

Siracusa station is located in south of the city, in the area of the port and close to the island of Ortygia. Its building has 2 floors. After the closure of the line via Santa Panagia, passing in the eastern side of the city, the station became a terminus.

The station is electrified, but not on the line to Ragusa and Gela,[3] and served by regional trains. Mainly connected to Ragusa, Gela Catania and Messina, it is periodically linked to Palermo. For long distance transport Siracusa is the southern terminal of InterCity and Express trains to Rome, Turin, Milan and Venice, linking it also with Genoa, Naples, Bologna, Florence, Pisa and other cities. There are around 10 trains a day to Catania and Messina, several trains heading south towards Gela and one or two to Rome and beyond. There is a daily night service in both directions between Rome and Syracuse.

Facilities

There are several ticket offices and automatic machines. There is a small café, tobacconists and a police station.

Photogallery

  1. ^ Shown on map as "Stazione FF.SS."

See also

Notes and references

  1. ↑ A narrow gauge railway closed in 1956. See also it:Ferrovia Siracusa-Ragusa-Vizzini
  2. ↑ (Italian) Infos on www.trenidicarta.it
  3. ↑ An Italian railway map showing electrified and not-electrified lines

External links

Media related to Siracusa railway station at Wikimedia Commons