Rail travel in Sicily?

[Morpethcurve]

A short trip coming up to the east side of the island. Can anyone recommend some nice rail journeys? Apparently there's a narrow gauge which almost completely circumnavigates Mt. Etna.

 

[rg177]

I did Catania to Siracusa on Monday and it was pleasant enough - though traction is fairly dull new EMUs.

It seemed like an awful lot was bustituted otherwise. You're thinking of the Circumetnea which is indeed running to some degree.

 

[wellhouse]

Did The Circumetnea in the spring, with a leisurely stop for lunch at Randazzo. A delightful day out.

Etna has been somewhat more active in recent months, even affecting Catania airport, so you should check the current situation.

We also enjoyed Messina-Catania, Agrigento-Palermo and Catania-Palermo via Messina.

 

[KeithMcC]

Did The Circumetnea in the spring, with a leisurely stop for lunch at Randazzo. A delightful day out.

Etna has been somewhat more active in recent months, even affecting Catania airport, so you should check the current situation.

We also enjoyed Messina-Catania, Agrigento-Palermo and Catania-Palermo via Messina.

Looking to do the Circumetna in a couple of weeks and I can't see any sign of disruption on the Circumetna web site. Did you use Trenitalia to get to/from Riposto to 'close the circle'?

 

[Iskra]

There’s always the daytime Intercity loco-hauled train ferry service. You could do it simply to other side of the straits of Messina and back again, or possibly daytrip to one of the nice coastal/beach towns on the mainland coast. It’s novel, epic and hard to do anywhere else.

 

[Stuwhu]

Looking to do the Circumetna in a couple of weeks and I can't see any sign of disruption on the Circumetna web site. Did you use Trenitalia to get to/from Riposto to 'close the circle'

In Catania you need to get an underground train to Nesima, then a replacement bus to Paterno to start the train journey.

 

[30907]

Looking to do the Circumetna in a couple of weeks and I can't see any sign of disruption on the Circumetna web site.

It's a long term closure. You have to look at the PDF timetables - the RRB Nesima-Paterno is under "buses" (at least it's the first entry!) not "trains" though. Logical I suppose.

Did you use Trenitalia to get to/from Riposto to 'close the circle'?

It's the obvious option

Unfortunately the Siracusa-Ragusa-Caltanisetta route is bustituted, as I think is the direct route west from Catania. The lengthy branch to Caltagirone is open - ISTR 2 tpd - and makes an interestingly different journey.

 

[Taunton]

We went on hols to Taormina some years ago, didn't do the Circumetna, which I somewhat regret, but did go up to Messina and then across the strait by ship, which was a good day trip. Walking up the hill in Messina gives a great view over the strait. As ever in Italy you just have to look around to find a great cafe or restaurant.

Inside Messina station, if you go up the stairs to the overview of the ship loading ramps, there's a fascinating and huge wall mural, done presumably in the 1930s, of the last two thousand years of Messina history, from Roman centurions to Mussolini, with Etna active behind. Hardly anyone seems to know it is there.

Other end, at Syracuse station, there's an old steam 2-8-0 loco, not really preserved but just left standing there on the south side of the platforms. There are a range of steam relics around the system, Taormina station still has all its platform end water cranes.

Messina has a new tramway, and Catania an underground Metro. Both seem rather underused and overbuilt for the size of the place, and ran infrequently.

 

[farci]

We are on a cruise liner docking at Messina on a Thursday 0800 and leaving at 1700. Is there a reliable connection to and back to Circumetna?

 

[30907]

We are on a cruise liner docking at Messina on a Thursday 0800 and leaving at 1700. Is there a reliable connection to and back to Circumetna?

Not really, sorry.
You could get via Catania to Randazzo as described, but the service (bus or train) thence to Giarre is limited so you would then need a taxi to Taormina. Same applies in reverse.
Of course if enough people wanted to go, a minibus might be worth investigating.

 

[wellhouse]

Looking to do the Circumetna in a couple of weeks and I can't see any sign of disruption on the Circumetna web site. Did you use Trenitalia to get to/from Riposto to 'close the circle'?

Had a quick look at current times, which changed on 12th September, including Rail Replacement Bus as described in Post#7 above by 30907 but back in March, our schedule for the day was as follows (starting and finishing in Catania, staying near Catania Cle station);

N.B. Out Of Date Times, but a guide to the shape of a Day Trip, with a leisurely exploration of Randazzo including a splendid lunch

0720 Giovanni XIII
0741 Borgo
(Metro)

0805 Borgo
1003 Randazzo
(Circumetnea)

1505 Randazzo
1614 Giarre FCE (Penultimate station, adjacent to FS station)
(Circumetnea)

1642 Giarre Riposto
1709 Catania Cle
(FS - this is an IC service, but there was a cheaper local service about 30 minutes later)

A single FCE timetable used to show both train and bus services, but now you have to consult separate timetables for each.

There are station cafe-bars at both Borgo and Randazzo.

 

[KeithMcC]

Looking forward to the train ferry - after a few days in Catania we are booked on the through train to Naples to do some walking and hopefully fit in the Italian railway museum. I had forgotten how reasonable Italian train fares are - €45 first class from Catania to Salerno!
We will be staring from Malta, but off season doing the journey to Catania by ferry seems to be difficult so we have booked Ryanair. It seems very strange that an air ticket (including a checked bag) is less that a foot passenger on the ferry.

Had a quick look at current times, which changed on 12th September, including Rail Replacement Bus as described in Post#7 above by 30907 but back in March, our schedule for the day was as follows (starting and finishing in Catania, staying near Catania Cle station);

N.B. Out Of Date Times, but a guide to the shape of a Day Trip, with a leisurely exploration of Randazzo including a splendid lunch

0720 Giovanni XIII
0741 Borgo
(Metro)

0805 Borgo
1003 Randazzo
(Circumetnea)

1505 Randazzo
1614 Giarre FCE (Penultimate station, adjacent to FS station)
(Circumetnea)

1642 Giarre Riposto
1709 Catania Cle
(FS - this is an IC service, but there was a cheaper local service about 30 minutes later)

A single FCE timetable used to show both train and bus services, but now you have to consult separate timetables for each.

There are station cafe-bars at both Borgo and Randazzo.

Thanks. I have found and downloaded the timetables, just need to decide which way round to do the trip!

 

[eastwestdivide]

Italian railway museum

You get reduced rate entry to the museum if you travel there by train.

 

[Iskra]

We went on hols to Taormina some years ago, didn't do the Circumetna, which I somewhat regret, but did go up to Messina and then across the strait by ship, which was a good day trip. Walking up the hill in Messina gives a great view over the strait. As ever in Italy you just have to look around to find a great cafe or restaurant.

Inside Messina station, if you go up the stairs to the overview of the ship loading ramps, there's a fascinating and huge wall mural, done presumably in the 1930s, of the last two thousand years of Messina history, from Roman centurions to Mussolini, with Etna active behind. Hardly anyone seems to know it is there.

Other end, at Syracuse station, there's an old steam 2-8-0 loco, not really preserved but just left standing there on the south side of the platforms. There are a range of steam relics around the system, Taormina station still has all its platform end water cranes.

Messina has a new tramway, and Catania an underground Metro. Both seem rather underused and overbuilt for the size of the place, and ran infrequently.

Interesting, I must look for that next time I'm passing through.

There is also a steam locomotive at Catania station, possibly a narrow gauge one, but it is a tank engine of some description. Plinthed locomotives seem common in Italy:



(Steam loco's at Syracuse and Lamezia Terme, couldn't find the Catania one on my phone)

Looking forward to the train ferry - after a few days in Catania we are booked on the through train to Naples to do some walking and hopefully fit in the Italian railway museum. I had forgotten how reasonable Italian train fares are - €45 first class from Catania to Salerno!
We will be staring from Malta, but off season doing the journey to Catania by ferry seems to be difficult so we have booked Ryanair. It seems very strange that an air ticket (including a checked bag) is less that a foot passenger on the ferry.


Thanks. I have found and downloaded the timetables, just need to decide which way round to do the trip!

Did you try looking at the ferry to Pozzallo instead? You can then catch the train to Syracuse and onto Catania (I did the reverse last year). The ferry is quite expensive but it's a fantastic experience and quite a nice/premium ferry so worth doing as a one-off. Sailing into Valetta itself was impressive.

Edit: Found the Catania loco

 

[KeithMcC]

Interesting, I must look for that next time I'm passing through.

There is also a steam locomotive at Catania station, possibly a narrow gauge one, but it is a tank engine of some description. Plinthed locomotives seem common in Italy:

View attachment 166884View attachment 166885

(Steam loco's at Syracuse and Lamezia Terme, couldn't find the Catania one on my phone)


Did you try looking at the ferry to Pozzallo instead? You can then catch the train to Syracuse and onto Catania (I did the reverse last year). The ferry is quite expensive but it's a fantastic experience and quite a nice/premium ferry so worth doing as a one-off. Sailing into Valetta itself was impressive.

I did look at the options, but the evening ferry arrives quite late, my wife has mobility issues and it all looked too difficult. I did see that up to September the ferry company runs a connecting coach to Syracuse which would have been the solution! Now we get an extra day on Malta with an evening flight direct to Catania - total cost about €35 each.
This was all a late add on to a long booked trip week in Malta with one of my choirs! BA were very flexible in changing the return from Malta to be a return from Naples.

 

[Taunton]

Interesting, I must look for that next time I'm passing through.

 

[185143]

I did the train ferry a couple of weeks ago.

Milan to Palermo on the Sleeper, what an amazing experience. £130 for a solo room (a proper room of the type you get here on the Night Riviera etc, not a couchette) for the 21 hour journey.

The convenience if nothing else of being able to just leave my stuff in the room on the train and go and get a beer to stand on deck on the ferry was brilliant. You could stay on the train if you wanted too, power supplies were connected for the crossing!

There's sleeper and day trains which cross on the ferry. There can't be many places where you can do such a journey, I'd highly recommend it to anyone.

 

[52290]

The plinthed tank loco at Catania is a standard gauge 980 class rack locomotive which worked the line between Paola and Cosenza in Calabria. Here's one arriving at Cosenza with a train which includes a through carriage from Rome I photographed in 1971. It had pushed the train up the mountain but had transferred to the front of the train at the previous station for the last leg, on normal track, into Cosenza.

 

[Iskra]

The plinthed tank loco at Catania is a standard gauge 980 class rack locomotive which worked the line between Paola and Cosenza in Calabria. Here's one arriving at Cosenza with a train which includes a through carriage from Rome I photographed in 1971. It had pushed the train up the mountain but had transferred to the front of the train at the previous station for the last leg, on normal track, into Cosenza.

Amazing information!

 

[citycat]

I did the train ferry a couple of weeks ago.

Milan to Palermo on the Sleeper, what an amazing experience. £130 for a solo room (a proper room of the type you get here on the Night Riviera etc, not a couchette) for the 21 hour journey.

The convenience if nothing else of being able to just leave my stuff in the room on the train and go and get a beer to stand on deck on the ferry was brilliant. You could stay on the train if you wanted too, power supplies were connected for the crossing!

There's sleeper and day trains which cross on the ferry. There can't be many places where you can do such a journey, I'd highly recommend it to anyone.

Have a look at my trip report for the same night train. Compare your experience to mine. I found the train fantastic for the price.

Couchette numbers thread.

 

[52290]

Amazing information!

Not quite so amazing! On further inspection of the plinthed loco I can see it is a narrow gauge 0-6-0 loco R370.012, I think it is a rack loco that did work in Sicily. My photo shows standard gauge rack loco 2-6-0 981.006. They do look quite similar. The R comes from the Italian Scartamento Ridotto, narrow gauge.

 

[30907]

Not quite so amazing! On further inspection of the plinthed loco I can see it is a narrow gauge 0-6-0 loco R370.012, I think it is a rack loco that did work in Sicily. My photo shows standard gauge rack loco 2-6-0 981.006. They do look quite similar. The R comes from the Italian Scartamento Ridotto, narrow gauge.

That makes more sense, as there was plenty of n/g in Sicily and the two lines from Dittaino, to Caltagirone and Leonforte, were both rack-assisted.

 

[Morpethcurve]

Thanks All posters. Ample information there for our short stay.

Morpethcurve

 

[Ken H]

I did the train ferry a couple of weeks ago.

Milan to Palermo on the Sleeper, what an amazing experience. £130 for a solo room (a proper room of the type you get here on the Night Riviera etc, not a couchette) for the 21 hour journey.

The convenience if nothing else of being able to just leave my stuff in the room on the train and go and get a beer to stand on deck on the ferry was brilliant. You could stay on the train if you wanted too, power supplies were connected for the crossing!

There's sleeper and day trains which cross on the ferry. There can't be many places where you can do such a journey, I'd highly recommend it to anyone.

Ee did Napoli - Palermo by the daytime through train. But they kicked up off at somewhere called Fosario onto buses. We had to walk on and off the ferry but there was a train at Messina to take us up to Palermo.
Check out the Trenitalia pass

Trenitalia Pass - Trenitalia

www.trenitalia.com

Beware of supplements....

Discover the Trenitalia Pass, the travel experience specifically dedicated to foreign citizens residing outside Italy, allowing them to visit Italy, starting from €139.

 

[rvdborgt]

With a Trenitalia pass, reservations still need to be booked but they're free of charge.
Also see Seat61 for more information on how this pass works and what the differences to Interrail are.

 

[Morpethcurve]

For closure - and thanks again for the input - we did as much of the Circumetnea as possible, which involved the Catania Metro to Nesima, then bustitute to Paterno. The bus paralleled the track alignment for some of the way and much of the track had been lifted. Train from Paterno to Randazzo then bus again to Giarre Riposto mainline station, a km or so from the Ferrovia Circumetnea station. Unable to get definite confirmation of the reason for this bustitution. Train back to Catania.

The other trip was on a Saturday, intended destination Taormina. This turned out to be bussed from Giarre Riposto to Taormina which was an ordeal. Not quite a free-for-all boarding the coach, and many were left on the pavement waiting for the next one. This was for PW maintenance and several track machines were seen.

Planning to ride the train from Taormina back to Catania Aeroporto, advised to take the bus, because the airport station is not adjacent and involves a shuttle bus. The coach was great, an hour and a quarter, for about €7, with few stops and departures every half an hour or so.

Pics taken at Randazzo. We were on the new one, which seemed quite capable.

 

[eastwestdivide]

Catania Metro to Nesima, then bustitute to Paterno

The buses to Paternò are because the metro is being extended there. Expected opening is 2027, according to wiki at

Catania Metro - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[nwales58]

Metro Catania, although operated by FCE, is standard gauge, double track, largely underground so the extension out to Paterno is new build. Why the narrow gauge FCE alignment has been closed before the new one is open I have no idea.

The buses to Paternò are because the metro is being extended there. Expected opening is 2027, according to wiki ...

Reality check, from Italian Wikipedia: Work on Nesima to Misterbianco Centro, a bit over 4km, started in 2016. The first 1.5km of over 4km opened this year, 2024, so completion of that could be a while yet.

Construction to Paterno, a further 11km, started this year although half will be above ground but includes two (!!!) depots and offices according to the newspaper article quoted by Wikipedia.

As 1.5km has taken 8 years to reach opening, even if 4km is open soon how long will 11km take?

 

[eastwestdivide]

Are they reusing the alignment? That was the impression I had.
Edit: looking for press releases etc, ferrovie.it reports the new track will be 50% in tunnel:

Ferrovie.it - Metropolitana di Catania, via ai lavori tratta Misterbianco Centro - Paternò

Si è tenuta stamane (22 marzo), presso la stazione FCE di Piano Tavola, la cerimonia di inizio...

www.ferrovie.it

La lunghezza della nuova tratta raggiungerà gli 11,5 km con oltre il 50% del tracciato in galleria

while Italian wiki on the metro extension at https://it.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitana_di_Catania
says the narrow gauge was closed to allow for construction works along the line:

Il 15 giugno 2024 è stata chiusa la linea della Ferrovia Circumetnea per consentire il lavoro dei cantieri di costruzione lungo il percorso

All very confusing!

Another thread on the Circumetnea at https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...of-16-june-2024-catania-borgo-paterno.269484/
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