Rimini–San Marino railway

Background In the early 20th century, San Marino was poorly connected to Romagna and the surrounding Italian countryside. The journey to Rimini, the nearest Italian city on the Adriatic coast, would take three hours by horse, and up to five hours by mule or ox in the winter. during planning for a railway line along the Marecchia valley to transport sulphur from the mines in , a hamlet near Novafeltria, to Rimini's port, San Marino indicated it would pay 50,000 lire for a station on Italian territory near its western border. In August 1926, after an impromptu visit to San Marino while on holiday in Riccione, Benito Mussolini, Italy's dictator, suggested that a railway line could run from Rimini to Serravalle. He was persuaded by Giuliano Gozi, San Marino's de facto leader, that the line could run into the city, providing the final impetus for the railway's construction. Construction On 26 March 1927, the governments of Italy and San Marino signed an agreement to build a railway between the City of San Marino and Rimini. Mussolini had feared that a foreign power could install a radio station in San Marino to propagate anti-fascist propaganda. The project required 3,000 workers, with mezzanines installed to increase their capacity. including during an outbreak of typhus in autumn 1944, after San Marino's liberation. In San Marino, the embankment between Serravalle and Domagnano was renovated into a pedestrian path through a public park, Parco Laiala. Partial restoration On 10 June 2011, the (White-Blue Train Association) was founded to conserve the history of the railway line and promote its reopening. An original AB-03 electromotive, which was preserved in the Montale tunnel, was taken to Rome, where it was restored and refurbished. Future development The government of San Marino supports restoring the line between the City of San Marino and Borgo Maggiore. By September 2023, the Sammarinese government had authorised extending the restored section into Piazzale della Stazione. In June 2012, , President of the province of Rimini, suggested that the line could be restored using buses or trams, similar to the . He hypothesised that it could cost up to 40 million euros. Vitali said that the reopening of the transport corridor could provide benefits to regional tourism while relieving congestion and improving road safety along the San Marino Highway, which Vitali noted was among the most dangerous in Italy. On 2 September 2022, Amati and Massimo Garavaglia, Italy's Minister of Tourism, announced that their governments had begun preliminary processes to reopen the line in its entirety. It was envisaged that the first phase would reactivate the Sammarinese section, followed by the section to Cerasolo, and finally the section to Rimini. In November 2022, Italy's Ministry of Tourism made 2 million euros available for the feasibility study. == Route ==

The railway began at platform 1, east of Rimini's railway station. It continued adjacent to the Bologna–Ancona railway until Rimini Marina station, on Via Giovanni Pascoli, where the line curved west. After Rimini Marina, the railway crossed the Via Flaminia along the present-day Via Edelweiss Rodriguez Senior. Its total length is , running between Piazzale della Stazione and near Via Napoleone. == Features ==

Technical The line was long, The locomotives were capable of reaching , Locomotives AB-02 and AB-04 were sold to the Genova–Casella railway, though the latter was damaged in an arson attack while still sheltered in a Sammarinese tunnel. The motors of both locomotives were used on the former rolling stock of the Trento–Malè–Mezzana railway. The carriages provided first-class and economy seating in different arrangements, and some carriages included a postal compartment. All wagons were equipped with pneumatic brakes. The livery was in the Sammarinese colours of white and blue. In 1938, the luggage areas in some classes were modified into third-class seating. One AB-51 carriage survives on the viaduct between Fontevecchia and Valdragone; it was restored in 1983 and again in the 2000s. The rolling stock was serviced from a depot adjacent to Rimini Marina station. The depot also housed snowplows, which could be mounted onto electric motors to clear the line after heavy snowfall. Services There were between four and ten services per day. The journey would last between 53 and 67 minutes, with fares ranging from 7.50 lire in economy to 12.40 lire in first class. Each service included a train crew of a conductor and an engineer. Some services included a brakeman at the rear of the train. Infrastructure The railway line included seventeen tunnels, of which two were helical, as well as three bridges, three viaducts, an overpass, and an underpass. It was considered a significant engineering feat at its time. Most of the viaducts and stations are still extant. The Mellini Border Bridge, which crossed the Torrente Ausa near Rovereta, was demolished after the closure of the line. The Bustrach Viaduct, located after Borgo Maggiore's railway station, was dismantled in the 1960s to widen the San Marino Highway. == Stations ==

At the time of the railway's construction, stations without freight-handling capacity were classified as stops, namely: Rimini Marina, Rimini Colonella, Coriano-Cerasolo, Dogana, Domagnano-Montelupo, and Valdragone. To distinguish Rimini's railway station from other minor stations in Rimini's city centre, it was sometimes called 'Rimini Stato'. and was the largest station after Rimini on the Rimini–San Marino railway. Coriano-Cerasolo railway station Coriano-Cerasolo railway station was located in Cerasolo, a of Coriano. The surrounding area is better known as Cerasolo Ausa, south of the Torrente Ausa and from Cerasolo's castle. Despite its name, the station was located some from the centre of Coriano, measured from the town's church. The station building still exists and is residential property. which remains the name of the nearest bus stop. Dogana railway station Dogana railway station was located just off Via Consiglio dei Sessanta, the road that connected Rimini and San Marino before the San Marino Highway. In 2008, the Sammarinese government gifted the derelict station building to La Genga, a hiker's association, who renovated the building and made it its headquarters. Some abandoned freight wagons are still present in the vicinity of the station. Valdragone railway station Valdragone railway station was located on Via Ovella. The station building still exists and is residential property. Borgo Maggiore railway station Borgo Maggiore railway station was located on the present-day Via Ventotto Luglio, near Borgo Maggiore's elementary school and less than downhill from the present-day Borgo Maggiore terminus of the San Marino cablecar system. The station was double-tracked, with one short track on the Rimini side serving the station's goods warehouse. After the line's closure, the railway station was demolished and became a car park. San Marino railway station San Marino railway station was located on the present-day Piazzale della Stazione. The station included a first-class passenger building, a goods warehouse, a locomotive shed with a small workshop, and a dormitory. After the line's closure, the railway station was demolished and became a car park. ==References==