Railway line Palermo – Agrigento / Porto Empedocle

Palermo – Agrigento / Porto Empedocle
Route number (RFI) :	156
Course book series (IT) :	385
Route length:	144 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Power system :	3 kV  =
Dual track :	Palermo Centrale – Fiumetorto
Legend 0.0 Palermo Centrale Oreto (river) Route from Trapani Palermo Maredolce planned 2.9 Palermo Brancaccio 4.4 Roccella since 2014 former railway line Palermo – San Carlo Villabate -Ficarazzelli until 2005 9.3 Ficarazzi since 2009 10.0 Ficarazzi until 1962 Eleuterio 13.2 Bagheria 15.7 Santa Flavia - Solunto - Porticello 18.3 Casteldaccia Milicia 20.4 Altavilla Milicia Torre Colonna tunnel Torre Normanna tunnel 26.8 San Nicola Tonnara 31.3 Trabia San Leonardo 35.0 Tunnel terms 36.4 Termini Imerese A19 Torto 43.2 Fiumetorto until 2009 PV Route to Messina 45.0 Cerda 51.0 Sciara - Aliminusa until 2002 PV C as well 60.5 Montemaggiore Belsito 69.2 Roccapalumba - Alia former route until 2017 76.8 Lercara Diramazione Route to Caltanissetta Xirbi 77.1 Lercara Bassa until 2016 PV, transition to Magazzolo until 1959 Lercara tunnel (2,800 m) 84.6 Castronovo di Sicilia until 2002 PV 88.9 Cammarata - San Giovanni Gemini 99.4 Acquaviva - Casteltermini Sutera 107.0 Campofranco 118.5 Comitini until 2002 PV Route from Catania 124.7 Aragona Caldare 134.4 Agrigento Bassa transition to Licata until 1958 137.4 Agrigento Centrale 140.0 Tempio di Vulcano 143.8 Porto Empedocle Centrale 144.5 Porto Empedocle Succursale since 2016 former route to Castelvetrano ↑ formerly the beginning of the three-rail track ^ Formerly the end of the three-rail track

The Palermo – Agrigento railway is the oldest railway line in Sicily . It was built to connect the capital, Palermo, with the Sicilian sulfur mining areas and the port city of Porto Empedocle . The line between Palermo and Fiumetorto is part of the Berlin – Palermo railway axis .

history

Opening date	Route section
April 28, 1863	Palermo - Bagheria
July 25, 1864	Bagheria - Trabia
February 20, 1866	Trabia - Termini Imerese
0April 1, 1869	Terms Imerese - Cerda
0June 6, 1869	Cerda - Sciara
September 15, 1869	Sciara - Montemaggiore Belsito
February 16, 1870	Montemaggiore Belsito – Fiaccati
0July 3, 1870	Fiaccati - Roccapalumba
0September 1, 1870	Roccapalumba - Lercara Bassa
September 15, 1874	Lercara Bassa - Cammarata
0November 1, 1874	Comitini - Porto Empedocle
September 30, 1875	Cammarata-Spina
September 30, 1875	Passofonduto – Comitini
December 16, 1876	Spina – Passofonduto

The first sections between Palermo and Fiumetorto were built by the company "Società Vittorio Emanuele", which was already responsible for the construction of several railway lines in southern Italy. The section between Palermo and Bagheria is also the oldest railway line in Sicily.

The construction of the railway line inland was primarily to improve the transport of sulfur from the large mines near Lercara to the sea ports. The gap was closed in 1876, now Porto Empedocle could also be reached directly from Palermo.

At the end of 1933, extensive renovation work was carried out at Agrigento . A short branch line to the new Agrigento Centrale station was built from today's Agrigento Bassa train station. At the same time, a three- rail track was built between Agrigento Bassa and Porto Empodocle . Since then, passenger traffic from Argento Bassa has only been carried out by narrow-gauge trains that run from Porto Empedocle to Castelvetrano .

Passenger traffic between Agrigento Bassa and Porto Empedocle was discontinued in 1977 when the narrow-gauge line was discontinued and the three-rail track was converted to standard gauge.

The entire line was electrified in the 1980s.

In December 2017, the variant di Lercara was opened. The old route between Castronovo di Sicilia and Roccapalumba-Alia was closed and replaced by a new section. The centerpiece is the new 2,800-meter-long Lercara tunnel . The new route opens before, under construction, separation station Lercara Diramazione in the railway Caltanissetta Xirbi-Roccapalumba-Alia one.

service

Since 2014, the Agrigento Bassa and Porto Empedocle section has been regularly used by historical or modern special trains. In March 2016, the Empedocle Succursale stop (formerly located on the narrow-gauge line) was reopened.

Picture gallery

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  The starting point of the railway line is the Palermo Centrale railway station

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  Regional train at Roccapalamba-Alia

• 

  Special train on the old line near Lercara, which was closed in 2017

• 

  Agrigento Bassa separation station

• 

  Agrigento Centrale railway station

• 

  Porto Empedocle Centrale train station

literature

• Rete Ferroviaria Italiana, Fascicolo linea 156
• Romualdo Giuffrida: Lo Stato e le ferrovie in Sicilia. (1860–1895) (= Storia economica di Sicilia. Vol. 8). Sciascia Editore, Caltanissetta et al. 1967.
• Giuseppe Barone: Le vie del Mezzogiorno. Donzelli, Roma 2002, ISBN 88-7989-684-9 .
• Francesco Maggiore Perni: Delle strade ferrate in Sicilia. Amenta, Palermo 1861, digitized .

Web links

Commons : Palermo – Agrigento / Porto Empedocle  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• ferroviekaos.it - operator of the Agrigento Bassa – Porto Empedocle museum railway

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Impianti FS. In: I Treni No. 246 (March 2003), p. 8.
2. ↑ Prospetto cronologico dei tratti di ferrovia aperti all'esercizio dal 1839 al 31 December 1926 - Chronology of the route openings in Italy between 1839 and 1926
3. ↑ “Le vie del Mezzogiorno”, from page 135.
4. ↑ Treni. There oggi in funzione il nuovo tratto sulla Palermo-Agrigento. http://www.infoagrigento.it , December 10, 2017, accessed December 24, 2017 (Italian). 
5. ^ Treni storici, inaugurata la stazione di Porto Empedocle Succursale. agrigentonotizie.it, accessed June 29, 2016 (Italian).