Adriatic railway

The Adriatic railway (Italian: Ferrovia Adriatica) is the railway from Ancona to Lecce that runs along the Adriatic Coast of Italy, following it almost all of the way. It is one of the main lines of the Italian rail system and links the northern cities with the most important productive areas of central and southern Italy.

Adriatic railway (Ancona–Lecce)
Ancona railway station
Overview
Status	Operational
Line number	103, 104, 132, 133
Locale	Apulia, South-East Italy
Termini	Ancona railway station Lecce railway station
Service
System	Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI)
Operator(s)	Ferrovie del Sud Est
History
Opened	1860
Technical
Line length	594 km (369 mi)
Number of tracks	Double track
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	Electrified at 3000 V DC
Route map Legend km elev from Bologna and from Orte 203.996 Ancona to Ancona Marittima Castellano (1569 m) / Vallemiano (4971 m) 209.500 Varano 210.473 Ancona Stadio 214.724 Camerano-Aspio 219.816 Osimo-Castelfidardo 227.498 Loreto 231.809 Porto Recanati 240.591 Potenza Picena-Montelupone 246.701 Civitanova Marche-Montegranaro to Fabriano 253.199 Porto Sant'Elpidio 262.295 Porto San Giorgio-Fermo 272.533 Pedaso 280.583 Cupramarittima 283.969 Grottammare 288.489 San Benedetto del Tronto 293.273 Porto d'Ascoli to Ascoli Piceno 302.190 Alba Adriatica-Nereto-Controguerra 305.978 Tortoreto Lido 312.355 Giulianova to Teramo 321.660 Roseto degli Abruzzi 326.266 Scerne di Pineto 330.730 Pineto-Atri 337.137 Silvi 342.987 Montesilvano 349.969 Pescara 351.309 Pescara Porta Nuova to Rome 352.527 Pescara Tribunale 359.097 Francavilla al Mare 364.358 Tollo-Canosa Sannita Nuovo Riccio (2799 m) from Crocetta 371.883 Ortona connection RFI-FAS Moro (2011 m) Cintioni (2088 m) 378.137 San Vito-Lanciano to Lanciano San Giovanni (9311 m) 388.379 Fossacesia-Torino di Sangro Diavolo (5200 m) 398.908 Casalbordino-Pollutri Sinello (2312 m) 404.972 Porto di Vasto Vasto (6824 m) 416.405 Vasto-San Salvo 427.034 Montenero-Petacciato 439.437 Termoli to Venafro 446.279 Campomarino 456.728 Chieuti-Serracapriola 465.204 P.M. Ripalta 472.446 P.M. Lesina 479.869 Poggio Imperiale 484.081 Apricena 495.031 497.579 San Severo to Peschici 511.961 Rignano Garganico from Lucera 526.027 Foggia to Napoli and to Potenza / to Manfredonia 536.309 Incoronata 545.661 Orta Nova 560.292 Cerignola Campagna to Cerignola Città 577.692 Trinitapoli-San Ferdinando di Puglia 581.554 Margherita di Savoia-Ofantino to Margherita di Savoia from Spinazzola 593.919 Barletta to Bari 606.513 Trani 614.534 Bisceglie 623.875 Molfetta 630.190 Giovinazzo 636.337 Enziteto Catino since 1993 ^[1] 637.074 Bari Santo Spirito 639.055 Bari Palese-Macchie from Barletta from Bitonto 643.467 Cabina Lamasinata from Ospedale San Paolo Bari Lamasinata 644.650 Bari Zona Industriale 645.647 Bari Parco Nord to Bari Sant'Andrea from Taranto from Matera 648.616 Bari Centrale to Putignano and to Taranto 650.145 Bari Marconi since 1992 ^[2] 650.715 Bari Parco Sud 660.069 Bari Torre a Mare 667.771 Mola di Bari 681.575 Polignano a Mare 689.160 Monopoli 702.989 Fasano 710.146 Cisternino 722.894 Ostuni 731.875 Carovigno 747.836 San Vito dei Normanni from Taranto 759.539 Brindisi 769.473 Tuturano 776.562 San Pietro Vernotico 783.303 Squinzano 787.504 Trepuzzi 794.332 Surbo 3.571 Surbo Fascio Merci from Martina Franca 797.903 Lecce to Otranto km Source: Italian railway atlas^[3] This diagram: view talk edit

The railway was built by the Società per le Strade Ferrate Meridionali (Italian: Company for the Southern Railways, SFM), between 1863 and 1872. In 1906, management of the line was taken over by Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane. In 1933, the southernmost Lecce-Otranto segment of the line was turned over to the Ferrovie del Sud Est, which has maintained it to the present day.

History

Shortly after the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, the new government took over the granting of railway concessions, which, in prior years, had often been doled out in a haphazard manner by the different states and provisional dictatorial governments of the Italian Peninsula to various companies: canceling some, changing others and continually releasing new rights-of-way.

In November 1861 the Milan–Bologna railway line began operation, with the connection of the Milan-Piacenza line to the Piacenza-Bologna via a bridge – initially of wood but later replaced by an iron structure – across the river Po. This allowed trains from Turin and France to travel directly to the Adriatic coast along the Ancona-Bologna line, which itself had been built in November 1861 by the SFR, in what was then the Papal States.

The construction of an Adriatic line had long been desired, but had never come to pass: mainly because of the difficulty in reconciling the needs of the two countries – the Papal States and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies – through whose territories the line would pass. The constitution of the kingdom of Italy in 1860 brought a resolution to this dilemma, and, as entrepreneurs in Piedmont and Lombardy desired access to Adriatic ports for closer and easier trade with Asia through the Suez Canal, construction would proceed rapidly following unification.

As early as May 1861, a detailed and complex feasibility study was presented to the Chamber of Deputies for new railways in southern Italy that were considered of vital importance. In particular, the construction of a railway along the Adriatic coast from Ancona to Brindisi and Otranto was seen as essential, as these ports were considered by many^[4] to be on the verge of becoming Europe's "door to the East." At that time, several European countries were competing for the privilege of transporting the Imperial Indian Mail train (referred to in Italy as the Valigia delle Indie), in hopes of sharing in the profits of the trade between England and its vast colonial empire.^[5] In July 1862, Count Pietro Bastogi, former Finance Minister of the Kingdom of Italy succeeded in putting together a consortium of 92 bankers with the huge sum (at that time) of 100 million gold lire of capital from entirely Italian sources.^[6] The Società per le Strade Ferrate Meridionali (Italian: 'Company for the Southern Railways', SFM) moved quickly to build the rail line, completing the Brindisi-Lecce segment by 1866. The Lecce-Otranto segment was delayed by bitter controversies which prevented the choice of a route for many years. The last stretch of 19 miles from Maglie to Otranto was not complete until 20 September 1872.

The new Adriatic Railway allowed, for the first time, relatively rapid travel between the south and the north-central regions of Italy. In 1866, in fact, there were no railways on the Tyrrhenian coast south of Eboli. Vittorio Emanuele II on 9 November 1863 inaugurated the line with his train ride from Pescara to Foggia, following hurried work to finish the track. The public opening was postponed until 25 April 1864. In the proceedings of the first legislature of the Kingdom of Italy, the parliamentarian Leopoldo Galeotti wrote hopefully that "before long the port of Brindisi, reborn to a new life, will bring within her breast the Indian Mail, a sure sign that the commerce of the world will be drawn a second time to our seas. In a few days, thanks to the great industry of Southern Company, despite the obstacles of every kind that had to be overcome, locomotives will arrive at the port of Brindisi."^[7] In September 1871 the completion of the Fréjus Rail Tunnel allowed the luxury Peninsular Express (from the same company that operated the famous Orient Express) to complete the London-Brindisi trip in 47 hours via Calais and Paris.^[8]

The line was built in record time using the easiest and least demanding engineering methods (tunnels and viaducts), often near the sea. Weather was a significant cause of work interruptions, due to the heavy storms that frequently batter the Adriatic coast.

21st century: Double track

The line was reoriented in 2004, with double tracking, for the stretch from Lesina to Apricena (saving about 2.5 km), while at the end of 2005, the railway between Ortona and Vasto Casalbordino and between the Port of Vasto and Vasto / San Salvo were also realigned; for the dual purpose of eliminating the multiple curves in the old section, and reducing the danger posed by storm surges and coastal erosion.

Between 2002 and 2006 the track between Brindisi and Lecce was doubled, followed by the segment between Bari Centrale and Fasano. In 2007 the segment between San Severo and Apricena was also given double track.

The only stretch of the Adriatic line that remains single track is from Termoli to Lesina, which is the bottleneck of the line.

Features

A notable aspect of the Adriatic line is the almost total absence of tunnels, with the exception of the Pescara-Vasto segment, where there are seven, including three with a length greater than 5000 m. The railway is almost entirely double track, and is DC electrified to 3000 V.

Developments

In 2023, Rete Ferroviaria Italiana has estimated the cost of a new Bologna-Ancona-Pescara-Foggia-Bari high-speed line, with trains travelling at up to 300 kilometres per hour, at between EUR 40 and 50 billion. By contrast, the cost of speeding up the existing line, with trains travelling up to 200 kilometres per hour, amounts to EUR 5 billion.^[9]

See also

• List of railway lines in Italy
• History of railways in Italy

References

Footnotes

1. Oltre Santo Spirito. In: ″I Treni″ Nr. 144 (January 1994), p. 6–7.
2. Impianti FS. In: ″I Treni Oggi″ Nr. 131 (November 1992), p. 6.
3. Railway Atlas 2017, pp. 55, 61, 66, 72, 73, 79–81, 86, 87, 92.
4. Annali Universali di Statistica by Giuseppe Sacchi, Vol. CXLV, prima. Milano series, 1 st quarter 1861
5. Ernesto Petrucci The '48 and the railway question in the Papal States on page 19, History and Future 1/2002
6. Gian Guido Turchi, 150 di ferrovia in Italia, in iTreni 97, Editrice ETR, Salò,1989
7. La Prima Legislatura del regno d'Italia, Leopoldo Galeotti. Florence, Le Monnier, 1865
8. Stefano Maggi, Tra pubblico e privato. La gestione delle ferrovie nell'800 e primo '900, in Tutto Treno & Storia 22, pp. 22, 23. Duegi Editrice, Albignasego, 2002
9. "Alta velocità Adriatica, Rfi valuta l'ipotesi: Strisciuglio apre a una nuova rete" (in Italian). 15 December 2023. Archived from the original on 15 December 2023.

Sources

• Tuzza, Alessandro, ed. (1927). "Prospetto cronologico dei tratti di ferrovia aperti all'esercizio dal 1839 al 31 dicembre 1926" (in Italian). Ufficio Centrale di Statistica delle Ferrovie dello Stato/Trenidicarta.it. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
• Atlante ferroviario d'Italia e Slovenia [Railway atlas of Italy and Slovenia]. Schweers + Wall. 2010. ISBN 978-3-89494-129-1.
• RFI, ed. (December 2003). Fascicolo Linea 103 (Ancona–Pescara) (in Italian). Rete Ferroviaria Italiana.
• RFI, ed. (December 2003). Fascicolo Linea 104 (Pescara–Termoli) (in Italian). Rete Ferroviaria Italiana.
• RFI, ed. (December 2003). Fascicolo Linea 132 (Termoli–Bari) (in Italian). Rete Ferroviaria Italiana.
• RFI, ed. (December 2003). Fascicolo Linea 133 (Bari–Lecce) (in Italian). Rete Ferroviaria Italiana.