Stefano  Maggi    (University  of  Siena)  

The  building  of  secondary  railways  in  mountainous  regions:  the  Italian  case    

Railway  map,  1900  

Railway  and  progress  •  The  arrival  of  the  railway  

meant,  especially  in  remote  areas,  9e  with  the  progress  of  the  nineteenth  century.    

•  Throughout  the  nineteenth  century  and  in  the  early  twen9eth  century,  it  was  thought  that  the  locomo9ve  –  as  the  main  symbol  of  progress  –  should  get  to  connect  every  city  and  every  country.  

Old  transport  

•  Without  the  railway  people  and  goods  were  forced  to  move  slowly  on  board  carts  pulled  by  animals,  completely  anachronis9c  in  a  world  in  which  the  progress  was  represented  by  iron  and  steam.  

1866:  a  first  project    for  secondary  railways  

•  In  February  1866  the  Minister  of  Public  Works  presented  to  the  Chamber  of  Depu9es  a  bill  for  secondary  railways,  following  the  French  example  where  a  similar  law  was  passed  in  July  1865.  

•  Secondary  railways  was  implemen9ng  a  debate  concerning  also  the  involvement  of  provinces  and  municipali9es,  who  were  trying  to  enter  a  leading  role  in  na9onal  life.      

1873:  the  beginning  of  the  construcBon  

•  The  projects  of  the  mid-­‐'60s  were  stranded  on  the  difficul9es  of  finance,  dealing  with  the  third  war  of  independence  for  the  libera9on  of  the  Veneto,  but  the  problem  reappeared  a  decade  later,  when  the  complaints  became  even  more  pressing.  

•  In  1873,  the  construc9on  of  secondary  railways  in  Italy  began  with  some  lines  in  the  Veneto  region  for  which  consor9a  of  municipali9es  and  provinces  were  formed  in  order  to  contribute  to  the  costs.  

 A  plan  to  complete  the  network  

•  At  the  end  of  the  1870s,  aWer  much  discussion,  was  prepared  a  master  plan,  developing  lines  of  regional  and  local  interest  for  a  total  of  6,000  km.  

•  Spending  was    enormous,  1,260  million  lire,  for  the  period  1880  to  1900.  

The  law  of  1879  

•  The  plan  was  approved  by  a  law  of  July  1879,  according  to  which  the  infrastructures  to  be  built  were  divided  into  four  categories.  

4  categories  •  For  the  three  major  categories  listed  the  lines  were  in  the  same  

law:  the  first  type  belonged  8  lines  that  had  to  be  made  on  behalf  and  at  the  expense  of  the  state.  

•  The  19  lines  of  the  second  category  were  built  with  the  assistance  required  by  the  State  of  municipali>es  and  provinces,  required  to  be  paid  in  20  annual  installments  of  1/10  of  the  cost.  

•  For  the  realiza9on  of  the  36  lines  of  the  third  category,  the  local  authori9es  had  to  compete  for  1/5  in  construc>on  costs.  

•  Finally,  the  government  was  authorized  to  build  other  1,530  km  of  railways,  which  were  the  fourth  category  and  referred  to  as  “secondary  railways”,  not  iden>fied  in  the  law.  Provinces  and  municipali>es  had  yet  to  prove  its  usefulness  and  would  endeavor  to  contribute  to  the  costs  proving  to  possess  the  means:  were  required  to  pay  4/10  of  the  cost.  

A  poliBcal  project  

•  Prime  Minister  Agos9no  Depre9s,  in  the  prepara9on  of  the  project,  had  devised  the  stratagem  of  kilometers  free  to  give  hope  to  many  local  Members  of  Parliament.    

•  They  wanted  their  lines  were  included  in  the  law  and  with  free  kilometers  kept  that  hope.  Otherwise,  the  measure  would  never  have  passed  for  vetoes  of  parochialism.  

1885:  reducBon  of  costs  for  municipaliBes  and  provinces  

•  The  railway  was  so  important  for  local  communi9es  to  monopolize  the  poli9cal  debate.  

•  AWer  some  changes  in  the  following  years,  some  1,000  km  of  lines  of  the  fourth  category  were  funded  in  1885,  reducing  to  1/10  the  compe>>on  in  spending  by  local  authori>es.  

•   As  a  result  of  this  addi9onal  facility,  were  presented  several  projects  for  6,500  km  of  new  secondary  lines,  which  required  the  appointment  of  a  commi_ee  with  the  task  of  making  a  benchmarking.  

Tram  and  railway  •  In  the  last  two  decades  of  

XIX  century,  narrow-­‐gauge  railways,  rack  railways,  tramways  outside  the  city  were  made.    

•  Tramways  allowed  to  save  puang  the  tracks  on  ordinary  roads.  

…more  poliBcal  than  technical  and  economic  

•  The  author  of  a  paper  published  in  February  1893  on  the  main  Italian  magazine  of  culture,  the  “New  Anthology”,  stated:  

•   «The  predominant  concept  that  led  to  the  construc3on  of  the  Italian  railways  from  the  forma3on  of  the  new  kingdom  now,  has  almost  always  been  more  poli3cal  than  technical  and  economic.  Financial  could  have  been  only  for  a  small  part.  But  if  such  a  concept  from  the  beginning  was  great,  highly  na3onal,  not  only  right  but  necessary,  later  went  hand  in  hand  becoming  smaller,  almost  always  rather  regional  and  reasonable»  

…very  low  product  •  Most  secondary  routes  recorded  a  very  low  mileage  product,  showing  a  deficit  from  the  beginning.  

•  They  were  built  on  routes  where  the  movement  was  minimal  to  accommodate  local  mayors  and  depu9es,  who  oWen  based  their  campaigns  elec9on  on  the  promise  of  construc9on  of  railways.  

•  However,  the  building  of  secondary  railways  was  a  common  development  in  all  countries,  as  a  symbol  of  progress.  

Length  of  the  railway  network  in  some  European  countries  

Anno United Kingdom France Germany Italy Spain Belgium

1830 157 31 - - - -

1840 2.390 410 469 20 - 334

1850 9.797 2.915 5.856 620 28 854

1860 14.603 9.167 11.089 2.404 1.885 1.729

1870 21.558 15.544 18.876 6.429 5.454 2.897

1880 25.060 23.089 33.838 9.290 7.491 4.112

1890 27.827 33.280 42.869 13.629 10.163 4.526

1900 30.079 38.109 51.678 16.429 13.205 4.562

Source:  B.R.  Mitchell,  Interna3onal  Historical  Sta3s3cs.  Europe  1750-­‐1993,  New  York,  1998,  p.  673-­‐677.    

Secondary  railways  now  

•  A  lot  of  secondary  railways  and  suburban  trams  closed  beginning  during  the  1930s,  and  above  all  in  1960,  up  to  now.  

•  Only  a  few  examples  of  secondary  railways  were  recovered  and  relaunched.  

An  old  railway.  Maglie-­‐Otranto,  Puglia  

A  new  railway,  Fortezza-­‐San  Candido,  Alto  Adige  

A  secondary  railway  renewed  

Monitor  inside  the  train   New  trains  Fortezza-­‐San  Candido,  ex  interna3onal  route,  now  a  secondary  railway  

A  secondary  railway  renewed  

Bicycle  parking  in  the  railway  sta9on   Trains  and  plahorms  with  no  steps  

A  secondary  railway  renewed  

Bus-­‐train  interchange   Bike  path  along  the  railway  

A  secondary  railway  renewed  

Bicycles  on  the  train   The  train  is  long  for  many  people