("''the Little Green Train of Sardinia''" in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

) is a rail tourism service operated by ARST in the island of

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

, Italy.

History

Characterized by lengthy travel times and winding tracks in attractive landscapes, the

narrow gauge railway 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 structur ...

s of Sardinia have always attracted the attention of travellers. As early as 1921, the British writer

D. H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer, novelist, poet and essayist. His works reflect on modernity, industrialization, sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. His best-k ...

, in his book, ''

Sea and Sardinia ''Sea and Sardinia'' is a travel book by the English writer D. H. Lawrence. It describes a brief excursion undertaken in January 1921 by Lawrence and his wife Frieda, a.k.a. Queen Bee, from Taormina in Sicily to the interior of Sardinia. They v ...

'', recounted his experiences while traveling along the

Cagliari Cagliari (, also , , ; sc, Casteddu ; lat, Caralis) is an Italian municipality and the capital of the island of Sardinia, an autonomous region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name ''Casteddu'' means ''castle''. It has about 155,000 inhabitant ...

–

Isili Isili, Ìsili in sardinian language, is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the province of South Sardinia, southern Sardinia, Italy, located about north of Cagliari in the Sarcidano traditional region. Isili borders the following municipalities: ...

line: After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, railway tourism slowly took shape on the island. By the 1980s, the then concessionaires of the secondary lines, the (FCS) and the (SFS), were forced to organise a service for tourists in a more systematic fashion. The name chosen for it, ''Trenino Verde'', was used for the first time in 1984, and alludes to the many features rich in vegetation encountered by the trains. FCS 400 auf dem Viadukt bei Belvi-Aritzo

FCS 400 auf dem Viadukt bei Belvi-Aritzo

Given the growing demand for rail tourism, the Ferrovie della Sardegna (FdS) (created in 1989 from the merger of the FCS and the SFS), with the support of (ESIT), the

World Wide Fund for Nature The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wor ...

, and

Italia Nostra Italia Nostra (''Our Italy'') is an Italian not for profit organization dedicated to the protection and promotion of the country’s historical, artistic and environmental patrimony. History The organization was formed on 29 October 1955, b ...

, later obtained funding from the Region and the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

to achieve a leap in the quality of the service. The funding was spent on the restoration of

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

s, vintage

carriages A carriage is a private four-wheeled vehicle for people and is most commonly horse-drawn. Second-hand private carriages were common public transport, the equivalent of modern cars used as taxis. Carriage suspensions are by leather strapping an ...

, stations and sections of line. On 10 May 1995, 14 years after its closure, the restored was reopened to rail traffic, in the form of ''Trenino Verde'' services, thus becoming the first tourist-train-only line in Sardinia. Two years later, on 16 June 1997, four of the FdS lines, the , the , the and the , were closed to ordinary traffic and converted to tourist train lines. Additionally, two themed museums were opened as part of the ''Trenino Verde'' project, on premises adjacent to the and

Tempio Pausania Tempio Pausania (; sdn, Tèmpiu) is a town of about 14,000 inhabitants in the Gallura region of northern Sardinia, Italy, in the province of Sassari. History Cultural and delegated administrative centre of the Gallura sub-region, Tempio has an ...

railway stations. In 2010, with the integration of ARST Gestione FdS (the name assumed by the FdS in 2008) into the ARST, the latter company inherited responsibility for the management of Sardinia's narrow gauge railways, including those of the ''Trenino Verde''.

Lines

The ''Trenino Verde'' currently operates over the following long

network Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

of lines used exclusively for tourism purposes:

Cagliari division

* () * ()

Sassari-Macomer division

* () * () These lines are used all year round for chartered trains, operating customised itineraries. In summer, there is also a regularly scheduled service.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* *

External links

Trenino Verde
– official site {{in lang, it

– description by Marc Zakian of a trip from Nulvi to Palau
''The Guardian:'' Rattle and roll into old Sardinia
– description by Gavin Bell of a trip from Arbatax to Mandas
''The West Australian:'' Intimate trip like no other
– description by Jim Gill of a trip from to Mandas to Arbatax and return Passenger rail transport in Italy Transport in Sardinia