The Rome–Civitavecchia railway line is one of the oldest railways in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, constructed in what was then the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...

, opening in 1859 and is 72.6 km long. The line now forms part of the Pisa–Rome line.

History

Construction

The railway was built by the ''Società Pio Central'' (

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

for ''Central Pius Company''), named in honour of Pope Pius IX, who had overturned the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...

's previous opposition to innovations such as railways in the

. It was headed by the haulage contractor Mr. Hubert Debrousse, a French engineer, and 950 workers were engaged on 27 railway work sites. Work commenced in October 1856 and in thirty months the railway and two stations were built between the ''Porta Portese'' station in

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 ...

, near the current Roma Trastevere station and a temporary station at

Civitavecchia Civitavecchia (; meaning "ancient town") is a city and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Rome in the central Italian region of Lazio. A sea port on the Tyrrhenian Sea, it is located west-north-west of Rome. The harbour is formed by two pier ...

Opening

The line was opened for service on 24 April 1859, with two trips a day from Rome and two trips a day from Civitavecchia, with a journey time of 2½ hours. In 1860 the railway was absorbed into the Società per le Strade Ferrate Romane.

Rolling stock

The railway equipment consisted of eleven French steam locomotives (built by Cail & C. of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

), one English steam locomotive, 21 first class passenger carriages and 25 second class passenger carriages. The rails were built by Losh, Wilson and Bell of

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Extensions

On 2 July 1860 the permanent Civitavecchia station opened for service and construction began on the section of the line from Civitavecchia to the Papal States' northern border with

Tuscany it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Citizenship , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = Italian , demogra ...

, which was inaugurated and opened for service on 22 June 1867. On 22 October 1863, the line was extended south over the

Tiber The Tiber ( ; it, Tevere ; la, Tiberis) is the third-longest List of rivers of Italy, river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where ...

on a

lift bridge A vertical-lift bridge or just lift bridge is a type of movable bridge in which a span rises vertically while remaining parallel with the deck. The vertical lift offers several benefits over other movable bridges such as the bascule and sw ...

—built out of cast iron and prefabricated in England—in order to connect with the new Roma Termini station.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rome-Civitavecchia railway Railway lines in Lazio Railway lines opened in 1859 1859 establishments in Italy