-
Borgo Velino railway station, circa 1882 or 1883 After the
Italian unification and the
widespread start of railway constructions, many talks started about how to link the
Abruzzo region to its new capital,
Rome. It was decided that the railway would start from
Pescara, reach
Sulmona and
L'Aquila, then cross the
Apennine Mountains at the Sella di Corno pass and then reach
Rieti, where the line had to continue towards Rome. Rieti also should have been the starting point of a branch to
Avezzano, that – together with the
Avezzano–Roccasecca railway – would have linked Abruzzo with the
railway to Naples, which was Abruzzo's capital under the
Kingdom of Two Sicilies. However the unsolved
Roman question threatened to interrupt railway service between the then-capital
Florence and the then-biggest city
Naples, and to protect its military and strategic interests the Italian government urged the construction of an alternative route from Florence to Naples that didn't enter the
Papal States, which could be created with a new railway between
Terni and
Roccasecca, passing through Rieti and Avezzano. So it was decided that the
Pescara–Rieti line should have continued towards Terni, and not towards Rome as per initial project. Construction was started in 1871 by
Società per le Strade Ferrate Meridionali in Pescara; by 1873 the line was completed to
Sulmona and by 1875 it was completed to L'Aquila. Then the work stopped because of the building company's perplexity: even if it was possible to reach Rome from Terni, via the
Ancona–Orte railway, Strade Ferrate Meridionali thought that a railway from Terni to Rieti would be less useful for the needs of the company and of
Abruzzese people than a railway from Rome to Rieti. near a
level crossing in
Onna in the 1960s An agreement was reached in 1879, when Public Works Ministry Baccarini granted Strade Ferrate Meridionali to build another railway to satisfy the need of connecting Abruzzo to Rome (the
Rome-Sulmona railway) but tied the company to finish the former line till Terni. Work restarted and the line was soon completed, even if the most mountainous region of the track was involved (the
Apennine Mountains that divide Abruzzo and
Lazio, and the drop of altitude near the
Marmore falls). The Pescara-Sulmona-Terni line opened on October 30, 1883. The line's importance as the primary means of transport between Abruzzo and Rome, however, lasted five years: in 1888, the
Rome-Sulmona railway was opened and all trains from Abruzzo's
Adriatic shore to Rome were diverted on the newer, shorter line. As most trains starting from
Sulmona were travelling from
Pescara to Rome, except for some going to
L'Aquila and Terni, the first part of the original Pescara–Terni line was officially detached and merged with the newer Rome-Sulmona; so the Roma-Sulmona line became the Roma-Sulmona-Pescara line, while the Pescara-Sulmona-Terni line became the Sulmona-Terni line. At the start of 20th century the
Avezzano–Roccasecca railway was built, but with the
capture of Rome the government's strategic purposes ceased, so the Rieti–Avezzano railway was never built and the Terni–Roccasecca route remained unfinished.
diesel multiple unit at
L'Aquila railway station in 1996 On October 3, 1936, a severe accident happened near
Contigliano, in which two trains collided head-on, resulting in several deaths and many injured, among which the entire
L'Aquila Calcio football team. Many players were killed and most couldn't play football again; the team was relegated and never recovered its lost position. In the 1930s steam locomotives were dismissed and faster ALn 56 and ALn 556
diesel multiple units (DMU) were introduced; in the 1980s these were replaced with
ALn 668 3300 series. In 1905 all Italian railways were nationalized and
Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane took control of the Terni–Sulmona railway. In 2008
Trenitalia, the passenger division of Ferrovie dello Stato, put out passenger services on the Terni–L'Aquila route entrusting
Ferrovia Centrale Umbra for the service (now
Umbria Mobilità, part of the
Busitalia group). Ferrovia Centrale Umbra operates its services using
FCU ALn 776 diesel multiple units;
Trenitalia still operates the L'Aquila–Sulmona route, and in 2016 it introduced the new
Pesa Atribo "Swing" DMUs replacing ALn 668s. == Features ==