I08 119 Bf Napoli Piazza Garibaldi, ETR 211

Circumvesuviana () is a railway network in the east of the

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

metropolitan area, previously run by a company of the same name, now operated by Ente Autonomo Volturno. Electrically powered throughout, the system uses the

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller struc ...

of and operates of route on six lines. It is entirely separate from other national and regional railway lines. It has 96 stations with an average interstation distance of . The Circumvesuviana railway covers a wide catchment area of over 2 million people, distributed in 47 municipalities, including Scafati, San Valentino Torio and Sarno in the province of Salerno and Avella and Baiano in the province of Avellino. The network forms an important commercial artery, and provides services to the tourist destinations of Pompeii and

Herculaneum Herculaneum (; Neapolitan and it, Ercolano) was an ancient town, located in the modern-day ''comune'' of Ercolano, Campania, Italy. Herculaneum was buried under volcanic ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. Like the ...

. All routes start from the Napoli Porta Nolana terminus near the Porta Nolana, and pass through Napoli Garibaldi station before splitting into several branches to towns in the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...

. A journey along the entirety of the longest route, the from Naples to

Sorrento Sorrento (, ; nap, Surriento ; la, Surrentum) is a town overlooking the Bay of Naples in Southern Italy. A popular tourist destination, Sorrento is located on the Sorrentine Peninsula at the south-eastern terminus of the Circumvesuviana rail ...

, takes about one hour. On 27 December 2012 the original company was absorbed by the Ente Autonomo Volturno. Prior to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, the network was used by 25 million passengers annually.

Lines

All lines are powered by electric

overhead lines An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, trolleybuses or trams. It is known variously as: * Overhead catenary * Overhead contact system (OCS) * Overhead equipm ...

Rolling stock

The network uses two types of rolling stock, both electrically powered: FE220 units, and ETR211 "Metrostar" articulated trains. Power is supplied by

overhead catenary An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, trolleybuses or trams. It is known variously as: * Overhead catenary * Overhead contact system (OCS) * Overhead equipment ...

and the train motors can generate up to of power. The FE220 cars are usually coupled together to form a two- or three-car

multiple units A multiple-unit train or simply multiple unit (MU) is a self-propelled train composed of one or more carriages joined together, which when coupled to another multiple unit can be controlled by a single driver, with multiple-unit train contr ...

, painted white with red doors and ends. The FE220 trains come in two different variations. Twenty-six ETR211 "Metrocar" three-car articulated units were introducedEcco "Metrostar", il nuovo treno della Circumvesuviana
/ref> between November 2008 and September 2009. Manufactured by a consortium of Firema and

AnsaldoBreda Hitachi Rail Italy S.p.A. is a multinational rolling stock manufacturer company based in Pistoia, Italy. Formerly AnsaldoBreda S.p.A., a subsidiary of state-owned Finmeccanica, the company was sold in 2015 to Hitachi Rail of Japan. After the ...

, these trains are capable of carrying 450 passengers and are styled by

Pininfarina Pininfarina S.p.A. (short for Carrozzeria Pininfarina) is an Italian car design firm and coachbuilder, with headquarters in Cambiano, Turin, Italy. The company was founded by Battista "Pinin" Farina in 1930. On 14 December 2015, the Indian ...

. As well as being more powerful than the FE220 units, they have computer driving aids, self-levelling suspension. These units are mostly used to provide the express service whilst the FE220 provide cheaper, stopping services which tend to be far more crowded.

Notes

External links

Official Circumvesuviana site
(In Italian, last updated 2002)

(mostly in Italian with a summary in English)
Current schedules on the EAV site
(In Italian, but schedules are numeric once you select a line) {{Urban public transport in Italy Railway companies of Italy Railway lines in Campania Transport in Naples 950 mm gauge railways in Italy Companies based in Campania Mount Vesuvius

Lines

Rolling stock

Notes

See also

External links