Rail transport in Vatican City
| Vatican Railway Ferrovia Vaticana |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
Vatican City railway station
|
|||
| Overview | |||
| System | Holy See railway | ||
| Status | Operational | ||
| Locale | Vatican City and Italy | ||
| Termini |
Roma San Pietro 41°53′47″N 12°27′16″E / 41.896302°N 12.454533°E Vatican City 41°54′04″N 12°27′04″E / 41.901014°N 12.451181°E |
||
| Stations | 1 | ||
| Operation | |||
| Opened | 1934 | ||
| Owner | Holy See | ||
| Operator(s) | Ferrovie dello Stato | ||
| Technical | |||
| Line length | 1.27 kilometres (0.79 mi) | ||
| Number of tracks | One | ||
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge | ||
| Electrification | no | ||
|
|||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rail transport in Vatican City consists of two 300-metre sets of rail tracks and two freight sidings within Vatican City (named Vatican Railway, Ferrovia Vaticana), the shortest national railway system in the world, with only one station. Access to Italian rail lines was guaranteed by the Lateran Treaty (1929), and tracks and station were constructed during the reign of Pope Pius XI. The only station is referred to as Vatican City (officially: Città del Vaticano [tʃitˈta del vatiˈkaːno], also named Stazione Vaticana [statˈtsjoːne vatiˈkaːna]).
Most railway traffic consists of freight good importation, although the railway has occasionally carried passengers, usually for symbolic or ceremonial reasons.
Pope Gregory XVI (died 1846) prevented the construction of railways in the Papal States, and was reputed to have said "chemin de fer, chemin d'enfer" ("road of iron, road of hell"). Gregory XVI's successor, Pope Pius IX, began the construction of a rail line from Bologna to Ancona but the territory was seized by the armies of the Risorgimento in 1861 before it was completed. The utility of rail travel for the mass pilgrimages of the 19th century, beginning with those at Lourdes circa 1858, was one factor that softened opposition to such technology within the Roman Curia.
The construction of a railway station in Vatican City and its linkage to the Italian rail lines was guaranteed by the Lateran Treaty of February 11, 1929. The Directorate of New Railway Construction of the Ministry of Public Works of the Kingdom of Italy implemented this provision with construction beginning on April 3, 1929, to establish earthworks 38 m above sea level (the height of the "Roma - San Pietro" station) between Piazza Santa Marta and the Palazzo del Governatorato. The construction of the viaduct leading to Vatican City was paid for by the Italian government; the station within the Vatican was financed from the ₤750 million indemnity agreed to in the Lateran Treaty's financial part. The total cost of construction was reported to be ₤24 million.
...
Wikipedia