L'Aquila railway station ( it, Stazione dell'Aquila) serves the city and ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' of

L'Aquila L'Aquila ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in central Italy. It is the capital city of both the Abruzzo region and of the Province of L'Aquila. , it has a population of 70,967 inhabitants. Laid out within medieval walls on a hill in the wide valle ...

, in the

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

Abruzzo Abruzzo (, , ; nap, label=Neapolitan language, Abruzzese Neapolitan, Abbrùzze , ''Abbrìzze'' or ''Abbrèzze'' ; nap, label=Sabino dialect, Aquilano, Abbrùzzu; #History, historically Abruzzi) is a Regions of Italy, region of Southern Italy wi ...

southern Italy Southern Italy ( it, Sud Italia or ) also known as ''Meridione'' or ''Mezzogiorno'' (), is a macroregion of the Italian Republic consisting of its southern half. The term ''Mezzogiorno'' today refers to regions that are associated with the peop ...

. Opened in 1875, it forms part of the

Terni–Sulmona railway The Terni–Sulmona railway is a regional railway line in central Italy, managed by Rete Ferroviaria Italiana. It links three regions, Umbria, Lazio and Abruzzo, and three provincial capitals: Terni, Rieti and L'Aquila. Together with the Sulmon ...

. The station is currently managed by

Rete Ferroviaria Italiana Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI) is the Italian railway infrastructure manager, subsidiary of Ferrovie dello Stato (FS), a state-owned holding company. RFI is the owner of Italy's railway network, it provides signalling, maintenance and other ser ...

(RFI). However, the commercial area of the passenger building is managed by

Centostazioni ( en, 100 Stations) is a subsidiary of Italian holding company Ferrovie dello Stato. The company was created to redevelop and manage 103 medium-sized Italian railway stations. History The company was founded in 2001 as ' ( en, Medium Stations ...

. Train services between L'Aquila and

Sulmona Sulmona ( nap, label= Abruzzese, Sulmóne; la, Sulmo; grc, Σουλμῶν, Soulmôn) is a city and ''comune'' of the province of L'Aquila in Abruzzo, Italy. It is located in the Valle Peligna, a plain once occupied by a lake that disappeared in ...

are operated by

Trenitalia Trenitalia is the primary train operator in Italy. A subsidiary of Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, itself owned by the Italian government, the company was established in 2000 following a European Union directive on the deregulation of rail transp ...

. Each of these companies is a subsidiary of

Ferrovie dello Stato Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane S.p.A. ( "Italian Railways of the State"; previously only Ferrovie dello Stato, hence the abbreviation FS) is Italy's national state-owned railway holding company that manages transport, infrastructure, real estat ...

(FS), Italy's state-owned rail company. Train services between L'Aquila and

Terni Terni ( , ; lat, Interamna (Nahars)) is a city in the southern portion of the region of Umbria in central Italy. It is near the border with Lazio. The city is the capital of the province of Terni, located in the plain of the Nera river. It is ...

are operated by '' Ferrovia Centrale Umbra'', a company owned by the

province of Perugia The Province of Perugia ( it, Provincia di Perugia) is the larger of the two provinces in the Umbria region of Italy, comprising two-thirds of both the area and population of the region. Its capital is the city of Perugia. The province covered al ...

Location

L'Aquila railway station is situated in Piazzale Stazione, to the west of the city centre.

History

The station was built by the ''

Società per le Strade Ferrate Meridionali The Società per le Strade Ferrate Meridionali (Italian: ''Company for the Southern Railways'', ''SFM'') was an Italian railway company established in 1862. In 1885 it took the control of the so-called "Rete Adriatica" (''Adriatic Network'', ''R ...

'' ( en, Company for the Southern Railways, SFM). It was opened on 10 May 1875, upon the inauguration of the Molina–L'Aquila section of the Terni–Sulmona railway, which was being constructed as a strategic rail link to Castellammare Adriatico (now Pescara), an important node in the

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 ...

. Until 28 October 1883, the date of entry into service of the line's extension to

Rieti Rieti (; lat, Reate, Sabino: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Lazio, central Italy, with a population of 47,700. It is the administrative seat of the province of Rieti and see of the diocese of Rieti, as well as the modern capital of the Sabina re ...

and

, the station carried out the functions of a

terminal station A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing such ...

. It then became an intermediate station. Between 1922 and 1933, it was flanked by ''SIA'' railway station, terminus of the short lived Capitignano line. World War II led to the devastation of the station premises. On 8 December 1943, Allied planes bombed the station, claiming hundreds of civilian and military casualties. In 1951, the passenger building was rebuilt in 1951 as a project of the architect

Roberto Narducci Roberto Narducci (14 August 1887 – 10 February 1979) was an Italian architect and engineer of the Modern architecture, Modernist and Novecento Italiano, Novocento movements. Life Narducci was born in Rome, into a middle-class family. After ...

. The station has seen its importance decrease following the increase in road traffic, especially after the entry into operation of the Rome–Aquila motorway, and culminating with the closure in 1987 of the direct line ''Freccia del Gran Sasso'', the direct connection with Rome. The station was damaged by the earthquake that hit L'Aquila in 2009, but came back into operation a few days after the earthquake.

Train movements

The trains stopping at the station are

regional In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

trains to Sulmona and Terni. They are a small regional composition made up of

ALn 668 The ALn 668 (''Automotrice Leggera a nafta'', Light Diesel motor car) series is a family of diesel railcars built by Fiat Ferroviaria between the 1950s and the 1980s. The trains were built for the Italian public railway company Ferrovie dello S ...

class

railcar A railcar (not to be confused with a railway car) is a self-propelled railway vehicle designed to transport passengers. The term "railcar" is usually used in reference to a train consisting of a single coach (carriage, car), with a drive ...

s in a diesel version designated as the 3300, with a "mountain" gear ratio limiting its top speed to . Since 15 June 2008, the train service to Terni has been operated by Ferrovia Centrale Umbra, which has taken on the management of the Terni-L'Aquila section following the reorganization of regional rail transport. The station is served by the following service(s):Abruzzo region train timetables
/ref> *Regional services (''Treno regionale'') L'Aquila - Sulmona *Regional services (''Treno regionale'') Terni - Rieti - L'Aquila

References

External links

Description and pictures of L'Aquila railway station
''This article is based upon a translation of the Italian language version as at December 2010.''
{{Italian railway stations Railway stations in Abruzzo Railway stations opened in 1875 1875 establishments in Italy Buildings and structures in L'Aquila

Location

History

Train movements

See also

References

External links