Santa Ninfa – Salemi railway line

Santa Ninfa-Salemi
Route length:	9.5 km
Gauge :	950 mm ( Italian meter gauge )
Maximum slope :	30  ‰
Operating points and routes
Legend from Burgio , until 1968 0.00 Santa Ninfa Campagna 336  m slm to Castelvetrano , until 1968 2.90 Santa Ninfa Città 410  m slm 9.10 from Castelvetrano 9.50 Salemi - Gibellina 225  m slm to Alcamo Diramazione to Calatafimi (not completed)

The Santa Ninfa – Salemi ( Italian Ferrovia Santa Ninfa – Salemi ) railway was a 9.5-kilometer stretch of the Sicilian narrow-gauge network, which was made in Italian meter gauge . It was operated between 1935 and 1954 by the Ferrovie dello Stato and connected Santa Ninfa with Salemi on the Palermo – Trapani railway line . The sequel to Calatafimi was never completed.

history

The line was designed to connect the municipalities of the Valle del Belice directly with the provincial capital Trapani , so that the long detour via the standard-gauge railway line Palermo-Trapani along the south coast of Sicily could have been avoided. The planning of the line beginning in Santa Ninfa came too late, so that the narrow-gauge railway was no longer built. It would have competed with the standard gauge Alcamo Diramazione – Trapani via Milo, which was opened in 1937 .

Initially, instead of the continuous line to Trapani, a project was pursued that provided for a connection of the narrow-gauge railway at Calatafimi station to the new standard-gauge line to Trapani, but in the end only the short section from Santa Ninfa to Salemi was opened. The continuation to Calatafimi was not completed, although the railway structure and the buildings had already been built.

In the first years, combustion railcars were used on a trial basis between Santa Ninfa and Salemi . The two Fiat vehicles offered space for 30 passengers, but seem to have been unsuccessful, as their traces are quickly lost in history.

The 1949 timetable included six pairs of trains between Salemi and Santa Ninfa. The last train arrived in Santa Ninfa at 9:30 p.m. and continued to Castelvetrano. From 1950 railcars of the RALn 60 series were used, which significantly shortened travel times. From 1951, eight pairs of trains ran with the new railcars. However, the route had only a moderate number of passengers, so that its service was discontinued on July 1, 1954.

Route

The short route began at Santa Ninfa Campagna train station on the Castelvetrano – San Carlo – Burgio railway , which established a connection to Castelvetrano from the interior of the island and operated until 1968. The line to Salemi ran from Santa Ninfa in a north-westerly direction and after a few kilometers reached the Salemi station (today Salemi-Gibellina) on the Palermo-Trapani railway line via Castelvetrano . The route follows the terrain and has inclines and slopes of up to 30 ‰.

The superstructure was constructed with 27 kg / m rails that were fastened to wooden sleepers that were laid 82 cm apart. This cost-effective design only allowed low speeds: the steam locomotives could run at 30 km / h, the railcars at 45 km / h.

vehicles

The locomotives were provided by the Castelvetrano depot . In addition to the R301 and R302 series steam locomotives, this also housed the two FIAT railcars and later the RALn 60 series railcars.

literature

• Nico Molino: La rete FS a scartamento ridotto della Sicilia (=  Linee ferroviarie . Volume 3 ). Elledi, Turin 1985, ISBN 88-7649-037-X .
• Antonio Federici: Lo scartamento ridotto in Italia. La storia, i treni, le linee . In: Tutto Treno. Tema . No. 14 , 1999, ISSN  1124-4232 , p. 4-82 .

Web links

• Ricostruzione del tracciato della ferrovia Santa Ninfa-Salemi-Kaggera. January 10, 2013, accessed January 12, 2015 (Italian). 
• Alessandro Palma: Il tracciato della linea ferroviaria Salemi - Kaggera. Retrieved January 12, 2015 (Italian). 

Individual proof

1. ^ Railway Atlas of Italy and Slovenia. = Atlante ferroviario d'Italia e Slovenia . Schweers + Wall, Cologne 2010, ISBN 978-3-89494-129-1 .