Dittaino – Caltagirone railway line

Dittaino – Caltagirone

Route length:

71.2 km

Strub (between Mulinello and Valguarnera)

	from Catania
0	Dittaino	255 m
	after Caltanissetta Xirbi
	to Leonforte until 1959
7.4	Mulinello	313 m
	Start of the cogwheel route
13.9	Valguarnera	565 m
	End of the gear train
19.7	Floristella	623 m
21.2	Grottacalda	648 m
27.7	Ronza	791 m
33.3	Bekkia-Aidone	696 m
35.6	Piazza Armerina	696 m
41.5	Leano	633 m
43.3	Rasalgons	576 m
45.3	Gallinica	530 m
51.2	Mirabella Imbaccari	465 m
57.4	S. Michele di Ganzaria	382 m
65.5	Salvatorello	480 m
69.4	Cappuccini
71.2	Caltagirone , old train station	513 m
	after Lentini Diramazione

The Dittaino – Caltagirone railway was a single-track, narrow - gauge railway in southeastern Sicily . The route led from Dittaino on the Catania – Palermo route for 71 km to Caltagirone . The route, which is provided in sections with racks ( Strub system ), was opened between 1912 and 1930 and closed between 1969 and 1971.

history

The route was designed to connect the sulfur mines of Valguarnera, Floristella and Grottacalda with the port of Catania . The first section between Dittaino and Valguarnera was opened on April 12, 1912. Grottacalda was reached on August 29, 1914.

The First World War delayed construction so that the line from Grottacalda to Piazza Armerina could not be opened to traffic until September 7, 1920. After the collapse of the sulfur price in 1922, interest in further construction was only moderate. The section between Piazza Armerina and Caltagirone was only opened on October 28, 1930. In addition, rigorous savings were made on this section, so that operations were subject to frequent interruptions from the start.

After a landslide damaged a bridge in 1955, the last section was interrupted. Operations officially ceased on February 2, 1965, and the line between Piazza Armerina and Caltagirone closed on June 25, 1969. Two years later, on July 11, 1971, operations between Dittaino and Piazza Armerina were closed.

business

The line was operated by the FS . The entire operation was initially carried out with steam locomotives with a top speed of 30 km / h. From 1949 diesel multiple units of the type RALn 60 were used for passenger transport. The depot was in Piazza Armerina.

The steam locomotive R.370.012 is a memorial on the house platform - track 1 - of the Catania Centrale train station. The locomotive, built in 1915 and installed on August 8, 1985, was in use here until the line was closed.

literature

Alfredo Alabiso: Posta per Ferrovia in Sicilia , Palermo 1994, p. 133.
Railway Atlas Italy and Slovenia , Schweers + Wall, 2010, p. 108 ff.
John Organ: Narrow Gauge Branch Lines, Sardina to Sicily, Scenic Rail Journeys on the Italian Islands , Middleton Press, 2013, ISBN 978-1-908174-50-5 .