Depending, I
suppose, on where you live, you may or may not have
noticed that there are thousands of miles of abandoned
railway tracks in the world. Tracks and stations, above
and below ground, sit there, silent and unused. There are
many reasons for this. Train optimists point out that,
yes, maybe this particular line is "disused," but
that's only because it has been superseded by newer,
sleeker and much faster train technology. That is
true in many places in Europe. Italy, for one.
The
never-ending rapid-train construction in Italy is, in
that respect, paying off. You can already get from
Naples-home to Milan-home (650 km/400 miles),
door-to-door, faster by train than by plane. Walk on,
walk off; no searches, no endless waiting in airports.
Also, the great increase in private automobile ownership
and the corresponding construction of new highways in
Italy has been spectacular in the last few decades, and
the chaotic spread of urbanization does not follow the
straight lines dictated by surveyors who laid out early
railways. There are, as well, such things as bankruptcy,
mergers, wars, disasters, and specially built trains for
mines or other industry being taken out of service once
they are no longer needed. And so on. Here are a few of
them near Naples in the Campania region of Italy.
Atena Lucana-Marsico Nuovo
Railway
The railway was slightly more
than 26 km/16 miles long and had a life of only 35
years, opening in 1931 and closing in 1966. It connected
state rail lines at the top of the Valle di Diano in the
Cilento area of Campania with state rail service farther
to the southwest and was meant to hook at least one
station in the Campania region into an "all points
south" network in Puglia, Basilicata and Calabria, the
three southernmost regions on the Italian peninsula. The
tracks had a gauge (the distance between the tracks) of
950 mm (which makes it "narrow gauge" compared to
standard Italian national railway gauge) and was not
electrified. The name of the operating company was the Società
Mediterranea Calabro Lucane. To connect the
national rail line at the station of Atena Lucana in the
north to another station of the national rail line at
Marsico Nuovo in the southwest, the new train climbed
from the town of Atena Lucana at 455 meters (almost 1500
feet) above sea level and made eight stops, crossing the
Maddalena mountains up to a height of 919 m/3000 feet
and then descending a bit to end at Marsico Nuovo at 781
m/2600 feet. It was an impressive feat of engineering,
involving the construction of bridges and helical
tunnels so as to avoid having to build rack-and-pinion
(or cog) sections (like a cable car) to overcome sudden
and steep changes in elevation. It was never successful
for various reasons; stations were too far from
inhabited centers; there were a few landslides; etc., so
it was closed and dismantled and a bus route was put in
to get over the mountain. In any event, very modern road
construction and the increase in private automobile
traffic have rendered this quaint train in the mountains
unnecessary. As with many other such abandoned railways,
at least some of the length, while not exactly reverting
to nature, has been put to recreational use for hikers
and bicyclists.
relates to paragraph below
The Sparanise-Gaeta Railway
The
Sparanise-Gaeta railway (the blue line, right), also
known as the Aurunci line, had a normal state railway
gauge (1435 mm) and opened oi 1892. Sparanise-Minturno
closed in 1957. The shorter Fornia-Gaeta section closed
to passenger service and then to freight in 1981. It was
first run by a private company, Mediterranean Railways
and then by the state railway. The town of Sparanise
(also marked in the large image above, upper-right
corner is at the northern end of the Campanian plain. It
sits at the foot of the Roccamonfina
volcanic complex about 20 km inland, about halfway
between Naples and Gaeta. The area is densely populated
today and surrounded by a thick network of primary and
secondary roads, but that was not the case in 1879 when
the idea first arose to connect Sparanise to the coast
and Gaeta. Construction started in 1890. It started at a
point that had been part of the pre-Unification (that
is, before 1860) railway (red line, photo, top right)
from Naples to Rome and then branched off to run along
the base of the mountains and then over them to
terminate at Gaeta. It ran a length of just over 59
km/37 miles along an impressive stretch of engineering,
including the 25 Bridges, a series of elevated arcades
forming a 400-meter-long span between Itri and Formia
(green line, center-left). The trip took from 2½-3 hours
and less after the conversion from steam engines to
diesel. The area was the site of intense fighting in
WWII as the retreating German army, trying to block the
Allied advance up the Italian peninsula, destroyed much
of the physical plant of railways leading north,
including bridges. The 25 Bridges were rebuilt after the
war. Passenger service was suspended in 1966 over
protests by the population. This railway had lasted for
many years and provided a much needed service, only
partially filled by bus service meant to replace it.
There is constant talk of reactivating at least some
sections of the old railway, and some work has been
done. So far, no trains are running.
The Pugliano
- Vesuvius Railway
A railway up to
the top of Mt. Vesuvius is, of course, not a train in
the traditional sense of providing transportation for
the commuter masses. It was designed to be—and indeed,
for a while, was—a convenient way for tourists to get to
the top of one of the most famous attractions in the
world, one that could explode at any moment, and you
really didn't want to miss that! Actually, the train did
not take you to the top of the volcano, but it did take
you from the mainline station at Pugliano up to the
bottom station (at 753 meters a.s.l.) of the famous
funicular, the cable car, (if you know the song Funiculì-funiculà, this is it!).
The railway was built and run by Thomas Cook & Son.
Their train was built in 1903; parts of it had to be
rebuilt after the 1906 eruption of Vesuvius, and it
closed for good in 1955. It was a 7.6 km-long narrow
gauge rack-and-pinion track. It might even still be
around if the powers that be had not decided to get rid
of the cable-car. Thomas Cook's railway wound up having
no place to go. The complete story is at this link.
The
Alifana Railway
- The Railway's
Ended but the Terminal
Lingers On
(see this link)
Underground
Stations
I am aware that
around the world many major cities have closed some of
their underground stations. Not just individual
stations, either; some cities have "disused" entire
stretches of stations. You may even be able to pay to
take a look at these so-called "ghost" stations. That
won't (not yet, anyway) happen in Campania because the
only underground train line is in Naples and they
haven't finished building it yet, so how can they start
abandoning it? Although...although... some of the
decisions they make on where to place these stations
make them seem abandoned. See
this link.
portal for
urban planning
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