Southern Italy travel advice

[yorkie]

I'd like to continue exploring the south of Italy in the next year or two and I have some questions about the routes and traction. If anyone knows the answer to even just one of the questions that would be greatly appreciated!

Looking at this map https://www.acprail.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Italy-Map.jpg my questions are:

Firstly I may be visiting Catania and I'd like to know if there are any routes in that area we should experience? We're planning to take a look at Mount Etna and travel on the railway that circles the volcano. It sounds like it may be a good idea to do a guided tour of Mount Etna; would anyone recommend that? Is it feasible to do the railway and visit Mount Etna in one day or is that too much for one day?

Secondly, for travel from Mesina/Reggio di Calbria towards Taranto, are there any loco hauled trains on the route via Locri and Catanzaro? Is this route worth doing? (I've already travelled via Rosarno)

An option would potentially to travel via Soveria Mannelli but the line used to continue to Marzi and Rogilano but I see the middle bit was closed; is it feasible to travel this way using alternative transport for the middle section?

Are there any loco hauled trains serving places like Lecce?

And finally, are there any particularly interesting walks in the area (particularly scenic walks and/or disused railway lines that have been converted into paths)?

Many thanks in advance

 

[Ken H]

Only done trains in that part of Italy once some years ago.
We bought a 5 day ticket where you picked days to use the train. But it was €10 supplement for exprest trains.
So we started at Warwick Parkway, grotty hotel in London then early Eurostar from waterloo. Change Lille onto TGV to Nice. Hotel for night. Then train to Firenze where we stayed 2 nights. Then Italian Eurostar to Napoli. Another 2 night stop so we could do Pompeii. The curcumvesuvia railway is good for that.
We got the Roma-sicily express from Napili Garaboldi at about 0930. It was loco hauled with compartment stock. Us 2 were booked in a 6 seat compartment with 2 Italian women and we chatted a little. We were going to Palermo but there was a portion to Catania.
Then disaster. They chucked us off into coaches at a small station. That took us to the ferry which we did as foot passengers so we missed out on doing a train ferry. There was a train in Messina to take us to Palermo.
Ryanair back to Stanstead then grotty, dirty train back to the midlands

 

[yorkie]

Yes I did the Roma to Sicily train (in the other direction) a couple of years ago; it was a good experience for us but am keen to visit different places and take different routes next time

 

[etr221]

A few thoughts/comments. There's a lot to see down there: to see it all (without rushing) would be a couple of months - depending of course on what you want to see...

The map does not distinguish between FS/Trenitalia (national/state) lines and 'Ferrovie in Concessione' (independent) lines. I imagine green = worth doing - I wouldn't disagree with what they've marked.
There are quite a lot of lines in the Bari-Lecce area operated by FSE (Ferrovia Sud-Est) (one of the largest independent systems)
The line from Bari to Matera is the independant ng Ferovia Apula-Luccane (https://ferrovieappulolucane.it/ )
Catanzaro Lido (on the coast)-Catanzaro Citta (up a rack section)-Soveria Manelli and Rogliano-Cosenza (and conecting bus) are run by the Ferrovie della Calabria (http://www.ferroviedellacalabria.it/fdc/) - narrow guage - they also operate the steam tourist Treno della Sila (gets up to 1400m). All highly recomended.
The Ferrovia Circumetnea (FCE) https://www.circumetnea.it/ is another ng independent line - worth doing. Doing it and an Etna tour in a day would I think be a rush.

A long time since I was there, so I can't say what works what. On the subject of loco hauled services, I would expect some services to be E464 + push pull; and look for through services to/from the north. Lecce is the southern end of the Adriatica main line: I think it, with Taranto and Reggio C will have fair service to the the north.

I'm not a walker - but I imagine there are lot of spectacular walks...

 

[AlbertBeale]

I spent about a week based in Syracuse [not too far from Catania, and possibly of even greater historical interest] a few years ago, and found the local lines in the south-east part of Sicily [even though they aren't green on that map], as well as many of the little towns they went to, were wonderfully attractive and interesting. However, I can't vouch for the interest of the traction / rolling stock involved! Sicily is, from my experience there, well worth lingering in. (If you're a fan of the Inspector Montalbano TV programmes from a few years back, you'll want to track down several of the towns in that corner of the island.) I have no recent (as in for several decades) experience of the rail lines in the southern part of the Italian mainland, other than the main route for the through trains from Sicily to central and northern Italy.

The only disused railway line now used for walking/cycling I know of in that part of Italy is one running round the coast for the last few miles on the way south to Syracuse. If you want healthy and scenic exercise, climbing up and down some of the steep hill towns in the area might do the trick! I remember Ragusa being fun; and Noto and Modica too. (And Comiso will have historical/political interest for anyone who was involved in the campaigns against cruise missiles in the 1980s, the nearby airbase being a kind of Italian equivalent of "our" Greenham Common.)

I do recommend the convenience of the through journey from London to (in my case) Syracuse; Palermo had the same option. (I assume a similar journey is still feasible, or will be once pandemic-related service cuts are fully restored.) Morning train from London, change in Paris, arrive Milan late afternoon. Then a sleeper for the 1000-mile run leaving Milan in the evening, going down the west coast of Italy, being shunted onto the train ferry the next morning, to reach my Sicilian destination that afternoon. London-Syracuse door-to-door in comfort with only 2 changes of train. When I did it, it was barely more than £100 per person the whole way, with booking well in advance.

 

[yorkie]

Thanks for the info

It looks like the following train is diesel loco hauled, and should be an interesting route along the coast:

Intercity #562 (Saturday)
11:55 Reggio di Calabria Centrale
19:07 Taranto

 

[AndrewE]

I would say Etna is well worth visiting. We went on an organised Volcano tour holiday (http://www.volcanicexperiences.co.uk/ , no connection) and it was excellent. We had a coach provided to get up to the cable car base station, a big 4-wheel drive army truck-like bus on from the top station towards the summit then a guided tour at the top.
Without the coach in (or a hire car) I doubt we could have done it in a day, and without the cable car it would have still been a pretty severe climb. Fit locals were walking it though.
Unfortunately we arrived near the top in a thunderstorm with lashing hail and we weren't allowed out of the bus for half our time up there, but what we did see was a revelation. I would not have expected (permanent) snow-drifts interlayered with ash deposits so they looked like a chocolate chip vanilla ice-cream, for example. Various vents were just "steaming" but if it is properly active I doubt you would be allowed anywhere near one anyway.

We stayed on by ourselves after the tour. We liked Catania, visited Syracusa and also explored the Montalbano film locations in the SE of the island using buses and trains, although unfortunately the narrow gauge was closed for track renewals when we were there. Taormina resort didn't do much for us either.
As in Spain, expect little-known local festivals, with chaotic changes to bus schedules etc.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

The Circumetnea has both old and new trains, I think the new ones concentrate on the commuter services from Catania Borgo.
The full loop Catania-Giarre (the main line interchange is one stop before the terminus of the Circumetnea itself at Riposto) means a change at Randazzo.
When I went (0757 from Catania B) some of the (old) coaches went through although unadvertised.
Randazzo is also one of the main points for an excursion further up Etna - you can tell what the conditions are likely to be from the smoke plume from the summit.
I thought Siracusa was one of the nicest old towns in Italy.
If there's a next time I would try for the inland route between Catania and Palermo.
Apparently there is a new airport station at Catania served by local trains (the end of the runway is over the fence from the railway).

 

[Iskra]

Etna is worth a visit, I just drove around the top in a hire car and enjoyed that tbh.

From Reggio, the Ionian Coast line is rugged and beautiful and worth a trip. Loco-hauled diagrams are booked to run twice a day in each direction, but be aware they can be substituted for units at short notice or even cancelled altogether, the afternoon diagram seems especially susceptible to this. It’s a long way on an old battered single car DMU with no aircon so stock up on provisions just in case as it is a significant downgrade to the travelling environment.

As for the Ferrovie Calabria narrow gauge line; it’s worth doing but to do the full line requires significant planning. There is a steam train that crosses the gap (google/YouTube Sila Steam train) on selected dates. Alternatively there is a bus. There are a couple of daily diagrams that apparently run the full line, but whether that actually happens or it’s a bus in the middle I don’t know

I have copies of the timetables for this line and the Ionian Coast mainline which I can provide you with.

I traveled some of these lines in October so see my trip report thread for more information.

The two most likely traction types on the Ionian line are pictured below, but modern bi-mode 3-car DMU’s can also sub onto the loco hauled services.

Also, let me know when you are doing this and I may be able to join you for some of it.



== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 19 Dec 2021 ==

The Circumetnea has both old and new trains, I think the new ones concentrate on the commuter services from Catania Borgo.
The full loop Catania-Giarre (the main line interchange is one stop before the terminus of the Circumetnea itself at Riposto) means a change at Randazzo.
When I went (0757 from Catania B) some of the (old) coaches went through although unadvertised.
Randazzo is also one of the main points for an excursion further up Etna - you can tell what the conditions are likely to be from the smoke plume from the summit.
I thought Siracusa was one of the nicest old towns in Italy.
If there's a next time I would try for the inland route between Catania and Palermo.
Apparently there is a new airport station at Catania served by local trains (the end of the runway is over the fence from the railway).

Siricusa is my favourite Italian city too

 

[D6130]

If you manage to do the entire circuit of the Circumetanea narrow gauge line, try if you can to break your journey at Bronte. The former loco depot there is used by the Circumetnea historical heritage group and is a veritable treasure house of old locos, railcars, carriages, wagons and other paraphanalia connected with the line. It's only open to the public three or four days a year, when they run special trains with vintage railcars over part of the line....However, the station master at Bronte has a key and if you ask him nicely between trains, he may let you in for a look round.

It looks like the following train is diesel loco hauled, and should be an interesting route along the coast:

Yes....as is the opposite working departing Taranto at 08 10 and arriving Reggio di Calabria Centrale at 14 40. These trains run seven days a week and are diagrammed for a Reggio-based class D445 diesel-electric loco and only two Inter-City carriages, second class only with compulsory reservations. You can often get an on-line advance one way ticket out-of-season for as little as 9 Euro, which is not bad for 473 km! As @ Iskra correctly points out, there are no catering facilities, so you have to stock up well with food and drink before departure. (On our last Northbound trip four years ago, we had a 20 minute delay at Trebisacce awaiting a late-running Southbound local service so, at the suggestion of the guard, we all (about 15 passengers) trooped up to the bar at the top of the station approach for coffee and sandwiches. The guard went back to the station a little earlier and stood in the street blowing his whistle when the delayed train passed the distant signal and set the platform bell ringing. Only in Southern Italy!

The afternoon through trains are the ones most likely to be cancelled or railcar substituted in my experience.

Depending on the timing of your trip, I may also be able to join you if invited....and as an Italian speaker, I should be able to open a few other doors, as well as those of the museum at Bronte!

 

[Rhinojerry]

I'd like to continue exploring the south of Italy in the next year or two and I have some questions about the routes and traction. If anyone knows the answer to even just one of the questions that would be greatly appreciated!

Looking at this map https://www.acprail.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Italy-Map.jpg my questions are:

Firstly I may be visiting Catania and I'd like to know if there are any routes in that area we should experience? We're planning to take a look at Mount Etna and travel on the railway that circles the volcano. It sounds like it may be a good idea to do a guided tour of Mount Etna; would anyone recommend that? Is it feasible to do the railway and visit Mount Etna in one day or is that too much for one day?

Secondly, for travel from Mesina/Reggio di Calbria towards Taranto, are there any loco hauled trains on the route via Locri and Catanzaro? Is this route worth doing? (I've already travelled via Rosarno)

An option would potentially to travel via Soveria Mannelli but the line used to continue to Marzi and Rogilano but I see the middle bit was closed; is it feasible to travel this way using alternative transport for the middle section?

Are there any loco hauled trains serving places like Lecce?

And finally, are there any particularly interesting walks in the area (particularly scenic walks and/or disused railway lines that have been converted into paths)?

Many thanks in advance

Dylans travel reports on You Tube has a very good one on the sleeper to Palermo and the boat ferry shunt iirc.

 

[30907]

Going back to Sicily, the line west from Siracusa via Ragusa to Caltanisetta featured in one of those scenic railway series on TV and looks interesting.
Unfortunately the line that connects across from Gela (?) to Catania is partly or wholly bustituted, and the service through to Caltanisetta is decidedly thin.

 

[D6130]

Unfortunately the line that connects across from Gela (?) to Catania is partly or wholly bustituted, and the service through to Caltanisetta is decidedly thin.

The section of line between Gela and Caltagirone is permanently 'bustituted' following the partial collapse of a viaduct near Niscemi a few years ago, leaving the track hanging in mid-air! The rest of the viaduct has now been demolished, making it extremely unlikely that the line will ever be reopened.

 

[30907]

The section of line between Gela and Caltagirone is permanently 'bustituted' following the partial collapse of a viaduct near Niscemi a few years ago, leaving the track hanging in mid-air! The rest of the viaduct has now been demolished, making it extremely unlikely that the line will ever be reopened.

Thanks, I wondered why

 

[MarcVD]

When I was there à few years ago, there was also the direct line between Palermo and Trapani that was totally without trafic. Only the line via Marsala was used. Is it still the date today ?

 

[30907]

When I was there à few years ago, there was also the direct line between Palermo and Trapani that was totally without trafic. Only the line via Marsala was used. Is it still the date today ?

ISTR reading that it was to be rebuilt and reopened, not sure when.

 

[D6130]

ISTR reading that it was to be rebuilt and reopened, not sure when.

The original line from Alcamo Diramizione (Junction) to Trapani - built in the late 19th century - was the very circuitous route currently in use via Castelvetrano and Marsala, which served several large centres of population, but it took all day to get from Palermo to Trapani in steam days. As part of Mussolini's great rail modernisation plans in the 1930s, a new (almost) direct line was built through remote agricultural land and serving nowhere of any importance other than the magnificent ancient Greek temple at Segesta, which was - and still is - a major tourist attraction. Unfortunately, the new line was constructed through a geologically very difficult area of Sicily, with a landscape of thick clay deposits and the cuttings and embankments tended to dry out and shrink during the long hot dry summers....and then rapidly expand and slip when the winter rains arrived. My wife and I were lucky to be able to travel over this line in 2005, when there were numerous long (semi-permanent) temporary speed restrictions for partially-collapsed embankments, making our single diesel railcar with three other passengers seem like a slow-motion rollercoaster. A couple of years later FS decided to throw in the towel and stop spending millions for the sake of a handful of passengers. In a land ruled by localism, nepotism, bribery and corruption, it is poltically unacceptable to close down public services....so the local and national politicians keep promising that the line will be rebuilt and reopened, but nobody can put a firm date on when it will happen or where the funding will come from. Meanwhile, the token daily 'parliamentary' bus service continues to run with few or no passengers. Anyone who wants to go from one place to another in a hurry in Sicily - or any part of the Southern half of Italy - will drive on the comprehensive autostrada network or use the cheap, frequent local bus and coach services. The remaining regional branch line services totter on as a quaint, slow, scenic anachronism, hugely subsidised by both the state and regional governments.

 

[yorkie]

Does anyone have a PDF of the timetable for trains on the branches to//from Soveria Mannelli / Rogliano?
Also is there a bus service between the two provided by the railway which connects?

And from Rogliano can you reach the east coast as well as the west? Looks like the line diverges north of Cosenza.

Even if current timetables, or timetables for this Spring/Summer are not available it would be good to see a previous years timetable for a rough idea.

Thanks

 

[Oscar]

The timetable from Catanzaro to Soveria Mannelli is here. Click on "Catanzaro Città – Soveria Mannelli A/R". The section from Soveria Mannelli to Rogliano / Marzi has been out of use since 2012, as it was damaged by landslides and never repaired. You can find the timetable for the bus service at the same link. You can then change back to a train at Rogliano / Marzi to travel to Cosenza, a station served by Trenitalia. The timetable is available at the same link under the Cosenza tab. The steam train runs on a separate short route east of Cosenza.

I'd like to continue exploring the south of Italy in the next year or two and I have some questions about the routes and traction. If anyone knows the answer to even just one of the questions that would be greatly appreciated!

Looking at this map https://www.acprail.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Italy-Map.jpg my questions are:

Firstly I may be visiting Catania and I'd like to know if there are any routes in that area we should experience? We're planning to take a look at Mount Etna and travel on the railway that circles the volcano. It sounds like it may be a good idea to do a guided tour of Mount Etna; would anyone recommend that? Is it feasible to do the railway and visit Mount Etna in one day or is that too much for one day?

Secondly, for travel from Mesina/Reggio di Calbria towards Taranto, are there any loco hauled trains on the route via Locri and Catanzaro? Is this route worth doing? (I've already travelled via Rosarno)

An option would potentially to travel via Soveria Mannelli but the line used to continue to Marzi and Rogilano but I see the middle bit was closed; is it feasible to travel this way using alternative transport for the middle section?

Are there any loco hauled trains serving places like Lecce?

And finally, are there any particularly interesting walks in the area (particularly scenic walks and/or disused railway lines that have been converted into paths)?

Many thanks in advance

No, you can't do the railway and Mount Etna in one day. There is one bus for Etna (Rifugio Sapienza) timetabled to leave from the square outside Catania railway station at 08:15. The bus comes back at 16:30. (Limited) information is available here. The price of a return ticket is 6.60 EUR.

When I took it (in 2019), tickets were only available from an agency on a sidestreet near the railway station for travel the same day. To avoid any disappointment, passengers were advised to buy tickets half and hour to an hour before departure. The bus left at 08:30 and stopped for about half an hour at Nicolosi, where passengers were encouraged to buy snacks from a local shop (there is also a museum about Etna in the town). It left slightly early coming back. The driving time is actually just over an hour. I think the driver only spoke Italian / Sicilian, but there was a tour guide on board whom I believe also spoke English and French and spent much of the outbound journey encouraging people to book tours or pay for other transport when they got to Rifugio Sapienza. On the return journey, the bus left a few minutes early.

Once you get to Rifugio Sapienza (at at an altitude of around 1900m), you can continue either on foot or by cable car to around 2400m and then by jeep to around 2900m (where you can walk around a large crater). Visitors are not allowed to hike to the summit at around 3300m (except with certain guides), though some ignore this. A return trip on the cable car costs around 35 EUR and the jeep another 35 EUR or so. The hike is demanding because the mountain is steep, the air is thin and you are walking on black pumice. The views are very impressive. But to me at least, the transport on from Rifugio Sapienza and the tours are massively overpriced.

Regarding the railway around Etna:
Be aware that certains along most of the route are very infrequent and the timetable seems to change regularly. Between Adriano and Bronte, the train runs across the pumice which is very impressive.

In southern Italy, line speeds are slow, a lot of lines are single track and significant delays are frequent. So you can't cover a huge amount of ground in a short period of time. Timetable and fare information is also often only available on local company websites.

Yes, there are a lot of loco-hauled trains heading north from Lecce along the Adriatic (I've never been there though).

Reggio - Locri - Catanzaro - Taranto: yes, there are loco-hauled trains, and services are very slow, but I can't tell you more as I've never done it.

On walks: there are very few public footpaths in the countryside in Italy outside of areas of particular scenic interest. Generally the countryside is in private hands and is fenced off. Sometimes walks advertised by tourist offices can even be along country roads.

 

[Iskra]

Does anyone have a PDF of the timetable for trains on the branches to//from Soveria Mannelli / Rogliano?
Also is there a bus service between the two provided by the railway which connects?

And from Rogliano can you reach the east coast as well as the west? Looks like the line diverges north of Cosenza.

Even if current timetables, or timetables for this Spring/Summer are not available it would be good to see a previous years timetable for a rough idea.

Thanks

I took pictures of them this October at the FC booking office at Cosenza in October:



That's the biggest the forum will let me post, but I do have a bigger version which I can email you so you can see it better.

 

[etr221]

Does anyone have a PDF of the timetable for trains on the branches to//from Soveria Mannelli / Rogliano?
Also is there a bus service between the two provided by the railway which connects?

And from Rogliano can you reach the east coast as well as the west? Looks like the line diverges north of Cosenza.

Even if current timetables, or timetables for this Spring/Summer are not available it would be good to see a previous years timetable for a rough idea.

Thanks

The FdC website (link in previous post) has tt downloadable in Excel spreadsheet form - but apparently only the current one

The FdC runs downhill to a relatively modern joint station (with FS/Trenitalia) - they run a shuttle/metro sevice between station and city centre.

FS lines (north out of Cosenza) run to both east coast (at Sibari) and west coast (Paola) - the latter through a long tunnel under, rather than the original rack ine over, the mountains.

 

[alistairlees]

The circumetnea is very worthwhile doing. Make sure you get on where a service starts and bag an Etna-side seat. I did Randazzo to Catania, then had a wander round the city, before doing Catania to Giarre on Trenitalia, then walking to Riposto to get the Circumetnea back to Randazzo (I had parked the car there). Trying to do both that and Etna in one day might be a bit much.

To go up Etna you're best of going to Sapienza (we drove there, but there are buses; the south side), then getting the cable car up and then going in one of the all terrain vehicle tours. That took us close to the crateri barbagallo, from where we walked a few hundred feet further up to a small steaming crater, and round that - plenty of sulphurous smells, and also snow which hadn't melted (as it was insulated by the solidified lava, I think?). This is not the top by any means, but it's often not safe enough to go up there. This is still about 8,900 feet up (Etna is 11,000 feet), so you get fantastic views down to Catania and across the bay.

The north entrance to Etna (Etna Nord) isn't anywhere near as good - don't go there.

 

[Lxd2]

There are some good walks in Sicily. mapy.cz seems to be a good website / App to show them. There are certainly a lot of paths marked on the map around Mount Etna. I have done a couple of good walks on the island. Both had really lovely scenery but it seems like the locals rarely do long walks and the waymarking is virtually non-existent so you just have to trust that the map is correct. The first walk I did was the Cava d'Ispica. This is a limestone gorge from near Modica to Ispica, both of which are stations on the Siracusa to Gela line. Once in the gorge it was pretty easy to follow but I recall one place half way down where there was a No Entry sign but we had gone too far to turn around so we just continued and there was no obvious reason for the sign. The other walk I did was north from Randazzo (where you change trains between the two sections of the Circumetnea railway) along a valley and then up to the village of Floresta. That was also a very nice walk and pretty easy to follow despite almost no waymarking.

Most of the railways in Sicily are scenic and I would recommend them all, but the timetables are sparse and rarely connect. The line from Siracusa to Ragusa is particularly spectacular, especially the climb up the gorge from Scicli through Modica to Ragusa. There are some E464 hauled trains on the main lines from Messina to Palermo and Siracusa, but I think everything else is units and the new ETR104 'pop' units are making inroads into the Messina to Palermo hauled services too.

The Circumetnea railway is well worth doing, especially if you can travel on the older railcars with opening windows. These seemed to be mainly used on the Giarre to Randazzo section and as mentioned above on some peak trains into Catania Borgo.

I would definitely recommend a trip on the Ferrovia della Calabria, although it takes at least half a day to travel only 113 km. I travelled through in October 2020. The main warning I would give is that the timetable on the website for the replacement bus over the closed section was wrong, which meant I had to wait around in Soveria Manelli for a couple of hours, and there isn't much to do there! Also of note that they wouldn't sell me a ticket for the whole through journey even though it is shown in the fare table. I had to buy two tickets, but they were very cheap. Catanzaro Lido to Soveria Manelli then Soveria Manelli to Cosenza were about €4 each.

The railway operates as four different sections:

Catanzaro Lido to Catanzaro Citta - including a rack section - mostly uses the new Stadler M4c.500 units but there are still some pairs of older M4c.350 1980s units with opening windows. The 0753 from Catanzaro Lido used the older units when I was there. The journey starts across the coastal plain then onto the rack for the spectacular last section up to the hill top town.

If you have a bit of time to wait in Catanzaro Citta there is a nice cafe beside the station, or the town centre is about 10 minutes walk.

Catanzaro Citta to Soveria Manelli - uses a mix of the M4c.350 and M4.400 1980s units and the older M2.200 units of 1960s design. All have opening windows. Lovely and quite varied scenery all the way with spectacular deep valleys with numerous viaducts and tunnels at the start, then a long stretch winding along a gentler valley with farms and small villages.

Soveria Manelli to Rogliano - the railway is closed and a sparse service of replacement buses runs instead. They didn't run according to the timetable on the website but a different timetable only displayed locally! Last October, buses left Soveria Manelli at 0620, 0930, 1322 and 1600. Buses left Rogliano at 0710, 0850, 1405 and 1835. Journey time was about 1h40. The bus journey is very scenic and there were very few passengers using it. Various glimpses of the closed railway showed it to be totally rusty but intact and not overgrown. I thought they must still strim or weedkill to keep the weeds from growing over it.

Note that the bus terminates at Rogliano main station but the railway is actually open one station further to Rogliano Serra on the other side of the town. If you want to do this little bit of track, as I did, the bus does pass Serra on the way into town so you could get off there, but I stayed on the bus to the main station then walked back to Serra, which took about 15 minutes. It is just a modern concrete single platform though, not as photogenic as the main station.

Rogliano Serra to Cosenza - mix of new Stadler M4c.500 units and M4.400

The other surviving part of the FdC is the steam Treno della Sila which operates on a small part of the old line to San Giovanni in Fiore. The rest of the line is closed with ordinary service buses running instead. It is fairly straightforward to get the bus up from Cosenza to Camigliatello, which is an incredible journey in itself as it climbs up from 200m to 1400m above sea level.

 

[davetheguard]

Hearing about the several now-closed lines in Sicily, I feel very lucky to have travelled over the entire Sicilian rail network (apart from the freight only line in Agrigento to the port) on an Along Different Lines (ADL) holiday many moons ago.

Even then, the timetables on some lines were so thin that ADL had to charter a special rather than use normal service trains.

The trip certainly attracted some local interest, with a civic reception meeting our train in Trapani; the tour leader was interviewed by the local TV station; and we were invited to have lunch in the FS staff canteen in, I think, Catania!

 

[MarcVD]

I was in Sicily in 2015 and saw that the remnants of the narrow gauge line between Castelvetrano and Porto Empedocle are still very much visible... It's a real PITA that this line has closed, because it's now impossible to go around the island by train.

 

[D6130]

I was in Sicily in 2015 and saw that the remnants of the narrow gauge line between Castelvetrano and Porto Empedocle are still very much visible... It's a real PITA that this line has closed, because it's now impossible to go around the island by train.

There are tentative proposals to reopen the narrow gauge line from Castlevetrano as far as Selinunte for tourist traffic to the magnificent complex of ancient Greek temples there....but, like all such schemes in Italy - and particularly in the South - it may take years or decades, or it may never happen at all!

 

[Oscar]

On schemes in southern Italy: a station was finally opened at Catania airport in December 2020 (after presumably decades of the railway running past the airport but not serving it), but it could not be used for three months as the access road was not yet ready.

 

[EvaUnit]

A trip to Southern Italy via rail is perfect for a second or third adventure in Italy as it touches on places far from the sights of Venice and Florence. By adding four days to the visit to Sicily, you can add a day trip to Trapani and Cefalu from Palermo or travel to ancient Syracuse with a day trip to Sicily’s second city Catania (for a close-up view of Mt. Etna). Two days in idyllic Taormina would be well spent as well. You can find more information here https://www.montaregio.de/de/. At the end of your trip, experience Molise with an overnight stay in Campobasso with a day trip to Isernia. Or you can treat yourself to another day or two in Rome before leaving. After all, there is always more to see in Rome.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

The original line from Alcamo Diramizione (Junction) to Trapani - built in the late 19th century - was the very circuitous route currently in use via Castelvetrano and Marsala, which served several large centres of population, but it took all day to get from Palermo to Trapani in steam days. As part of Mussolini's great rail modernisation plans in the 1930s, a new (almost) direct line was built through remote agricultural land and serving nowhere of any importance other than the magnificent ancient Greek temple at Segesta, which was - and still is - a major tourist attraction. Unfortunately, the new line was constructed through a geologically very difficult area of Sicily, with a landscape of thick clay deposits and the cuttings and embankments tended to dry out and shrink during the long hot dry summers....and then rapidly expand and slip when the winter rains arrived. My wife and I were lucky to be able to travel over this line in 2005, when there were numerous long (semi-permanent) temporary speed restrictions for partially-collapsed embankments, making our single diesel railcar with three other passengers seem like a slow-motion rollercoaster. A couple of years later FS decided to throw in the towel and stop spending millions for the sake of a handful of passengers. In a land ruled by localism, nepotism, bribery and corruption, it is poltically unacceptable to close down public services....so the local and national politicians keep promising that the line will be rebuilt and reopened, but nobody can put a firm date on when it will happen or where the funding will come from. Meanwhile, the token daily 'parliamentary' bus service continues to run with few or no passengers. Anyone who wants to go from one place to another in a hurry in Sicily - or any part of the Southern half of Italy - will drive on the comprehensive autostrada network or use the cheap, frequent local bus and coach services. The remaining regional branch line services totter on as a quaint, slow, scenic anachronism, hugely subsidised by both the state and regional governments.

I had just finished reading these posts today, and then found a positive news story on the Trapani line, inviting tenders for the repair work.
RFI calls tenders to rebuild Sicilian route | News | Railway Gazette International

RFI intends to let a contract covering the necessary reconstruction of the damaged section as well as the modernisation of stations at Segesta Tempio and Calatafimi, where platforms are to be rebuilt to the national standard of 550 mm.
The work is expected to cost €102∙3m and will be funded from the National Recovery & Resilience Plan.
Completion is envisaged within 1 069 days of the start of activity on site.

 

[D6130]

I had just finished reading these posts today, and then found a positive news story on the Trapani line, inviting tenders for the repair work.
RFI calls tenders to rebuild Sicilian route | News | Railway Gazette International

Excellent news! Let's hope it happens....and that the chosen contractors don't go bust half-way through the works, as often happens in Southern Italy and Sicily.