Viareggio–Florence railway

Viareggio–Florence railway
Heavy rail
Operator(s)	Trenitalia
History
Opened	21 December 1890 (1890-12-21)
Technical
Line length	100 km (62 mi)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	3 kV DC overhead line
Route map Legend km elev from Genoa 23.010 Viareggio opened in 1936 4 m Viareggio (old station) 4 m to Pisa 14.231 Massarosa-Bozzano 4 m 8.145 Nozzano 16 m 6.410 Montuolo junction from Pisa Montuolo 15 m 0.000 43.750 Lucca 15 m to Pontedera / to Aulla 38.565 Tassignano-Capannori 16 m 34.631 Porcari 16 m 29.799 Altopascio 15 m 25.125 Montecarlo-San Salvatore 30 m 20.643 Pescia 48 m 16.990 Borgo a Buggiano 40 m 13.697 Montecatini Centro 26 m 12.870 Monsummano 26 m 5.498 Serravalle Pistoiese 76 m from Bologna 0,000 33.573 Pistoia 63 m 25.686 Montale-Agliana 49 m 19.670 Prato Borgonuovo 17.627 Prato Porta al Serraglio 67 m from Bologna 16.386 Prato Centrale 65 m see Bologna–Florence railway 0.000 Firenze Santa Maria Novella 48 m Source: Italian railway atlas[1] This diagram: view talk edit

The Viareggio–Florence railway (

On 3 February 1848 the line was opened to traffic between Florence and Prato, together with the Maria Antonia station, which eventually developed into Firenze Santa Maria Novella station. In 1851 it reached Pistoia. On 3 February 1859 a section of the line being built from Lucca connected with the line from Pistoia at the Serravalle tunnel. This connected with the Pisa–Lucca railway, which had been opened by another company on 20 September 1846, opening up a new route from Florence to Pisa via Pistoia and Lucca. The Maria Antonia and Leopolda lines were separate in Florence until 1860, despite their stations being only one kilometre (0.62 mi) apart. They were in fact first connected via Lucca and Pisa.^[2]

The engineering works were very simple and devoid of significant structures as it was the least important of the lines in the grand duchy. It gained much importance in 1864 when, with the opening of the

In 1890 the section from Lucca to Viareggio was opened.

In 1934 the opening of the Bologna–Florence Direttissima, leaving the Maria Antonia line at Prato, relegated the line from Prato to Pistoia and its continuation to Lucca to a secondary role; similarly the Porrettana line’s role was also much reduced.

Current situation

The line between Florence and Prato has been quadrupled in recent years. In December 2009 the new Bologna–Florence high-speed line opened from a new junction with the Maria Antonia railway near Firenze Castello railway station, reducing traffic between Castello and Prato.

On 17 November 2008 the government approved a plan was to double the section between Lucca and Pistoia, estimated to cost €257 million. This will initially double the section between Pistoia and Montecatini Terme. Then the route through the Serravalle pass will be rebuilt with a new two-track tunnel with consequent abandonment of the current single-track tunnel. Finally then the section between Montecatini and Lucca would be doubled. Also planned is an underground station in Montecatini to allow the line to pass under the entire village. It is expected that work will be completed between 2012 and 2014 and that the line will then handle over 28 trains per day each way, including two fast trains per hour.

See also

• List of railway lines in Italy

References