Ferrovie del Sud-Est, Italy - Experiences? And Electrification!

One of my favourite railway books is Italian Ways by Tim Parks. He recounts unexpectedly finding a separate railway from the main Italian system, unadvertised, and seemingly having a really quaint and informal way of running. This is the Ferrovie del Sud-Est, running in the 'heel' of Italy.

The book was written in 2013. I just Googled this railway and was not surprised to find it had been taken over by the main Italian railway company in 2016 owing to financial difficulties. Tim Parks had written about the total lack of signage and advertisement, difficulty of the timetable, ad hoc operation and ancient DMUs. However I just went on the Wikipedia page and saw the fleet and route map and I was astounded how big the operation was. One thing stood out though - EMUs on the fleet list.

I've two points:

- Has anybody been on the FSE? When did you go, where did you go, was it easy to travel on, what would you recommend or not? What are the best places to go to? I really feel I should visit this area.

- But the second is this. In this forum, we (me included) frequently scoff at 'crayonista' ideas about developing or reopening lines through largely rural areas in the UK. We can't even electrify Oxenholme to Windermere, less than 30km! [EDIT: just checked, it's 17km]

Then I read:

https://www.fseonline.it/newsdettaglio.aspx?id=1655

This, put through Google Translate, with some editing, reads:

Beginning in the second half of June 2019, work will begin on the renewal of the railway line 1, Bari – Putignano. These are particularly complex and demanding jobs that will involve 300 workers and over 100 technical vehicles and equipment. To allow the execution of the excavations, the railway line will close for 18 months. Among the planned interventions: Doubling of the line between Mungivacca and Noicattaro; landfill of the tracks between the Triggiano and Capurso stations; renewal of the tracks, electrification of the line, installation of the SCMT security system; level crossing automation; landfill of the stations of Capurso and Triggiano; elimination of 9 level crossings. The renovation of the Bari-Putignano line will allow for a 40% reduction in average journey times. The train will return to challenge the car and will also be electric, helping to reduce CO2 emissions and improve the quality of the environment...substitute bus services will be available for commuters, enhanced in the hours of greatest influx...

My bold - what a throwaway comment, for a line that sounds like somewhere in Cornwall. [EDIT: it's 37km by road, can't find rail]

How do they do it?

I would be very interested in your comments and/or experiences.

Cheers, John

The RIA Electrification Cost Challenge Report is a good overview of what went wrong with the recent electrification projects and how other countries do it so much cheaper.

Particularly revealing for me was the graph on page 26 comparing the rate of electrification in Germany(a remarkably flat line) in the UK(a mountain range).
Electrification in the UK is a politicised issue which goes from being out of favour to a grand politically-charged project and then back again. In Germany(and I guess in Italy too) it's just something you would do, if it makes sense, as part of a line upgrade project.

Once you have electrified the main lines carrying long distance traffic, the lines carrying significant goods traffic, and the lines carrying frequent commuter traffic(as is usually the case outside of the UK), it makes more and more sense to eliminate the remaining non-electrified lines too.

johnnychips said:

...
- Has anybody been on the FSE? When did you go, where did you go, was it easy to travel on, what would you recommend or not? What are the best places to go to? I really feel I should visit this area...

Click to expand...

I was in Puglia last September. On FSE we went from Lecce to Gallipoli (Line 5) and to Otranto (Lines 5/6/7) - these were trundles on ancient DMUs (windows open, curtains flapping) through semi-desert countryside - it felt very much as described in Tim Parks's book. There are plenty of relics of earlier ages of the railway rusting away - especially at Zollino. I'd like to go back and try some of the other routes - I've heard good things about Martina Franca.

I suspect the Bari-Putignano section (on Line 1) might be a bit different from the rest of the network (I've not tried it) it seems to have a much more intensive service than the other lines and so might be a more obvious candidate for electrification.

About four years ago my wife and I spent a fascinating few days in Lecce (more for the architecture and ambience than the trains) but had a couple of trips on FSE. One to Alberobello: clean and modern DMU but I rather think the line was being electrified. And by contrast one to Otranto: involving a change. The change point was announced as one station then rather chaotically reannounced en route as somewhere else. We ended up in a single coach unit heavily graffitied that terminated in the rather pleasant station at Otranto poised high above the town with few facilities. There is a fascinating if rather amateurish railway museum at Lecce, including some vintage travel posters of the Yorkshire Dales!

I went on a return to Gallipolli; not sure whether it was Lecce. I came through a town starting with a Z. Look old to me.

There was an earlier thread here which might be of interest:

https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...alian-south-east-railway.100288/#post-1787076

Thanks to Dave and anyone else who replied.

Having also heard of the FSE thanks to Tim Parks' book, I travelled on it in May 2014. I went from Lecce to Otranto (changing at Zollino and Maglie), and also from Martina Franca (which I reached by bus from Ostini, on the main coastal line, not that the station there is in the town itself) to Bari.

Would I recommend it? Certainly.

Was it easy to travel on? Yes, but not always intuitively so. The main difficulty I recall was attempting to locate the FSE ticket office at one of the large stations shared with Trenitalia (possibly Bari, possibly Brindisi, possibly both - in any case, in one or both of those places it was nowhere near the platforms that the FSE trains use, and moreover information about departures was lacking and confusing there). The process for changing trains between branches (so as to get to/from Otranto, for example) wasn't exactly explained, but given how small these stations are it was pretty obvious where to go/what to do, and the south of Italy being a friendly place, people would confirm what to do if asked.

Overall there was a mixture of old and somewhat semi-decrepid and newer, clean and efficient, trains then. Plus sidings/disused tracks in a few places with old rolling stock rusting away. Which in the southern sunlight was rather atmospheric. Some graffiti/vandalism, but nowhere near as much as is found in, well, most Italian larger cities. It did feel sleepy and well removed from the main line, much more so than the other independent railways near Bari (e.g. to Matera). Some of the stations had an air of slight, but not immense, neglect about them. And Otranto, Alberoberro, Lecce and Martina Franca are all absolutely fascinating places - in fact the bus ride from Ostuni to Martina Franca (easy enough to arrange, I could find all the timetables online, and I knew to buy the bus ticket from a grocers/tobacconist in Ostuni before getting on the bus) was also pretty interesting - lots of trulli (the oast-house like dwellings) on the way. As an obvious foreign visitor I seemed to be an object of curiousity to some of the other passengers on the bus!

It does seem (especially from a British perspective) to be a very odd candidate for electrification, though.