The Ferrovia Circumetnea (roughly translated as ''"Round- Etna Railway"'') is a

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

, , regional railway line in

Sicily Sicily ( it, Sicilia , ) is the list of islands in the Mediterranean, largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. The Strait of Messina divides it from the region of Calabria in Southern Italy. I ...

. It was constructed between 1895 and 1898. As the name suggests, the line follows a route which almost completely encircles the

Mount Etna Mount Etna, or simply Etna ( it, Etna or ; scn, Muncibbeḍḍu or ; la, Aetna; grc, Αἴτνα and ), is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, Italy, in the Metropolitan City of Catania, between the cities of Messina ...

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates ...

. From its terminal in

Catania Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also b ...

the line starts off westward and loops around Mount Etna in a clockwise direction (as seen on the map), eventually reaching the other terminal at the seaside town of Riposto, approximately northeast of Catania. The original terminal was at Catania Porto, although Catania Central (the mainline station) was the last stop for the trains. However, in the 1990s the section from there to Catania Borgo ( long) was converted to

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...

and moved underground for most of its length for use as a new

metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urban ...

( Metropolitana di Catania). The original terminus, the Porto station, was also reinstated. Therefore, the Circumetnea trains now terminate at Catania Borgo. The Ferrovia Circumetnea (FCE) also operates the Metropolitana. The offices for both are at Catania Borgo. FCE operates The DMU 001-004,

multiple unit 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 cont ...

s diesel of construction

Newag Newag S.A. ronounced: nevagis a Polish company, based in Nowy Sącz, specialising in the production, maintenance, and modernisation of railway rolling stock. The company's products include the 14WE, 19WE, 35WE types electric multiple units; i ...

. They were in service with four more on order as of late 2017.

Gallery

File:L'ALn 56.06 in sosta alla stazione di Misterbianco (1).jpg, The "''Littorina''" ALn 56.06, parked at the FCE Misterbianco station. File:Vulcano Catania Borgo.jpg, The DMU 001 "''Vulcano''" train at Catania Borgo, in December 2015. File:Il DMU 003 alla stazione di Misterbianco.JPG, The DMU 003 "''Vulcano''", at the FCE Misterbianco station. File:La RALn 6402 in sosta presso la stazione di Nesima.jpg, The RALn 6402 packed at the FCE Nesima station. File:L'ADe 14 in sosta alla stazione di Randazzo.jpg, Ferrovia Circumetnea, Randazzo station. File:L'ADe 15 in transito alla stazione di Misterbianco.jpg, The ADe 15 in transit at the FCE Misterbianco station. File:ADe14 and 13 Giarre.jpg, The ADe 14 and 13 leaving Giarre to Randazzo. File:L'ADe 09 + l'ADe 08 alla stazione di Catania Borgo.jpg, The ADe 09 and 08 at the FCE Catania Borgo station. File:L'ADe 18 "La Prima", in sosta alla stazione di Adrano Nord, durante i suoi primi giorni di servizio viaggiatori.jpg, The ADe 18, named "''La Prima''" on occasion of its revamping, parked at the FCE Adrano Nord station. File:L'ADe 24 + l'ADe 23 nella nuova livrea, in transito alla stazione di Misterbianco.jpg, The ADe 24 and 23 in the new

livery A livery is an identifying design, such as a uniform, ornament, symbol or insignia that designates ownership or affiliation, often found on an individual or vehicle. Livery will often have elements of the heraldry relating to the individual or ...

, in transit at the FCE Misterbianco station.

References

External links

Official Website
(mostly in Italian; English, French and non-flash versions undermaintained)
High quality photos of FCE rolling stockCircumetnea picture gallery on TrainsPictures.com
Circumetnea 950 mm gauge railways in Italy {{Italy-rail-transport-stub