Castelvetrano – Porto Empedocle railway line

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Castelvetrano – Porto Empedocle
Route length: 123.1 km
Gauge : 950 mm ( Italian meter gauge )
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from Palermo
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by S. Ninfa
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0.0 Castelvetrano 176 m
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to Trapani
   
7.0 S. Teresa Selinuntina
   
9.3 Latomie 67 m
   
13.1 Selinunte 35 m
   
15.4 Cava Belice
   
22.1 Porto Palo 55 m
   
28.1 Menfi 98 m
   
42.1 Capo S. Marco 77 m
   
49.1 Sciacca 8 m
   
S. Giorgio tunnel (3770 m)
   
60.3 Bellapietra
   
   
61.7 Verdura 32 m
   
71.2 Ribera 190 m
   
77.7 Magazzolo 100 m
   
to Lercara
   
88.3 Monte Sara
   
   
90.8 Cattolica Eraclea 56 m
   
97.2 Monteallegro 126 m
   
106.2 Siculiana Marina 12 m
   
109.2 Siculiana 73 m
   
114.6 Realmonte 69 m
   
118.5 Punta Piccola 5 m
   
121.6 Porto Empedocle Cannelle
   
123.1 Porto Empedocle 4 m
Route - straight ahead
to Agrigento

The Castelvetrano – Porto Empedocle railway was a single-track, narrow-gauge railway on the western south coast of Sicily . The 123 km long route led from Castelvetrano via Sciacca to Porto Empedocle , from where there was a connection to Agrigento via a three-rail track . The line opened between 1910 and 1923 and shut down between 1978 and 1985. The section from Castelvetrano to Ribera was the last narrow-gauge line of the FS .

history

The idea of ​​a rail link on the western south coast of Sicily had been around since the 1880s. The project was only seriously tackled after the Rete Sicula had merged into the FS. The first section between Castelvetrano and Selinunte was put into operation on June 20, 1910; The line was continuously passable from July 2, 1923.

Start of operation of the individual sections:

Opening date Route section
June 20, 1910 Castelvetrano– Selinunte
December 16, 1911 Siculiana - Postage Empedocle
February 21, 1914 Selinunte - Sciacca
June 16, 1915 Cattolica Eraclea - Siculiana
February 26, 1917 Ribera - Cattolica Eraclea
July 2, 1923 Sciacca-Ribera

After operations on the Ribera – Porto Empedocle line had already been given up on March 22, 1978, the last narrow-gauge train of the FS ran on December 31, 1985 between Castelvetrano and Ribera. The route was mentioned in the FS timetable for many years; the line was only definitely abandoned with a ministerial decree of March 14, 2004.

business

The line was operated by the FS. The entire operation was initially carried out with steam locomotives, from 1949 diesel railcars of the type RALn 60 were also used for passenger transport. Although the end of the line and thus of the narrow-gauge operation of the FS was already in sight, in 1978 they ordered two RD 142 diesel locomotives ; these were used in freight traffic for a few years from 1981.

literature

  • Alfredo Alabiso: Posta per Ferrovia in Sicilia , Palermo 1994, p. 132.
  • Railway Atlas Italy and Slovenia , Schweers + Wall, 2010, p. 106.
  • Hansjürg Rohrer: Railways in Italy , Zurich 1985, ISBN 3-280-01611-8 , p. 152 ff.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Alfredo Alabiso: Posta per Ferrovia in Sicilia , Palermo 1994, p. 132