Viareggio railway station ( it, Stazione di Viareggio) 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

Viareggio Viareggio () is a city and ''comune'' in northern Tuscany, Italy, on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. With a population of over 62,000, it is the second largest city within the province of Lucca, after Lucca. It is known as a seaside resort as ...

, 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 ...

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze''). Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, art ...

central Italy Central Italy ( it, Italia centrale or just ) is one of the five official statistical regions of Italy used by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), a first-level NUTS region, and a European Parliament constituency. Regions Central It ...

. Opened in 1936, it forms part of the Pisa–La Spezia–Genoa railway, and is also a

junction Junction may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Junction'' (film), a 2012 American film * Jjunction, a 2002 Indian film * Junction (album), a 1976 album by Andrew Cyrille * Junction (EP), by Basement Jaxx, 2002 * Junction (manga), or ''Hot ...

for a regional line to Florence. 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 to and from the station 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. Thanks to its position, the station is the most significant one in the

Province of Lucca The province of Lucca ( it, provincia di Lucca) is a province in the Tuscany region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Lucca. It has an area of and a total population of about 390,000. There are 33 ''comuni'' (singular: ''comune'') in the pro ...

. It is an important junction connecting

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 ...

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 158,493 residents in December 2017. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn (pronou ...

and

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

with

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 ...

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...

and

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, and providing interchange for passengers to and from all of these cities with trains to and from

Lucca Lucca ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its province has a population of 383,957. Lucca is known as one o ...

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

and the

Garfagnana The Garfagnana () is a historical and geographical region of central Italy, today part of the province of Lucca, in Tuscany. It is the upper valley or basin of the river Serchio, and thus lies between the main ridge of the Northern Apennines to ...

. Its catchment area includes much of the

Versilia Versilia is a part of Tuscany in the north-western province of Lucca and southern part of Massa-Carrara, and is named after the Versilia river. Known for fashionable Riviera resorts, it consists of numerous clubs that are frequented by local celebr ...

Location

Viareggio railway station is situated in Piazzale

Dante Alighieri Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: '' ...

, at the western edge of the city centre.

History

The original Viareggio station was opened in 1861. By the end of the nineteenth century, it was inadequate for the role of trade and tourism that the city was taking at that time. As early as 1889, the ''comune'' of Viareggio had proposed the construction of a new, more central, facility, that could provide "more prestige and dignity to the city." The present station was opened on 13 June 1936, in the presence of Minister of Communications

Antonio Stefano Benni Antonio Stefano Benni (18 April 1880 – 27 December 1945) was an Italian entrepreneur and politician who served as President of the General Confederation of Italian Industry from 1923 until 1934. Biography His father, a financial intendant, die ...

. The passenger building was designed by the prolific railway station 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 ...

, while its construction was entrusted to the company "Ignesti Federico e Figli".

Derailment in 2009

On 29 June 2009, shortly before midnight, freight train no. 50 325 from

Trecate Trecate is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Novara in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about east of Novara. It harbors a major refinery complex for fuels and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), serving ...

to Gricignano derailed near the station, causing the explosion of a tank carrying LPG, the collapse of some houses nearby and the deaths of 32 people. The section of line between Forte dei Marmi-Seravezza-Querceta and Pisa San Rossore was closed to ordinary traffic until 3 July 2009, when repairs were completed to track damaged by the explosion.

Features

The passenger building has a ticket counter, ticket machines, a police station, a bar, and a kiosk. In the square in front of the building is a bus stop for buses and taxis. The station yard has eight loop tracks. Originally there were ten, but two of them were removed in the aftermath of the 2009 derailment. The four platforms at the station are covered by canopies 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 ...

. The station also has many monitors showing in real time where and when trains are leaving and arriving. Track 1 is used for terminating trains, and Track 2 is for passing freight trains. Track 3 is used by through trains from

Pisa Centrale Pisa Centrale railway station ( it, Stazione di Pisa Centrale) is the central station of the Italian city of Pisa, the first station of the city in terms of passengers, before Pisa-San Rossore railway station. The station is one of the major rail ...

, and Track 4 by direct trains to Pisa. Tracks 5 and 6 are used as the terminus of the

Viareggio–Florence railway The Viareggio–Florence railway (Italian language, Italian: ''Ferrovia Viareggio-Firenze'') is a line built between 1848 and 1890 connecting the Tuscany, Tuscan cities of Florence, Prato, Pistoia, Lucca and Viareggio. The first section from Flore ...

via

, and Tracks 7 and 8 as a terminus for trains to and from Lucca. About towards Pisa is the Viareggio Scalo

goods yard A goods station (also known as a goods yard or goods depot) or freight station is, in the widest sense, a railway station where, either exclusively or predominantly, goods (or freight), such as merchandise, parcels, and manufactured items, are lo ...

, now disused.

Passenger and train movements

The station is served by numerous trains:

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 ...

, express,

InterCity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to regional, local, or commuter trains) generally call at m ...

and even a pair of Eurostar City trains.

Interchange

There is interchange at the station with urban and suburban bus lines.

References

External links

Description and pictures of Viareggio railway station
--> ''This article is based upon a translation of the Italian language version as at February 2011.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Viareggio Railway Station

Railway Station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

Railway stations in Tuscany Railway stations opened in 1936