Trento – Mezzana railway line

Trento – Mezzana
Route length:	66.04 km
Gauge :	1000 mm ( meter gauge )
Power system :	3 kV  =
Maximum slope :	50  ‰
Minimum radius :	80 m
Top speed:	90 km / h
Country:	Italy
Region:	Trentino-South Tyrol
Legend 0.00 Trento FTM 192 m Trento north 4.48 Gardolo 202 m Zona Industriale Spini Lamar 8.45 Lavis 236 m Zambana -Pressano 12.70 Nave San Felice 220 m Sorni -Sornello 16.23 Grumo- San Michele all'Adige 205 m Etschtalbahn 19.43 Mezzocorona FS 218 m Mezzocorona Borgata 21.72 Mezzolombardo 223 m 25.24 Masi di Vigo 275 m Crescino Denno 30.03 Sabino 307 m 33.70 Mollaro 470 m Segno 37.02 Taio 520 m 39.06 Dermulo 549 m Local Dermulo – Mendel railway Dermulo tunnel (421 m) 40.32 Tassullo 529 m 44.59 Cles 664 m Cles Polo Scolastico Vergondola Tunnel (2,671 m) 49.42 Mostizzolo 596 m Bozzana-Bordiana Tozzaga 53.58 Cassana 659 m Cavizzana Caldes Terzolas Malè (until 2003) 59.52 Times 745 m Croviana Monclassico Dimaro presson Mastellina Piano di Commezzadura 66.04 Marilleva 888 m 66.84 Mezzana 900 m
tunnel	12
Total tunnel length	4710 m
bridges	23
longest bridge	456 m
Deepest point	192  m slm Trento FS
The highest point	900  m slm Marilleva
opening	October 11, 1909
operator	Trentino Trasporti
Remarks	Realignment in 1955

The Trento – Mezzana railway , officially Ferrovia Trento – Malè – Mezzana , is a meter-gauge and electrified narrow-gauge railway in Italy . It originally led from Trento to Malè and was extended to Marilleva in 2003 and further to Mezzana in 2016 . Today it is operated by Trentino Trasporti SpA , the local public transport company of the Autonomous Province of Trento . The former name of the operating company was Ferrovia Elettrica Trento-Malè ( FETM ) or Ferrovia Trento-Malè ( FTM ). The railway is also known under the German name Nonstalbahn , because it leads into the valley of the same name .

history

The plans for the railway go back to a proposal by the mayor of Trento, Paolo Oss Mazzurana , on October 17, 1891. The city was to be connected to the neighboring valleys by a railway. A gauge of 760 millimeters (also known as Bosnian gauge ) was planned, but the meter gauge was then implemented . After the license was granted, construction work began on April 1, 1907 by the Stern & Hafferl company , which had already implemented several similar railway construction projects in Upper Austria , among other things . The line between Trento and Malè was put into operation on October 11, 1909. The railway was originally 59.643 kilometers long and was operated with 800 volts direct current. The original route was partly in the form of an overland tram , in most towns the train ran on grooved rails through the main street.

When Trentino fell to Italy with the Treaty of Saint-Germain in 1919 , the Italian State Railways initially took over management. In 1936 the Società Autonoma Transporti Pubblici , or SATP for short, was founded, which took over the railway. Today's society emerged from this. After the railway had been almost completely destroyed during the Second World War , the responsible Ministry of Infrastructure approved the reconstruction of the railway on December 22, 1948. Among other things, it should have its own railroad track throughout to enable operation to be completely separated from road traffic. The completion of the reconstruction of the old line was on May 29, 1960, the opening took place on June 25, 1961, one day after the completion of the last new section. The route was now 55.7 kilometers long and operated with 3000 volts direct current. In 1964, new railcars were purchased. They started their service on December 13th. The last of the old cars was taken out of service on December 9th. The new vehicles had a top speed of 90 km / h. With them, the travel time has been reduced from three to one and a half hours compared to the operation before the conversion and with the old cars.

In the 1990s, the old S27 rails were gradually replaced by new, much more resilient S49 rails. In addition, the railway received four new railcars on December 13, 1994. On October 26, 1995, when the railway was connected to the FS, operations were further improved and the time-consuming transfer from the state railway was shortened considerably.

On May 6, 1997, the extension of the railway to Marilleva began. In the course of this construction work, the Mostizzolo viaduct and the Vergondola tunnel were also renovated . With the opening of the section to Marilleva on May 4, 2003, the line was extended by a further 10.336 kilometers. However, the opening was overshadowed by an accident. A company car that drove up in front of the inauguration train derailed at an obstacle placed on the tracks. Some citizens of a nearby village dispossessed during the construction were suspected .

Further plans envisage extending the route even further. That would then reach Fucine . Around three kilometers of tunnels are planned along the route. In addition, the section between Trento and Mezzolombardo would like to be expanded to two tracks. This would enable a 15-minute cycle on this section and a 7½-minute cycle for the first eight kilometers to Lavis.

Routing and operation

simplified elevation profile of the route

The route begins at the Trento FS train station and leads along the valley floor with several operating points to the Mezzocorona station , where there is a connection to the Trenitalia network . From Mezzolombardo , the route leaves the valley floor and climbs into the Val di Non . The new terminus Mezzana is finally reached via numerous viaducts and tunnels. Probably the most spectacular bridge is the Santa Giustina Viaduct over the River Noce , inaugurated in 1959 , with a span of 78 meters and a height of 140 meters the highest railway bridge in the world at the time. The maximum gradient is 50 per thousand , the smallest curve radius 80 meters.

The maximum speed is 90 km / h. Currently, some courses only run to / from Malè, and express courses are offered to reinforce them.

vehicles

ET 18 and ETi 403 railcars in the Trento local train station

The vehicles of the procurement generation were four-axle electric railcars of the series 41 / s.0 and 42 / s.0 of the kkStB and were similar to the original vehicles of the Localbahn Innsbruck – Hall in Tirol (LBIHiT). None of these vehicles survived. A reconstructed original sidecar has been preserved as a monument vehicle, but it is largely based on a freight car of the Rhaetian Railway . There are also a few freight wagons from the opening period.

The modern vehicles from Italian production are predominantly multi-part articulated multiple units.

• Four railcars come from Ansaldo in 1995 : ET 15-18.
• Fourteen railcars have been purchased by Alstom since 2005 : ETi 8/8 401-414.

ET 15-18 railcar

The ET 15-18 railcars are 36.78 m long and 2.65 m wide. They offer 95 seats and 150 standing places. Two wheelchairs can also be accommodated. The curb weight of the vehicles is 66.7 tons. Eight DC motors accelerate the trains at 1 m / s ² to a top speed of 90 km / h. Together they have an output of 880 kW.

ETi 401-414 powered rail car

The railcars ETi 401-414 are 40.2 m long and 2.65 m wide. They offer 106 seats and 140 standing places. Two wheelchairs can also be accommodated. The curb weight of the vehicles is 77 tons. Eight three-phase asynchronous motors accelerate the trains at 1.1 m / s ² to a top speed of 120 km / h. Together they have an output of 1360 kW. The railcars are equipped with air conditioning.

literature

• Paul Dittes: The Trient – ​​Malè electric local train and the new power plant of the municipality of Trento. Lecture given at the General Assembly on November 6, 1909 . In: Journal of the Austrian (Eichischen) engineer and architects association (part 1/2). No. 4/1910. Vienna 1910, pp. 49–60, plates V – VIII. - Full text online (PDF; 45 MB) .
  • -: - (Part 2/2). No. 5/1910. Vienna 1910, pp. 69–79, plates IX – X. - Full text online (PDF; 41 MB) .
• Josef Dultinger : On a narrow track through South Tyrol . Narrow gauge railways south of the Brenner Pass. Publishing house Dr. Rudolf Erhard, Rum 1982.
• Mario Forni, Paolo Corrà: Le Ferrovie del Trentino . Edizioni UCT, Trento 2003, ISBN 88-86246-94-3 .
• Werner Duschk, Walter Pramstaller, among others: Local and trams in old Tyrol . Self-published by Tiroler Museumsbahnen , Innsbruck 2008.
• Michael Alexander Populorum: The Non Valley Railway: Trient - Malé - Marilleva local railway . With an excursus on the Nonsbergbahn Dermulo - Fondo - Mendel (=  publication series of the Documentation Center for European Railway Research (DEEF) . Volume 21 ). Mercurius Verlag, Grödig / Salzburg 2015, ISBN 978-3-903132-00-9 (DVD / e-book).
• Walter Kreutz: The Trient – ​​Malé Local Railway . In: Railway . No. 6 , 1958, ISSN  0013-2756 , pp. 92–93 (part of the series of electric local and trams of Austrian origin in South Tyrol ).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ RGBl. 1905/195. In:  Reichsgesetzblatt , year 1905, pp. 537–542. (Online at ANNO ). , RGBl. 1907/4. In:  Reichsgesetzblatt , year 1907, p. 21 f. (Online at ANNO ). as well as RGBl. 1907/84. In:  Reichsgesetzblatt , year 1907, p. 386 f. (Online at ANNO ). .
2. ^ Ezio Facchin: Rolling stock. January 2008, accessed June 26, 2011 . 

Web links

Commons : Trento – Malè – Mezzana railway  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Trentino Trasporti (Italian)
• Tyrolean museum railways
• Railway portrait: The Non Valley Railway
• From the Alps. (...) Railway to Nonsberg and Sulzberg. In:  Der Alpenfreund. Illustrated tourist magazine for the Alpine region , issue 8/1896, (VI. Year), p. 87. (Online at ANNO ).