First system
History
The first trolleybus line in Avellino opened for service on 16 September 1947, a (round trip) route connecting the city centre with the railway station and the directly adjacent town of Atripalda. It was constructed by the '' Compagnia Generale di Elettricità'' (General Electric Power Company) but managed by the ''Società Filoviaria Irpina''. In 1956, the route was extended from the city centre to the neighbouring town of Mercogliano, making it an interurban route and increasing the entire system's length of overhead wiring to (including two alternative routings between Avellino and Atripalda). There were then two routes, with route 1 running through to Mercogliano and route 2 ending at Viale Italia west of the city centre in Avellino. The two routes followed different routings on their easternmost sections, between the railway station and Atripalda. The end-to-end length of route 1, Atripalda–Avellino–Mercogliano, was around in length, and the section of route 2 that was not also included in route 1 was around long. By 1959, the company was already operating at a loss, and in 1971 it was placed in receivership. The trolleybus system closed on 1 November 1973, initially caused by a major breakdown of the substation but made permanent when, in June 1974, the ''Commissione Amministratrice del Consorzio Trasporti Irpini'' (Administrative Commission of the Irpini Transport Consortium, established in May 1973) gave permission for the permanent replacement of trolleybuses by motorbuses.Fleet
The all-time fleet of the original system consisted of the following trolleybuses: * 5Second system
History
In the late 1990s, local officials began considering bringing trolleybus operation back to Avellino. In December 2003, the national government's Committee for Economic Planning gave its approval to a plan to build an "11 km" (5.5 km each direction) trolleybus line between the railway station and Valle.''Trolleybus Magazine'' No. 256 (July–August 2004), p. 96. National Trolleybus Association (UK). . In 2007, an order was placed with Van Hool for eleven A330T trolleybuses for the planned new system.''Trolleybus Magazine'' No. 276 (November–December 2007), p. 135. National Trolleybus Association (UK). . On 4 February 2008, the contract for construction of the line was signed.''Trolleybus Magazine'' No. 279 (May–June 2008), p. 65. National Trolleybus Association (UK). . Locally, the planned line was inaccurately named the ''"metropolitana leggera"'' (light metro, or light rail), when in fact it was never planned to be a rail line. That inaccurate name, or the shorter version "metro leggera", continued to be in use throughout the project's subsequent construction.''Trolleybus Magazine'' No. 365 (September–October 2022), p. 209. National Trolleybus Association (UK). . Construction work began in April 2009, at which time the system was projected to open in 2010.''Trolleybus Magazine'' No. 286 (July–August 2009), p. 92. National Trolleybus Association (UK). The eleven trolleybuses were completed by fall 2010, but were being stored at the Van Hool factory, not shipped, because construction of the infrastructure in Avellino was still not complete.''Trolleybus Magazine'' No. 295 (January–February 2011), p. 17. National Trolleybus Association (UK). The first trolleybus was received in Avellino in April 2014''Trolleybus Magazine'' No. 317 (September–October 2014), p. 131. and all others had arrived by the end of the year.''Trolleybus Magazine'' No. 320 (March–April 2015), p. 56. However, construction work on the new system encountered delays and was suspended for some lengthy periods, including from 2011''Trolleybus Magazine'' No. 299 (September–October 2011), p. 114. to spring 2013''Trolleybus Magazine'' No. 312 (November–December 2013), p. 164. and progress was also only limited during 2015. The first test trip by a trolleybus powered from the overhead trolley wires took place in June 2016,''Trolleybus Magazine'' No. 330 (November–December 2016), p. 180. but by August 2017 still only about half of the route had been equipped with overhead wires.''Trolleybus Magazine'' No. 338 (March–April 2018), p. 66. Construction was mostly completed by October 2018, but ''Trolleybus Magazine'' reported that "the opening of the system continues to be deferred because of disagreements between the Campania Region, the local bus company AIR Avellino, and the city council concerning the financing of the final completion of the system, including staff training, and the funding of the operation of the system once it has opened."''Trolleybus Magazine'' No. 343 (January–February 2019), pp. 28–30. National Trolleybus Association (UK). . By 2020, most of those issues had been resolved. By 2021, construction had finally been completed, but testing did not resume and the system still did not open. In November, national transport officials advised the city and regional governments that they would be required to return €20 million of European Union funding if the trolleybus system did not open by July 2022.''Trolleybus Magazine'' No. 361 (January–February 2022), pp. 32–34. In February, the city hired ANM, the operator of the Naples trolleybus system, to consult on the remaining preparations needed to open the system.''Trolleybus Magazine'' No. 363 (May–June 2022), p. 120. Longstanding plans to create new bus-only lanes along the route (through removal of parking) only began to be implemented in June 2022, and vehicle testing finally resumed in July 2022. Subsequently, predicted opening dates for the start of passenger service continued to go unmet. At the end of November, an agreement was signed transferring the fleet of trolleybuses, which are owned by the City of Avellino, to operator AIR Campania on a free-loan basis, and the final pre-opening operation – simulated service (without passengers) – for six days was scheduled to begin on 5 December 2022, with opening of the new system to the public predicted for 12 December. However, while the pre-opening operation did begin on 5 December, using four trolleybuses, the system did not open on 12 December as had been planned. The newspaper '' Il Mattino'' reported on 12 December that no new opening date had been set, and that the introduction of passenger service now might not occur before Christmas. It was then announced that testing had been suspended and would resume in January 2023. The national regulatory authority (the National Agency for the Safety of Railways and Road and Highway Infrastructure) had yet to give its final approval to open the system. That approval was granted in March, and the opening date was announced for 3 April. The new trolleybus system opened on 3 April 2023, and service runs half-hourly, Mondays to Saturdays from 7:30 am until only 4:55 pm (or approximately 7:00 am to 5:40 pm according to the full timetable). The route has a round-trip length of and an end-to-end length of and has 15 stops. However, all trolleybus service was suspended starting on 7 July, barely three months after the opening of the system, because of road works in the city centre.''Trolleybus Magazine'' No. 371 (September–October 2023), p. 209. National Trolleybus Association (UK). .Route
The current route connects the railway station with Via Fraternita della Misericordia, in the western part of the town. It is long, of which about 3 km is along separate streets in opposite directions. Around of the eastbound route is not equipped with overhead wiring, and the trolleybuses cover that section using their diesel engines.Fleet
The fleet of the current system comprises eleven two-axle, vehicles, with auxiliary diesel engines enabling them to operate away from the overhead wires to a limited extent: * 11 Van Hool A330T (with Vossloh Kiepe electrical equipment), low-floor vehicles built in 2010 and delivered in 2014, but then placed in storage locally for several years until the route's infrastructure was completed.See also
* List of trolleybus systems in ItalyReferences
External links