Genoa–Ventimiglia railway
The line near Cervo
Overview
Native nameFerrovia Genova-Ventimiglia
OwnerRete Ferroviaria Italiana
LocaleLiguria, Italy
Termini
Service
Operator(s)Trenitalia
History
Opened25 January 1872 (1872-01-25)
Technical
Line length147 km (91 mi)
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8+12 in) standard gauge
Route map

Genova Brignole
Genova Piazza Principe / Genova Principe low level
junction to Fegino Turin–Genoa railway
0+980
Genova Via di Francia
0.20
Genova Sampierdarena Biglietteria Capolinea autolinee Parcheggio di scambio Sottopassaggio Bar Edicola WC
To Torbella junction, Milan, Turin and Acqui Terme
To Genova Sampierdarena goods yard
2.10
Genova Cornigliano Sottopassaggio
3.70
Genova Sestri Ponente Biglietteria Sottopassaggio Bar
6.30
Genova Pegli Biglietteria Parcheggio di scambio
Castelluccio junction
8+560
Genova Pra'
9.70
Genova Voltri mare
11.00
Genova Voltri
Crevari tunnel (2.445 m)
15.00
Genova Vesima
Torre Rossa tunnel (1.610 m)
18.20
Arenzano
Cogoleto
28.60
Varazze / Old Varezze
31.10
Celle Ligure/ Old Celle Ligure
33.90
Albisola / Albisola Capo
39.10
Savona / Savona Letimbro
From Savona port
40.50
Savona Parco Doria
43.30
Quiliano - Vado / Vado industrial area
Bergeggi
49.80
Spotorno - Noli / Spotorno
Noli
Varigotti
Finalpia
58.40
Finale Ligure Marina
End of double line
65.80
Borgio Verezzi
68.70
Pietra Ligure
72.00
Loano
Start of double line
73.70
Borghetto Santo Spirito
75.00
Ceriale
80.90
Albenga
End of double line
87.10
Alassio
90.30
Laigueglia
Start of double line
Andora / Old Andora
Collecervo tunnel (3.463 m)
Cervo-San Bartolomeo
river Cervo
Caighei tunnel (2.692 m)
Diano
river San Pietro
Castello tunnel (680 m)
Diano Marina
river Varcavello
Gorleri tunnel (3.265 m)
Capo Berta tunnel(2.435 m)
Imperia Oneglia
junction to Oneglia Port and Agnesi factory
river Impera
Imperia
Bardellini tunnel (3.051 m)
junction to Porto Maurizio
Imperia Porto Maurizio
river Caramagna
Caramagnetta tunnel (318 m)
river Prino
Poggi Terrabianca tunnel (3.021 m)
Santo Stefano tunnel (7.853 m)
San Lorenzo-Cipressa
old San Lorenzo tunnel
Santo Stefano-Riva Ligure
river Argentina
Taggia-Arma
start of Capo Verde tunnel (5.367 m)
Old Taggia-Arma
old Capo Verde tunnel
Sanremo
Old San Remo
start of Capo Nero tunnel (7.221 m)
Old Capo Nero tunnel
Ospedaletti Ligure
end of Capo Nero tunnel
142.60
Bordighera
145.20
Vallecrosia
147.30
Ventimiglia
Italian/French border
Line to Marseille
Map

The Genova-Ventimiglia railway runs along the coast of the Liguria region of Italy. It was opened as a single track line between Genova and Savona in 1868, and between Savona and Ventimiglia in 1872, mostly running along a coastal corniche.

The line is being doubled mainly by building an entirely new double track line parallel to the existing railway, because the line often runs through towns where there is no space for a second track. The new line also increases the maximum speed from 100 to 180 km/h. The line is mainly in tunnels: 61 km of the 74 km of line between Ospedaletti and Finale Ligure is underground, and the rest of the line has similar proportions. The longest tunnel is Caponero-Capoverde (13.135 km). This tunnel includes the new Sanremo station.

The new line has fewer stations than the old, leaving some towns without a railway service. Due to it being mainly in tunnels, the new line does not feature views of the Ligurian coast, making it less attractive for sightseeing.

As of 2007, 18 km of new double track line are under construction (San Lorenzo-Andora) and 32 km are in the planning stage (Andora-Finale Ligure).

History

The idea of a railway along the Ligurian coast began in March 1857 with what was called the Railway of the Ligurian Riviera (Italian: Ferrovia delle Riviere Liguri) with the inauguration of a project for a railway from the Var river in Nice—then the border of the Kingdom of Sardinia and France—to the Magra river—which then marked the border Sardinia of and Duchy of Modena. This was part of the ambitious project for the building of a railway system, considered by Cavour as an important part of the process of Italian unification.

A railway was already in operation for a short distance west from Genoa, between the stations of Sampierdarena and Voltri, opened on 8 April 1856, which branched off the Turin–Genoa line. The rapid progress in the creating the Kingdom of Italy gave further impetus to the project leading to the proclamation of a law on 27 October 1860 establishing the Ligurian Railway (Italian: Ferrovia ligure) to run along the coast from Ventimiglia to Massa where it would join an existing railway line. Despite the need to build many tunnels and viaducts this work was carried out quickly and the 29 kilometre extension from Genoa to Savona Letimbro was inaugurated on 25 May 1868. In 1865 the line had been absorbed by the newly established Società per le strade ferrate dell'Alta Italia (Upper Italian Railways). On 25 January 1872, the line was completed to Ventimiglia. The seven km connection from Ventimiglia to the relocated French border was opened two months later.

In the building of the line, its designers did not pay much attention to the needs of the territory through which it was built but instead mainly took into account military considerations and the political purposes of the new Kingdom of Italy. As most transport in the area, both passenger and freight was mainly carried by sea, the selected route ran virtually at sea level, closely following the coast and, where possible the Via Aurelia, linking more than 40 villages that had previously been difficult to reach by land. In 1885, the line was integrated into the new Società per le Strade Ferrate del Mediterraneo (Mediterranean System), which was taken over by the Ferrovie dello Stato in 1905.

Doubling

Due to the difficulty of building the line and in order to minimise costs, the line was built almost entirely as a single track. This soon proved inadequate for its traffic. In the early twentieth century work began on designing improvements to the line, but duplication work proceeded very slowly, so much so that some sections between Imperia and Finale Ligure are still single track. Almost all doubling has involved the construction of new largely underground line, with the abandonment of the old line.[1][2]

Sections doubled by 1969 were:

The first part of the doubling, between the station of Genova Voltri and Varazze, was opened in 1970. The new line was moved inland compared to the old route, removed to railway from the coastal towns of Arenzano, Cogoleto and Varazze. A new station was built in Arenzano.[1][2]

The old railway line was partly re-used and partly abandoned. In particular in the area of Vesima, after years of abandonment, the route of the old line was used for the widening of the roadway of the Via Aurelia within the three towns. The suburban sections were originally abandoned but have been recovered in recent years to be used as pedestrian paths.[1][2]

In 1977, the new section between Finale Ligure and Varazze was completed very late compared with the original program; it included the new station of Savona Mongrifone. The abandoned line was absorbed by the urban fabric, with much of it converted into a promenade.

In Savona the old station was left abandoned for a long while. The new station, built between 1961 and 1962 to the design of the engineer Pier Luigi Nervi, was opened by President Antonio Segni.

After 25 years of planning, public discussion and construction the new double line between Imperia and Bordighera, opened in 2001, including new stations in Arma di Taggia and Sanremo, while San Lorenzo, Santo Stefano and Ospedaletti lost their stations.

On 2 April 2005 a deviation of the line between Voltri and Pegli was opened, including the building of a new station of Genova Prà in replacement of the original one built in 1856, transferred to City Municipality for non railway purposes. The new station of Pra' due to its huge parking place is nowadays one of the busiest and most utilized stations in Genova. the old railway area in the territory of Prà has been utilized to build a new road and promenade, reconnecting the city with its littoral and sea, within a European Union co-financed project named "P.O.R. - Pra' Marina".

A new section of double track has been built between San Lorenzo al Mare and Andora, diverting the line inland via a series of new tunnels and viaducts. It replaced the old coastal route and includes new stations at Andora, Diano and Imperia that replaced older stations, including two former stations in Imperia. This new section was scheduled for completion at the end of 2009, but was delayed.[3] Work on the section of line through Imperia ground to a halt in 2011,[4] and after the resolution of legal disputes between the main contractors, construction recommenced in February 2014.[5] The new section was opened at the 2016 winter timetable change.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Ferrara A., Valdambrini F., Pedemonte S., Progettazione e realizzazione degli impianti di sicurezza della Fermata Sotterranea di Sanremo e delle gallerie correnti, Quarry & Construction, no 2, February 1998
  2. 1 2 3 Pedemonte Sergio, Valdambrini Franco, Spostamento a monte tra S. Lorenzo e Ospedaletti, Quarry & Construction, no 2, February 1998
  3. "Raddoppio ferroviario Genova - Ventimiglia Stato di avanzamento del progetto". Trail Liguria (in Italian). Archived from the original on 7 November 2014. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
  4. Famà, Natalino (23 October 2011). "Raddoppio ferroviario: cantieri paralizzati". Il Secolo XIX (in Italian). Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  5. de Fazio, Mario (14 February 2014). "Liguria, intesa sul raddoppio della ferrovia". The MediTelegraph. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
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