Paola railway station ( it, Stazione di Paola) serves the town 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 Paola, in the

Calabria , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

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 ...

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 1895, it forms part of the Battipaglia–Reggio di Calabria railway, and is also a terminus of a secondary line, the Paola–Cosenza railway. 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). Train services are operated by or on behalf of

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.

Location

Paola railway station is situated in Viale Stazione, at the western edge of the city centre, near the waterfront.

History

The station was opened on 15 November 1894, together with the rest of the final section of the Battipaglia–Reggio di Calabria railway was completed, between Praja-Ajeta-Tortora and

Gizzeria Gizzeria ( Calabrian: ; aae, Jacarise) is an Arbëreshë ''comune'' and town in the province of Catanzaro in the Calabria region of Italy. Overview The center of town is above sea level. Monte Mancuso is the town's highest point at above sea ...

Lido (then known as ''Sant'Eufemia Marina''), via

Scalea Scalea ( Calabrian: , lit. "stair" or "ladder") is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Cosenza in the Calabria region of southern Italy. The town takes its name from its terraced layout on a hillside at the bottom of the Capo Scalea promonto ...

Cetraro Cetraro ( Calabrian: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Cosenza in the Calabria region of southern Italy. Waste dumping The 'Ndrangheta, an Italian mafia syndicate, has been accused by pentito Francesco Fonti, a former member of ' ...

, Paola and

Amantea Amantea ( Calabrian: ; ) is a town, former bishopric, ''comune'' (municipality) and Latin Catholic titular see in the province of Cosenza in the Calabria region of southern Italy. It is the twentieth municipality in the region by population, while f ...

. Management of the station and the line was initially entrusted to the ''

Società per le Strade Ferrate del Mediterraneo The Società per le Strade Ferrate del Mediterraneo (''Mediterranean Railway Company'') was an Italian railway company from 1885 to 1905. It was established on 1 July 1885 and it absorbed the lines of the Società per le strade ferrate dell'Alta ...

'' (English: ''Company for the Railways of the Mediterranean''). Between 1907 and 1911, construction began on the Paola–Cosenza railway, which was intended to provide the coveted rail link between Cosenza and the Southern Tyrrhenian railway. It was opened on 2 August 1915, and significantly increased the importance of Paola station. The line to Cosenza started from track 1 at Paola, and headed initially in a southerly direction. It continued alongside the main line for about , and then curved to the east to enter a section equipped with a

Strub rack system A rack railway (also rack-and-pinion railway, cog railway, or cogwheel railway) is a steep grade railway with a toothed rack rail, usually between the running rails. The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with ...

. At about the same time as the new line to Cosenza was opened, the Paola Locomotive Depot :it:Deposito Locomotive di Paola was constructed adjacent to the station. The depot was in service until about the end of the twentieth century.

Features

The station was built on an artificial embankment raised to protect it from the frequent storms of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Originally very small, the passenger building was later rebuilt and enlarged with a number of service buildings, following the construction of the line to Cosenza. The present passenger building is linear in style and has two levels. In the station yard, there are four platforms equipped with shelters and connected with each other by a

pedestrian underpass A subway, also known as an underpass, is a grade-separated pedestrian crossing which crosses underneath a road or railway in order to entirely separate pedestrians and cyclists from motor traffic or trains respectively. Terminology In the Un ...

. Track 1 and the track 1 bay platform are on the mountain side of the station, and are normally used by passenger trains departing for the line to Cosenza. Adjacent to the station on the south-west was the site of the locomotive depot, which was connected with the station by a link from track 6. To the west, between the station and the beach, there are goods tracks passing through the station, while to the north-east is a small group of sidings for the loading and unloading of goods. There is also a large ''Ferrotel'', built alongside the station in 1970 for the accommodation of visiting railway staff.

Train services

References

Notes

External links

History and pictures of Paola railway station
--> ''This article is based upon a translation of the Italian language version as at February 2011.''
{{Italian railway stations Railway stations in Calabria Railway stations opened in 1895 Buildings and structures in the Province of Cosenza