Railways in
Italy
A train on the Rittnerbahn in Südtirol / Alto Adige.
Car no.24 is a type BDe4/8, originally built in 1977 for the
Trogenerbahn in Switzerland.
The first public railway in the states that would later unite to
form Italy was between Naples and Portici, a distance of a little over
7km, in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. It was built to standard gauge
(1435mm) and opened on 3rd October, 1839.
Italy was unified in the 1860s, by which time the various former
states had a total of around 2000km of standard gauge railways.
Considerable new railway building took place in the late 19th century,
although apart from trunk lines connecting the earlier separate
systems, development was fragmented an ill coordinated.
Following nationalisation in 1905/1906, a programme of modernisation
began. This continued after the first World War and included the
important Rome - Naples and Bologna - Florence Direttissime,
the predecessors of modern high speed railways.
In the 1990s the first of the true high speed railways opened
between Rome and Florence; others have subsequently opened or are
under construction.
There is a long standing proposal for a combined road and rail
bridge across the Strait of Messina, linking the island of Sicily
with the Italian mainland, and replacing the existing ferry. Final
design for the bridge was approved in 2025 and construction is
expected to begin in the near future, with a projected completion
date of 2032.
Apart from the national network, there are a number of private
or regional railways, either standard or narrow gauge. A few major
cities have Metros, and several have modern tramway systems.
National Network
- Trenitalia
national passenger operator
- FS Logistix
national logistics company including:
- Mercitalia Rail freight operator
- Mercitalia Shunting and Terminal terminal operator
- TX Logistik international freight operator
- Bluferries train ferries on the Strait of Messina
- Italo
independent high speed passenger operator
- Bahnoperator
independent freight operator
- BLS Cargo
independent freight operator
- Captrain Italia
independent freight operator
- CFI independent freight operator
- DB Cargo
Italia independent freight operator
- EVM Rail
independent freight operator
- FuoriMuro
internal operator at the port of Genova and independent freight
operator on the national network
- GTS Rail
independent freight operator
- InRail
independent freight operator
- Rail Cargo Carrier independent freight operator
- Rail
Traction Company independent freight operator
- RAlpin operator
of rail shuttle service for heavy goods vehicles transiting Switzerland
between northern Italy and Germany
- SBB Cargo International independent freight operator
Regional Operators
- Arenaways
regional operator in the Piemonte region
- EAV a
network of standard and narrow gauge lines in the Naples area
(Site in Italian)
- Ferrovie della Calabria a group of 950 mm gauge
lines totalling some 220km in the “toe” of Italy, including
a steam hauled tourist service between Camigliatello Silano and San
Giovanni in Fiore; also a funicular in Catanzaro (Site in
Italian)
- Ferrovie Emilia
Romagna regional operator in the Bologna area, with some through
services to the national network (Site in Italian)
- Ferrovie
del Gargano regional passenger operator in the Foggia area, partly
on RFI lines
- Ferrovienord infrastructure owner with an extensive
network to the north of Milan (Site in Italian)
- FSE
regional passenger operator with a 474km network in the Puglia
region southeast of Bari (Site in Italian)
- Malpensa
Express linking central Milan with Malpensa International
Airport
- Sangritana
regional passenger and freight operator on RFI and private lines
around Pescara
- STA regional
network in Alto Adige (South Tyrol) including some through services
to Innsbruck, Austria (Site in German and Italian)
- TILO passenger
operator in northern Italy and southern Switzerland on the lines of
RFI and SBB
- TUA
local and regional passenger services in the Pescara area
(Site in Italian)
- Trenord
passenger operator on the lines of Ferrovienord and RFI in the Milan
area
Strait of Messina
Rail link between the island of Sicily and the Italian mainland.
Tourist and Local Railways
- ATMosfera
fine dining aboard a historic tram while touring the tram network of
Milano
- Centovalli Line metre gauge electric line between
Domodossola and Locarno (Switzerland)
- La Dolce Vita Orient Express luxury cruise train
operating on the national network
- FAL
Bari to Matela, Avigliano and Potenza, 180km, 950mm gauge, including a
10km mixed gauge section shared with RFI between Avigliano and
Potenza. Diesel railcars
- FGC
Genoa to Casella, 24km, metre gauge, electric railcars (Site in
Italian)
- Gardena Ronda Express underground funicular between
Ruacia and Col Raiser in the Val Gardena winter sports area of the Dolomites
- Mendelbahn / Funicolare della Mendola
funicular ascending from Sankt Anton in Kaltern / Sant’Antonio to the
Mendel / Mendola pass
- Montevergine funicular linking the town of
Mercogliano with the Monastery and Sanctuary of Montevergine
(Site in Italian)
- Treno Natura Siena to Monte Antico and Ascona,
139km of which 87km also carries scheduled Trenitalia passenger services.
Standard gauge, steam hauled. Operates on a few days in Spring, Autumn
and the pre-Christmas period (no website located at present,
not clear whether still operating)
- Rittnerbahn / Ferrovia del Renon rural electric
tramway between Klobenstein / Collalbo and Maria Himmelfahrt /
Maria Assunta (near Oberbozen / Soprabolzano), about 7km on the
Ritten / Renon plateau. Formerly the line continued to Bozen / Bolzano
but the section between Maria Himmelfahrt and Bozen was replaced by
a cablecar in the 1960s
- Sistemi Territoriali Venice (Mestre) to Adria, 57km,
standard gauge, diesel railcars (Site in Italian)
- Sky Express underground funicular linking the town of
Campodolcino with the skiing area of Madesimo
- Tram de Opcina historic electric tramway running for
some 5km from the centre of Trieste to Villa Opcina. The line includes
a steep, possibly unique, funicular section where trams are assisted
by rope hauled auxiliary wagons
- TFT Arezzo to Pratovecchio and Sinalunga, a total
of 84km, standard gauge, electric railcars (Site in Italian)
- L’Associazione FTI Steam trains from Milan
or Bergamo to various destinations in the Lago d’Iseo area. Operates
most Sundays from March to November (Site in Italian)
- Trentino Trasporti operator of the Ferrovia Trentino
Malé, a metre gauge electric railway from Trento to the mountain resort
of Marilleva 900 via Malé, climbing almost 700m in a distance of 65km
- Ferrovie Udine Cividale Udine to Cividale, 15km,
standard gauge, diesel railcars
- Umbria Mobilità Purugia to Termi, Umbertide and
Sansepolcro, a total of 150km, standard gauge, electric railcars
(Site in Italian)
Industrial Railways
- Adriafer
private network serving the port of Trieste and connecting with RFI
- ERF di Porto
Marghera private network some 30km in extent serving the industrial
area and port of Marghera, Venice and connecting with RFI (Site
in Italian)
- Lasa Marble Railway narrow gauge railway constructed for
the transport of marble from the Acqua Bianca / Weißwasser quarry
to the town of Lasa / Laas in the Val Venosta / Vischgau. The line
drops some 500m in a little over 3.6km in three stages, the middle
stage of which is a funicular where the wagons are loaded onto
rope hauled vehicles for the descent. Metre gauge, diesel hauled by
converted historic electric locomotives (No website located
at present)
- Gruppo SAPIR private network some 14km in extent
serving the port of Ravenna and connecting with RFI
Urban railways, metros, trams and funiculars
- Roma (Rome)
Metro, trams and local railways
- Bari
Metro and local railways
- Bergamo
trams and funiculars
- Biella funicular
- Bolzano / Bozen
funiculars (Note that the system map on the website erroneously shows
the funiculars as suspended cablecars)
- Bologna
- Brescia
- Catanzaro proposed Metro
- Certaldo (near Florence) funicular linking the car parks
with the Old Town (Site in Italian)
- Como
funicular (Intro page in Italian, but most other pages have
English links)
- Cosenza proposed trams
- Firenze
(Florence) trams (Site in Italian)
- Genova (Genoa)
Metro and funiculars (Site in Italian)
- Gragnano proposed light rail (No website located at
present)
- Livorno (Leghorn) Montenero funicular
(Site in Italian)
- Milano (Milan)
Metro, trams and local railways
- Mondovi funicular (No website located at present)
- Montecatini Terme funicular to Montecatini Alto
- Napoli (Naples)
Metro, trams and funiculars
- Orvieto funicular (Webpage in Italian)
- Padova (Padua) trams
- Perugia
Mini-metro (Site in Italian)
- Pisa
- Reggio Emilia proposed trams (Site in Italian)
- Saint-Vincent funicular (No website
located at present)
- Torino (Turin)
Metro, trams (including the circular line 7 operated by heritage trams,
and the Sassi - Superga rack tram) and local railways to Caselle
Airport, Ceres, Chieri and Pont Canavese
- Varese funiculars (Site in Italian)
See also:
© 2004-2026 Glyn Williams
Photo image supplied by Rittnerbahn / Ferrovia del Renon