Battipaglia – Metaponto railway line
The Battipaglia – Potenza – Metaponto railway is a single-track , electrified railway line in southern Italy that connects the regions of Campania and Basilicata .
history
| section | release |
|---|---|
| Battipaglia - Eboli | June 14, 1863 |
| Eboli - Contursi | December 1, 1874 |
| Metaponto - Pisticci | June 15, 1875 |
| Contursi - Romagnano | September 30, 1875 |
| Pisticci - Ferrandina | November 15, 1875 |
| Ferrandina - Grassano | April 10, 1876 |
| Romagnano - Balvano | June 3, 1877 |
| Grassano - Calciano | August 1, 1877 |
| Balvano - Baragiano | November 6, 1877 |
| Baragiano - Picerno | January 15, 1880 |
| Picerno - Potenza | September 1, 1880 |
| Potenza – Calciano | December 27, 1880 |
The railway line was built between 1863 and 1880. Until the completion of the Salerno – Reggio di Calabria railway in 1895, it was the only continuous connection to the Gulf of Taranto . The start of construction work coincided with the dissolution of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and the difficulties that came with it. In 1863 only a small section between Battipaglia and Eboli could be completed.
Two years later, the construction contract was transferred to the “Società Vittorio Emanuele”, which, however, had to struggle with financial problems from the start. Only when the project was transferred to the stately “Società per le Strade Ferrate Calabro-Sicule” did the construction of the line make noticeable progress. On December 27, 1880, the last gap on the line between Potenza and Calciano was closed.
In March 1944 one of the most momentous accidents in the history of the Italian railways occurred on the line, the railway accident at Balvano . A freight train, on which many people traveled illegally at the time, came to a standstill in a tunnel between the Balvano-Ricigliano stop and the Bella-Muro train station due to the incline and the use of inferior coal. Because of the inadequate ventilation of the 1.7 km long tunnel, between 402 and 549 people suffocated from carbon monoxide poisoning .
From 1986 traffic was idle due to modernization work. The route was completely electrified and returned to traffic in 1993.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Chronological listing of the opening of sections of the Italian railway from 1839 to December 31, 1926 ( Italian ) Trenidicarta.it. Retrieved October 1, 2010.
- ↑ Michele Strazza: La più grande tragedia ferroviaria italiana. Retrieved March 12, 2015 (Italian, with further references to sources and literature).
