Lercara – Magazzolo railway line

Lercara – Magazzolo
Route length:	66.9 km
Gauge :	950 mm ( Italian meter gauge )
Maximum slope :	75  ‰
Rack system :	Strub (between Contuberna and S. Stefano Q.)
Top speed:	30 km / h
Legend from Palermo 0.0 Lercara Bassa 520 m to Agrigento 3.5 Lercara Alta 659 m 11.4 S. Luca 13.7 Depupo-Castronovo 21.2 Filaga 820 m to Palazzo Adriano Portella di Mola tunnel (700 m) 29.5 Contuberna 905 m Start of rack 33.4 S. Stefano Quisquina 680 m End of rack 39.6 Bivona 435 m 48.2 Alessandria della Rocca 609 m 53.0 Cianciana 427 m from Porto Empedocle 66.9 Magazzolo 100 m to Castelvetrano

The Lercara – Magazzolo railway was a single-track, narrow - gauge railway in Sicily . The route led from Lercara on the Palermo – Agrigento route over 66.9 km to Magazzolo on the Castelvetrano – Porto Emedocle route . The line, which is provided in sections with racks ( Strub system ), was opened between 1912 and 1924 and closed in 1959.

history

The route was primarily designed to connect the sulfur pits along the route to the rest of the route network. The first section between Lercara Bassa and Lercara was opened on August 20, 1912. The entire line was opened on September 1, 1924.

Start of operation of the individual sections:

Opening date	Route section
August 20, 1912	Lercara Bassa - Lercara Alta
September 12, 1914	Lercara Alta - Filaga
May 10, 1921	Filaga – Contuberna
July 15, 1922	Alessandria della Rocca - Cianciana
December 3, 1922	Cianciana – Magazzolo
November 11, 1923	Contuberna-Bivona
September 1, 1924	Bivona –Alessandria della Rocca

In the 1950s it took a train over six hours to cover the 67 kilometers from Lercara Bassa to Magazzolo, which corresponds to an average speed of around ten kilometers per hour. This meant that the railway was not competitive with the road. The operation of the severely deficit route was set on October 1, 1959, although there was no direct road connection from Cianciana to Magazzolo and therefore no direct replacement traffic could be set up on this section.

business

The line was operated by the FS . The entire operation was carried out with steam locomotives, which only allowed a maximum speed of 30 km / h.

literature

• Alfredo Alabiso: Posta per Ferrovia in Sicilia , Palermo 1994, p. 132.
• Railway Atlas Italy and Slovenia , Schweers + Wall, 2010, p. 101 ff.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Alfredo Alabiso: Posta per Ferrovia in Sicilia , Palermo 1994, p. 132
2. ^ Francesco Ogliari, Storia dei trasporti italiani, Dilettoso viaggio (Sicilia), 1977, p. 992 ff.

Web links

Commons : Lercara – Filaga – Magazzolo railway  - collection of images, videos and audio files