Adriatic railway

Adriatic railway (Ancona–Lecce)

Ancona railway station
Overview
System Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI)
Status Operational
Locale Apulia, South-East Italy
Termini Ancona railway station
Lecce railway station
Stations 10
Operation
Opened 1860
Operator(s) Ferrovie del Sud Est
Technical
Line length 594 km (369 mi)
No. of tracks Double track
Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification Electrified at 3000 V DC
Route map
Legend
 from Bologna and from Orte
 203.996 Ancona
 to Ancona Marittima
Castellano (1569 m) / Vallemiano (4971 m)
209.500 Varano
 210.473 Ancona Stadio
 214.724 Camerano-Aspio
 219.816 Osimo-Castelfidardo
 227.498 Loreto
 231.809 Porto Recanati
 240.591 Potenza Picena-Montelupone
 246.701 Civitanova Marche-Montegranaro
 to Fabriano
 253.199 Porto Sant'Elpidio
 262.295 Porto San Giorgio-Fermo
 272.533 Pedaso
 280.583 Cupramarittima
 283.969 Grottammare
 288.489 San Benedetto del Tronto
 293.273 Porto d'Ascoli
 to Ascoli Piceno
 302.190 Alba Adriatica-Nereto-Controguerra
 305.978 Tortoreto Lido
 312.355 Giulianova
 to Teramo
 321.660 Roseto degli Abruzzi
 326.266 Scerne di Pineto
 330.730 Pineto-Atri
 337.137 Silvi
 342.987 Montesilvano
 349.969 Pescara
 351.309 Pescara Porta Nuova
 to Rome
 352.527 Pescara Tribunale
 359.097 Francavilla al Mare
 364.358 Tollo-Canosa Sannita
 Nuovo Riccio (2799 m)
from Crocetta
371.883 Ortona
connection RFI-FAS
 Moro (2011 m)
 Cintioni (2088 m)
 378.137 San Vito-Lanciano
 to Lanciano
 San Giovanni (9311 m)
 388.379 Fossacesia-Torino di Sangro
 Diavolo (5200 m)
 398.908 Casalbordino-Pollutri
 Sinello (2312 m)
 404.972 Porto di Vasto
 Vasto (6824 m)
 416.405 Vasto-San Salvo
 427.034 Montenero-Petacciato
 439.437 Termoli
 to Venafro
 446.279 Campomarino
 456.728 Chieuti-Serracapriola
 465.204 P.M. Ripalta
 472.446 P.M. Lesina
 479.869 Poggio Imperiale
 484.081 Apricena
495.031
497.579
 San Severo
 to Peschici
 511.961 Rignano Garganico
 from Lucera
 526.027 Foggia
 to Napoli and to Potenza / to Manfredonia
 536.309 Incoronata
 545.661 Orta Nova
 560.292 Cerignola Campagna
 to Cerignola Città
 577.692 Trinitapoli-San Ferdinando di Puglia
 581.554 Margherita di Savoia-Ofantino
 to Margherita di Savoia
 from Spinazzola
 593.919 Barletta
 to Bari
 606.513 Trani
 614.534 Bisceglie
 623.875 Molfetta
 630.190 Giovinazzo
 636.337 Enziteto Catinosince 1993 [1]
 637.074 Bari Santo Spirito
 639.055 Bari Palese-Macchie
from Barletta
from Bitonto
643.467 Cabina Lamasinata
from Ospedale San Paolo
Bari Lamasinata
644.650 Bari Zona Industriale
645.647 Bari Parco Nord
to Bari Sant'Andrea
from Taranto
from Matera
648.616 Bari Centrale
 to Putignano and to Taranto
 650.145 Bari Marconisince 1992 [2]
 650.715 Bari Parco Sud
 660.069 Bari Torre a Mare
 667.771 Mola di Bari
 681.575 Polignano a Mare
 689.160 Monopoli
 702.989 Fasano
 710.146 Cisternino
 722.894 Ostuni
 731.875 Carovigno
 747.836 San Vito dei Normanni
 from Taranto
 759.539 Brindisi
 769.473 Tuturano
 776.562 San Pietro Vernotico
 783.303 Squinzano
 787.504 Trepuzzi
 794.332 Surbo
3.571 Surbo Fascio Merci
from Martina Franca
 797.903 Lecce
 to Otranto

The Adriatic railway (Italian: Ferrovia Adriatica) is the railroad from Ancona to Otranto that runs along the Adriatic Coast of Italy, following it almost all of the way. It is one of the main lines of the Italian rail system and links the northern cities with the most important productive areas of central and southern Italy.

The railroad was built by the Società per le Strade Ferrate Meridionali (Italian: Company for the Southern Railways, SFM), between 1863 and 1872. In 1906, management of the line was taken over by Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane. In 1933, the southernmost Lecce-Otranto segment of the line was turned over to the Ferrovie del Sud Est, which has maintained it to the present day.

History

Shortly after the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, the new government took over the granting of railway concessions, which, in prior years, had often been doled out in a haphazard manner by the different states and provisional dictatorial governments of the Italian Peninsula to various companies: canceling some, changing others and continually releasing new rights-of-way.

In November 1861 the Milan–Bologna railway line began operation, with the connection of the Milan-Piacenza line to the Piacenza-Bologna via a bridge – initially of wood but later replaced by an iron structure – across the river Po. This allowed trains from Turin and France to travel directly to the Adriatic coast along the Ancona-Bologna line, which itself had been built in November 1861 by the SFR, in what was then the Papal States.

The construction of an Adriatic line had long been desired, but had never come to pass: mainly because of the difficulty in reconciling the needs of the two countries – the Papal States and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies – through whose territories the line would pass. The constitution of the kingdom of Italy in 1860 brought a resolution to this dilemma, and, as entrepreneurs in Piedmont and Lombardy desired access to Adriatic ports for closer and easier trade with Asia through the Suez Canal, construction would proceed rapidly following unification.

As early as May 1861, a detailed and complex feasibility study was presented to the Chamber of Deputies for new railways in southern Italy that were considered of vital importance. In particular, the construction of a railway along the Adriatic coast from Ancona to Brindisi and Otranto was seen as essential, as these ports were considered by many[3] to be on the verge of becoming Europe's "door to the East." At that time, several European countries were competing for the privilege of transporting the Imperial Indian Mail train (referred to in Italy as the Valigia delle Indie), in hopes of sharing in the profits of the trade between England and its vast colonial empire.[4] In July 1862, Count Pietro Bastogi, former Finance Minister of the Kingdom of Italy succeeded in putting together a consortium of 92 bankers with the huge sum (at that time) of 100 million gold Italian lira of capital from entirely Italian sources.[5] The Società per le Strade Ferrate Meridionali (Italian: 'Company for the Southern Railways', SFM) moved quickly to build the rail line, completing the Brindisi-Lecce segment by 1866. The Lecce-Otranto segment was delayed by bitter controversies which prevented the choice of a route for many years. The last stretch of 19 miles from Maglie to Oltranto was not complete until 20 September 1872.

The new Adriatic Railroad allowed, for the first time, relatively rapid travel between the south and the north-central regions of Italy. In 1866, in fact, there were no railways on the Tyrrhenian coast south of Eboli. Vittorio Emanuele II on 9 November 1863 inaugurated the line with his train ride from Pescara to Foggia, following hurried work to finish the track. The public opening was postponed until 25 April 1864. In the proceedings of the first legislature of the Kingdom of Italy, the parliamentarian Leopoldo Galeotti wrote hopefully that "before long the port of Brindisi, reborn to a new life, will bring within her breast the Indian Mail, a sure sign that the commerce of the world will be drawn a second time to our seas. In a few days, thanks to the great industry of Southern Company, despite the obstacles of every kind that had to be overcome, locomotives will arrive at the port of Brindisi."[6] In September 1871 the completion of the Fréjus Rail Tunnel allowed the luxury Peninsular Express (from the same company that operated the famous Orient Express) to complete the London-Brindisi trip in 47 hours via Calais and Paris.[7]

The line was built in record time using the easiest and least demanding engineering methods (tunnels and viaducts), often near the sea. Weather was a significant cause of work interruptions, due to the heavy storms that frequently batter the Adriatic coast.

The line was reoriented in 2004, with double tracking, for the stretch from Lesina to Apricena (saving about 2.5 km), while at the end of 2005, the railway between Ortona and Vasto Casalbordino and between the Port of Vasto and Vasto / San Salvo were also realigned; for the dual purpose of eliminating the multiple curves in the old section, and reducing the danger posed by storm surges and coastal erosion.

Between 2002 and 2006 the track between Brindisi and Lecce was doubled, followed by the segment between Bari Centrale and Fasano. In 2007 the segment between San Severo and Apricena was also given double track.

The only stretch of the Adriatic line that remains single track is from Termoli to Lesina, which is the bottleneck of the line.

Features

A notable aspect of the Adriatic line is the almost total absence of tunnels, with the exception of the Pescara-Vasto segment, where there are seven, including three with a length greater than 5000 m. The railroad is almost entirely double track, and is DC electrified to 3000 V.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Oltre Santo Spirito. In: ″I Treni″ Nr. 144 (January 1994), p. 6–7.
  2. ↑ Impianti FS. In: ″I Treni Oggi″ Nr. 131 (November 1992), p. 6.
  3. ↑ Annali Universali di Statistica by Giuseppe Sacchi, Vol. CXLV, prima. Milano series, 1 st quarter 1861
  4. ↑ Ernesto Petrucci The '48 and the railway question in the Papal States on page 19, History and Future 1/2002
  5. ↑ Gian Guido Turchi, 150 di ferrovia in Italia, in iTreni 97, Editrice ETR, Salò,1989
  6. ↑ La Prima Legislatura del regno d'Italia, Leopoldo Galeotti. Florence, Le Monnier, 1865
  7. ↑ Stefano Maggi, Tra pubblico e privato. La gestione delle ferrovie nell'800 e primo '900, in Tutto Treno & Storia 22, pg. 22, 23. Duegi Editrice, Albignasego, 2002

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