Railroad in the Vatican State

Railroad in the Vatican State
Overview of the track systems
Route length:	0.4 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
course
Legend End of the route Tunnel portal 0.6 Città del Vaticano State border and entrance gate Via Aurelia Route from Viterbo Route from Livorno and Pisa Via Gregorio VII 0.0 Roma San Pietro Route to Roma Ostiense

The Vatican State Railway operates the railway infrastructure of the Vatican and the connection to the Italian railway infrastructure . It is not a railway company and does not own any railway vehicles .

history

Forerunner of today's railway in the Vatican were Railroads that the Papal States licensed on its territory and had built. Pope Pius IX was interested in the technical achievements of his time. Just two months after his election in August 1846, he had the possibility of building railways in the Papal States examined. In the number 90/1846 of the “Diario di Roma” a message from the Cardinal Secretary of State Pasquale Gizzi appeared, with which those ordinances were issued on behalf of the Pope that laid down the principles for the award of railway concessions. Based on the proposals of the committee and with the consent of the Pope, permission was granted for the construction of rail links from Rome to the Neapolitan border at Ceprano and from Rome to Civitavecchia and from Rome to Ancona and Bologna.

The opening of the first section of the line called "Pio Latina" to Frascati took place on July 7, 1856. The 73 kilometer long railway line from Rome to the port city of Civitavecchia was inaugurated on March 25, 1859. After the army of the King of Italy had crossed the borders of the Papal States on September 11, 1870, the units of the papal army still stationed in the provinces could be brought to Rome to defend the Eternal City with the help of the trains. When Italy finally abolished the Papal States in the course of the Risorgimento in 1870, the railway lines were transferred to the new state. The popes went into a self-chosen isolation in the Vatican, which they never left. This only changed with the Lateran Treaty of 1929, with which Italy recognized Vatican City as a separate state. In Article 6 of the Lateran Treaty, Italy granted the Vatican the right to build a rail link to the Italian railway network and to build a train station on the territory of the Vatican State .

The connection took place in the Roman station Roma San Pietro as a branch from the railway line Rome – Viterbo. The work was carried out under the direction of the Directorate of the Ministry of Public Works of the Kingdom of Italy responsible for new railway construction and began on April 3, 1929. It was also determined that the Italian state would bear the costs of building the station and of connecting the station to the Italian railway network.

investment

Establishment

The railway system was built between Piazza Santa Marta and the Governor's Palace. This required considerable earthworks in order to achieve a uniform level (38 m above sea level) for the area, which corresponds to that of the Roma San Pietro train station. The connection between this Italian train station and the Vatican's railway system was only possible via a 143 m long, brick viaduct . It was built in brick and partly clad with travertine . It has eight arches with a span of 15.3 m. In accordance with the construction time, the coat of arms of the House of Savoy and bundles of lictors , symbols of Italian fascism , can be seen on the building . The viaduct crosses Via Aurelia and interrupts Viale Vaticano.

In the course of the construction work, a locomotive first reached the Vatican in March 1932 . However, the agreement between the Vatican and the Italian railways required for cross-border traffic was not concluded until September 12, 1934. In October of the same year, Italy handed over the technical systems, as far as they were in the territory of the Vatican. These were paid for by the Vatican. As far as they are on Italian territory, they were paid for by Italy and are part of the Italian railway infrastructure.

Technical facilities

To the north of Roma San Pietro station, the Vatican State Railroad (right) branches off the main line

Vatican City railroad gate

→ Main article : Vatican City train station

The Vatican State Railways essentially consists of a track field and a station building . The access leads through a railway gate in the ramparts of the Vatican, which is supported by the coat of arms of Pope Pius XI. is adorned. The passage is usually locked and is only opened for trains to and from when required. The goal consists of two leaves, each with a solid steel frame clad with 8 mm thick sheet steel. The wings roll on two narrow-gauge chassis with a track width of 480 mm. They can be pulled in and out of the wall by hand or by machine. It is about 300 m from this gate to the end of the track, the total length of the track system is about 860 m. It is probably the state railway with the shortest track system in the world. The platform , which is also adjacent to the reception building, begins immediately behind the gate .

The railway system is quite simple. The station has two parallel tracks , one of which is the platform track. There are two short butt tracks branching off on which freight wagons to be unloaded can be parked. The course of the system is set by hand.

The tracks lie in a wide, flat hollow in the middle of the Vatican gardens . In order to achieve the necessary track length for shunting at all, the pull-out track at the head end of the station had to be laid with its end in a 97 m long stump tunnel that leads into the hill to the west of the station . The tunnel has a slight incline - in order to ensure its drainage. It was completely carved out of a marble rock .

An overhead line was provisionally brought up to the surrounding wall of the Vatican for the electric multiple units of the tourist train to Castel Gandolfo, which has been in service since 2015 . The passage gate is too low to extend into the Vatican. The train can only enter the Vatican so far that at least one pantograph remains under the contact line. Vehicles of the ALe 501/502 series are used for the tourist train .

Rolling stock

Today the Vatican does not have its own rolling stock. After the end of the old papal state in 1870, the Pope's three gala carriages went together with 29 locomotives, several saloon cars, 149 passenger cars, 25 baggage cars, 5 horse-drawn carriages, 300 covered and 120 open freight cars, 120 flat cars, 24 dump cars, 12 material cars and 3 repair cars into the possession of the Kingdom of Italy.

Papal gala floats

On July 23, 1859 Pius IX came. to the train station at Porta Maggiore to receive as a gift three gala carriages that had been specially built for him. The railway company donated the wagons. Emperor Napoleon III also had to pay for the costs . involved. They were considered to be the most splendid and expensive saloon cars of the time. They were built in France. Two of the wagons were for the Holy Father's personal use; one is built as a viewing car, surrounded by a railing, the roof of which is supported by gilded spiral columns. Most splendid, however, was the chapel carriage, which was made to designs by Emile Trélat. Famous French artists such as the painters Gerome and Cambin and the sculptor Codin participated in the elaboration of this float.

From 1870 the wagons were parked first in Civitavecchia and later in Roma Termini . In 1911 they were restored and exhibited in Castel Sant'Angelo . In 1930 they were transferred to the new Museo di Roma, where they stood until 1940. From 1952 they had their place in the Palazzo Braschi . Today they can be viewed in a separate hall in the Museum Centrale Montemartini .

Legal organization

As early as 1929, the Vatican stipulated that the Italian regulations apply to rail operations on its territory. Maintenance of the systems and their operation initially remained separate. The maintenance of the systems was the responsibility of the Department of Railways and Transport, the operation of the Department of Annona and Finance. In 1934, the railway and transport department was incorporated into the technical and financial branch of the administration, so that it, like the Annona and finance department, was under the general director of financial services.

In 1939 the governor of the Vatican was authorized to set up an administration for the supply of the Vatican with goods. Responsibilities for all questions arising from the railway agreement with Italy were assigned to this group. In 1969 these tasks were placed under the supervision of the Secretary General; since 1976/77, railway affairs have been the responsibility of the administration for commercial goods. The commercial goods administration is subordinate to the General Director of Technical Services in the Vatican, who is part of the administration of the Vatican City Governorate .

Operation and use

Entry of a special train into the station of the Vatican

The railway staff does not belong to the Vatican, but is provided by the Italian railway . There is a telephone and telegraph connection to the neighboring Roma-San Pietro train station .

Although Pope Pius XI. insisted on the rail connection on the occasion of the reconciliation with the Italian state, he never used it himself and never left the Vatican. The first Pope to personally use the railway was John XXIII. on October 4, 1962 - a week before the opening of the Second Vatican Council - for a pilgrimage to Loreto and Assisi . The saloon car borrowed from the Italian President for the occasion served as the vehicle . This trip was seen as a symbolic break with the tradition of turning away from the world and opening up to the world, because over 90 years earlier Pius IX. was the last Pope who had visited Loreto - still as head of state of the Papal States - and was also the last Pope to take the train and stayed outside the walls of the Vatican.

Since September 2015, a tourist train has been running on Saturdays at 10:57 a.m. from Città del Vaticano station to the papal residence Castel Gandolfo , which can be visited after this trip. On the way back, the journey ends at Roma San Pietro train station . This tourist offer is a collaboration between trenitalia and the Vatican Museums.

Other passenger traffic is extremely rare and limited to a few special trains . Rail freight traffic, on the other hand, is regularly handled via the train station.

Picture gallery

Railway technology and access route

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  On the left the line of the Vatican Railway, on the right the route network of trenitalia

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  Viaduct arch of the access line

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  Hemmschuh interrupts the access to the Vatican

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  Roma Express train parked on the access line

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  Originally double track, now a footpath next to the track

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  Relief above the Vatican railroad gate

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  Pull-out track in the tunnel

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  Freight car unloading

Papal gala floats

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  Pope Pius IX in Velletri, 1863

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  Cart of the papal train of 1858 in the Museum Centrale Montemartini

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  Cart of the papal train of 1858 in the Museum Centrale Montemartini

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  Cart of the papal train of 1858 in the Museum Centrale Montemartini

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  Cart of the papal train of 1858 in the Museum Centrale Montemartini

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  Manufacturer's note

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  chassis

literature

• Railway Atlas Italy and Slovenia / Atlante ferroviario d'Italia e Slovenia . Schweers + Wall, 2010, ISBN 978-3-89494-129-1 , p. IX, 149.
• Ministero dei Lavori Pubblici del Regno d'Italia (Ed.): La ferrovia per lo Stato della Città del Vaticano . Istituto Poligrafico dello Stato, Roma 1934.
• G. Pini: La ferrovia della Città del Vaticano . 1934.
• F. Zanetti: Dalle prime ferrovie dello Stato Pontificio a quella dello Stato della Città del Vaticano . In: L'Illustrazione Vaticana . 3 (1932), pp. 376-378.

Web links

Commons : Vatican Railways  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

• La Ferrovia dello Stato della Città del Vaticano (ital.)

Individual evidence

1. ^ "In the Papal States only in 1846 with the new Pope Pius IX. a prospect opens up for E.; Companies that want to undertake the same find a sympathetic ear, u. it is only because of the money point that all projects have so far failed. Already in 1844 a similar one had formed in Bologna, which Bologna, Ancona a. the Mediterranean with the interior of the Papal States, etc. Wanted to connect Rome, but at that time she found the Pope. Government no hearing. Now (1847) have more. Companies have the prospect of obtaining concession, but they want to have it before they make any move to raise funds. There is now a need for the Papal States from Rome to Florence and the like. from Rome to Ancona, u. again from Rome northwest. to Civita vecchia, which probably goes with the Grosetto-E. from Livorno through the Maremma will meet u. via Terracina to Naples. " (H. A. Pierer (Ed.): Universal Lexicon of the Present and Past. Altenburg 1846, p. 702.)
2. ↑ ^{a b} Ulrich Nersinger: The Rome – Civitavecchia railway line was opened 150 years ago. March 27, 2009
3. ^ - Italian document Convenzione ferroviaria fra la Santa Sede e il Governo Italiano of December 1933
4. ^ Film of the construction work and the closing of the gate in the evening
5. ↑ Railway Atlas , p. IX. and film of the first locomotive entry into the station and tunnel stump
6. ^ Thomas J. Reese: Inside the Vatican: The Politics and Organization of the Catholic Church . Harvard University Press 1996, ISBN 0-674-93261-7 , p. 203.
7. ↑ Railway Atlas , p. IX.
8. ^ Railway Atlas , p. IX; Frank J. Korn: A Catholic's Guide to Rome: Discovering the Soul of the Eternal City . Paulist Press, 2000, ISBN 0-8091-3926-X , p. 49.
9. ↑ Railway Atlas , p. IX.
10. ↑ Timetable and details in: gwa / ser / rdi / khe: Vatican City. Roma San Pietro - Città del Vaticano route . In: IBSE Telegram 298 (9/2015), p. 6.
11. ↑ Ulrich Nersinger: A residence on wheels. Sendbote, June 14, 2012.
12. ↑ Art. 20 para. 4 Legge sulle fonti del diritto No. 2 of June 7, 1929.
13. ^ Regolamento per gli Uffici e Servizi del Governatorato, No. 23 of December 5, 1932.
14. ↑ See: Governorate of Vatican City .
15. ↑ Art. 5 para. 2c and Art. 34 of the Modificazioni al Regolamento 5 December 1932 No. 23 per gli Uffici e Servizi del Governatorato, No. 53 of December 28, 1934.
16. ↑ Art. 5 para. 1, Art. 6 Legge sul Governo della Città del Vaticano No. 51 of June 24, 1969.
17. ↑ See: Decreto della Pontificia Commissione per lo Stato della Città del Vaticano in relazione alle attribuzioni dell'Ufficio Merci No. 134 of April 1, 1977; Attribuzioni e funzioni dell'Ufficio Merci of March 31, 1976.
18. ↑ Bernard P. Prusak: The Church Unfinished: Ecclesiology Through the Centuries . Paulist Press, 2004, ISBN 0-8091-4286-4 , p. 271.
19. ↑ Timetable and details in: gwa / ser / rdi / khe: Vatican City. Roma San Pietro - Città del Vaticano route . In: IBSE Telegram 298 (9/2015), p. 6.
20. ↑ New service: With the Pope train to Castel Gandolfo . In: Spiegel Online . September 12, 2015 ( spiegel.de [accessed on September 13, 2015]).
21. ↑ Vatican by train. Vatican Museums, accessed on September 25, 2015 (description of the offer on the official website of the Vatican Museums). 
22. ↑ The offer on the trenitalia website

Coordinates: 41 ° 54 ′ 2.9 ″  N , 12 ° 27 ′ 3.7 ″  E