The Genoa–Pisa railway is one of the trunk lines of the
Italian railway network. It runs along the
Ligurian coast from
Genoa to
Pisa
Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...
through the
Riviera di Levante and the
Versilia. It passes through the cities of
Massa
Massa may refer to:
Places
*Massa, Tuscany, the administrative seat of the Italian province of Massa-Carrara.
*Massa (river), river in Switzerland
* Massa (Tanzanian ward), administrative ward in the Mpwapwa district of the Dodoma Region of Ta ...
,
Carrara and
La Spezia
La Spezia (, or , ; in the local Spezzino dialect) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy.
La Spezia is the second largest city ...
. South of Pisa the
Pisa–Rome line continues along the
Tyrrhenian coast to Rome. The line is double track and is fully
electrified at 3,000 V
DC. Passenger traffic is managed by
Trenitalia.
History
The line was created by the connection of two separate projects. The first, between
Pisa
Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...
and
Massa
Massa may refer to:
Places
*Massa, Tuscany, the administrative seat of the Italian province of Massa-Carrara.
*Massa (river), river in Switzerland
* Massa (Tanzanian ward), administrative ward in the Mpwapwa district of the Dodoma Region of Ta ...
, was an extension of the existing line from Pisa; the second was what was called the ''Ligurian railway''.
Tuscan railway
On 15 April 1861, the ''Livornese Railway Company'' (Italian: ''Società delle Ferrovie Livornesi'') opened the first 19 kilometre section between Pisa Porta Nuova station (now called Pisa San Rossore) and
Viareggio (later called Viareggio Scalo). In the following December this was followed by a connection in the south with
Pisa Centrale station and in the north a ten kilometre section from Viareggio to
Pietrasanta. In 1862 two further sections were opened: on 1 February 3.5 kilometres between Pietrasanta and
Seravezza and on 1 November seven kilometres between Seravezza and
Massa
Massa may refer to:
Places
*Massa, Tuscany, the administrative seat of the Italian province of Massa-Carrara.
*Massa (river), river in Switzerland
* Massa (Tanzanian ward), administrative ward in the Mpwapwa district of the Dodoma Region of Ta ...
.
In 1865, the ''Livornese Railway Company'' was absorbed by other companies and the Florence–Pistoia–Pisa and the Pisa–Massa–La Spezia lines were transferred to the
Società per le Strade Ferrate Romane
''Società'' (Italian: ''Society'') was an Italian communist cultural magazine published in Italy between 1945 and 1961.
History and profile
''Società'' was founded as a quarterly magazine in Florence in 1945. The founders were Ranuccio Bianchi ...
(Roman Railways). In 1869 the Roman Railways transferred them to the
Società per le strade ferrate dell'Alta Italia (''Upper Italian Railways'').
Ligurian railway
The project for a ''Ligurian railway'' that would connect
Ventimiglia with Massa (thus connecting the existing railways of central Italy) was agreed by a royal decree on 27 October 1860 but its realisation, because of the rugged Ligurian coast, proved the most difficult and costly project of the period. This line was built initially by the state railway of the
Kingdom of Sardinia (
Piedmont), but the line was assigned to the Upper Italian Railways on its establishment in 1865.
The first section of the project, 17 kilometre between Massa and
Sarzana was opened on 15 May 1863 and was followed by the more difficult Sarzana–
Vezzano Ligure–
La Spezia
La Spezia (, or , ; in the local Spezzino dialect) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy.
La Spezia is the second largest city ...
section on 4 August 1864. On 23 November 1868, the first part of the northern end of the line was opened as the 36 kilometre section between
Genova Brignole and
Chiavari. This was followed by the extension to
Sestri Levante on 25 April 1870.
On 25 July 1872 with the opening of the connecting tunnel between Genova Brignole and
Genova Piazza Principe, the section of line to Sestri Levante was no longer isolated and was connected over the Apennines but especially to the
line to Ventimiglia, which had been completed on 25 January 1872.
Sestri Levante–La Spezia
This was the most difficult section of the entire project. The railway had to run for long distances next to the sea and follow the twists of the coast to minimise the number and length of tunnels. In addition the bad weather of the winter of 1872 caused landslides, which forced changes to be made to the route during construction. Furthermore, since materials had to be transported by sea because long stretches of coastline were inaccessible by land, work was delayed by violent storms.
Finally on 24 July 1874 the line was opened to traffic. This stretch of line was truly revolutionary because it ended the isolation of small towns of the eastern
Italian Riviera (the Riviera di Levante), including the famous
Cinque Terre villages, which finally had a permanent link with the rest of the world. This stretch included 51 tunnels totalling over 28 kilometres in a total length of 44 kilometres and 23 bridges with a total length of nearly a kilometre. Because of the difficult topography of the area and the harsh conditions encountered during construction, the line had been built as a single track. Duplication was completed in 1971 with the opening of the last section between
Framura
Framura ( lij, Framua ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of La Spezia in the Italy, Italian region Liguria, located about southeast of Genoa and about northwest of La Spezia. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 739 and a ...
and
Monterosso, which included the new
Levanto station.
The
Mediterranean Network took over the line in 1885. In 1905
Ferrovie dello Stato (FS) was established and took over the line along with most other standard gauge railways in Italy.
Electrification
The Genoa-La Spezia line was electrified in two phases:
*Genoa–Sestri Levante was electrified with the
three-phase
Three-phase electric power (abbreviated 3φ) is a common type of alternating current used in electricity generation, Electric power transmission, transmission, and Electric power distribution, distribution. It is a type of polyphase system empl ...
system (3,700 V at 16.7 Hz) in May 1925 and converted to the 3,000 V DC system in February 1948.
*Sestri Levante–La Spezia was electrified with three-phase system in April 1926
and then converted to 3,000 V DC in April 1947.
FS had started the conversion of its lines to DC in 1928. The electrification of the line was badly damaged during
World War II and as a result it was rebuilt as a DC line.
Features
Operations are managed and controlled by the ''Sistema di Comando e Controllo'' ("command and control system"—SCC, an Italian version of
centralized traffic control) of the
Rete Ferroviaria Italiana, the subsidiary of the ''Ferrovie dello Stato'' group that is responsible for the management of the infrastructure, which supervises the rail traffic from the operations centre in Pisa for the section that runs from
Civitavecchia to
Sestri Levante (about 420 km) and from the operations centre of
Genova Teglia for the section from
Sestri Levante to the node of Genoa.
Route
Leaving
Genova Brignole station, the railway runs through the eastern part of the city of Genoa, which it leaves at the former Sant'Ilario station. The landscape, characterised by the passage between villas, coast and cliffs, remains almost unchanged along the whole of the Golfo Paradiso as far as
Camogli-San Fruttuoso.
![Treno regionale - Deiva Marina](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/Treno_regionale_-_Deiva_Marina.JPG)
After crossing the promontory of Portofino, the line follows the Gulf of
Tigullio, serving the tourist resorts from
Santa Margherita Ligure to
Riva Trigoso. This is the beginning of the Ligurian section, which is authorised for operations at higher speeds since the doubling of the line in recent times.
The line then crosses the localities from
Moneglia
Moneglia (; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Genoa in the Italian region Liguria, located about southeast of Genoa. It is a tourist resort on the Riviera di Levante. In 2012 it was added to the list of I Borghi più b ...
to
Monterosso, which is at the beginning of the
Cinque Terre section, noted for its long tunnels and sudden glimpses of the Ligurian Sea, picturesque villages and sheer cliffs.
The landscape changes radically after
La Spezia Centrale railway station and the line goes inland, reaching, after passing through junctions with a line to the port and the
line to Parma, the
plain of Luni, the last extension of Liguria.
In Tuscany, the line runs through the provinces of
Massa and Carrara and
Lucca, remaining almost at the centre of the plain formed over the centuries between the chain of the
Apuan Alps and the coast. In this section there were once many crossings and junctions with the extensive network of
interurban tramways that included the
Carrara-Marina di Carrara tramway, the
Massa tramway, the so-called ''Tranvia litoranea di Viareggio'' (
Viareggio coastal tramway) and the
Viareggio-Camaiore tramway.
After reaching
Viareggio, the line passes through the junction with the line to Lucca and Florence, and reaches the
Serchio river. It now enters the Pisan plain and arrives at
Pisa San Rossore. This has an atypical layout for a passenger station as it is arranged in the triangle formed by the branch line of the
railway to Lucca. During the construction of a building that was to have housed a new electronic control centre, which was subsequently moved to another location, the remains of an ancient Roman port were found. The famous
Piazza dei Miracoli, with its
leaning tower is not far away. A shed that housed the royal train when the Italian king resided at the San Rossore estate still exists to the north of the station. It is now used for the storage of material for the railway equipment factory of the CEMES company.
The railway viaduct over the
Arno comes shortly before the end of the line at
Pisa Centrale station.
Abandoned single-track lines
![Galleria Genova Quinto](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/Galleria_Genova_Quinto.JPG)
There remain several vestiges of disused sections of line as a result of the doubling carried out in Genoa in the 1910s and on the Sestri Levante–La Spezia section starting in the 1930s.
In Genoa, remains of a portion of the bridge over the Vernazza river at
Sturla
Sturla (Stûrlâ in Ligurian) is a quartiere of Genoa. It began life as an ancient fishing village which developed around a number of small coves – Sturla a Mare, at the mouth of the Sturla river, Vernazzola and Boccadasse (Boccadasse is now in ...
and a tunnel mouth next to the Via Gianelli at Quinto al Mare are still visible.
The section between Deiva Marina and
Riva Trigoso was converted into a one-lane road, which is now operated in alternate directions, controlled by
traffic lights; two sections of the Maremonti cycle path were built on the old railway tracks between
Levanto and
Bonassola
Bonassola ( lij, Bonasseua ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of La Spezia in the Italian region Liguria, located about southeast of Genoa and about northwest of La Spezia. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 945 and an ...
and between Bonassola and
Framura station.
Traffic
Since its opening, the Genoa–Pisa railway carried substantial traffic as it is a main line connecting Liguria and Piedmont, with Tuscany, Lombardy and southern Italy.
Long-distance services
![EC Cisalpino - Genova Quinto](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/EC_Cisalpino_-_Genova_Quinto.JPG)
Traditionally served by the major Turin–Rome express services, the Genoa–Pisa railway has been used by both regular services and seasonal and tourist trains running over the passes connecting to France and Switzerland. The most prestigious trains included the ''Palatino'' express with beds and couchettes, the ''Tirreno'' express and the ''Genova Sprint'', first operated with ALe 601 electric multiple units and later with
ETR 300 ''Settebello'' sets.
In 1989, the introduction of a new timetable by FS led to the establishment of a series of Intercity trains on the line, which led to the reduction of direct services running beyond Rome.
In 2010, the line was used by the first private long-distance trains,
operated by the
Arenaways
Arenaways was an open-access railway operator in Italy. It began passenger operations between Milan and Turin in November 2010, competing with national monopoly operator Trenitalia. Arenaways was running the first private passenger-carrying rail s ...
company, which then went bankrupt.
Regional services
![Treno a 2 Piani - Genova](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/Treno_a_2_Piani_-_Genova.jpg)
The particular locations of the coastal centres, particularly in the Ligurian area, favoured the establishment of local services for the connection of the countryside and hamlets.
These services proved to be particularly valuable both in the city of Genoa, thanks to the presence of numerous toll booths and stops, and, in the
Cinque Terre, due to the lack of roads.
After Italian reform resulted in the transfer of responsibility for local transport to the regions, regional rail services were established as two main service groups, both carried out by
Trenitalia:
* regional suburban trains that centre on Genoa and have as their main termini Genova Nervi and Recco, regional trains that end in Sestri Levante, fast regional trains on the Genoa–La Spezia route and regional trains running between Sestri Levante and La Spezia (serving the Cinque Terre) as part of the service contract with the
Ligurian region;
* regional trains on the La Spezia–Pisa, La Spezia–Florence and
Pontremoli–Florence (from the
Parma–La Spezia line) routes, as part of a service contract with the
Tuscany region ("
Memorario Memorario is the commercial name given to the regional railway system of Tuscany, operated by Trenitalia since 2004 and based on a clock-face scheduling
A clock-face schedule or cyclic schedule is a timetable system under which public transport s ...
" services). Some services from Milan or Bergamo (formerly the ''Freccia della Versilia''—"arrow of
Versilia"—service) towards Pisa are added to these, always running over the Parma–La Spezia line.
References
Footnotes
Sources
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See also
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List of railway lines in Italy
This is a list of all railway lines in Italy.
Active lines
Managed by Ferrovie dello Stato
High–speed lines
* Turin–Milan
* Milan–Verona (under construction)
* Verona–Venice (under construction)
* Venice–Trieste (planning p ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Genoa-Pisa railway
Railway lines in Liguria
Railway lines in Tuscany
Railway lines opened in 1874