history

Paving the way for progress

05.05.2005: crowds flocked to take part in the maiden journey of the newly re-opened Venosta Valley railway. The train carrying the first passengers was greeted by brass bands and representatives from the local community associations.

Such jubilation was not new to the Venosta Valley: on July 1st 1906, some 99 years earlier, the great-grandparents of these modern-day train enthusiasts stood by the railway line to greet Archduke Eugene as he travelled on the first train service from Merano to Malles.

All of a sudden, fifteen years of hard work were a thing of the past: the dream of building a new east-west connection, planning and designing, funding the project and building the line itself. The emotion was simply overwhelming: the brand new locomotive, the first and third class carriages connecting Merano and Malles four times a day.

The people of the Venosta Valley longed for the new railway to bring progress and prosperity. How right they were. Holidaymakers began venturing from the spa town of Merano into the Venosta Valley as far as the Ortler. Hotels were opened and tourism flourished. Then came World War I, the war fought in the mountains. It put an abrupt end to this rebirth. Trains travelling in the valley were no longer full of rich tourists. Instead, they carried soldiers. Mountain climbing equipment yielded to weapons. The Venosta railway became a key route to the south-western front, where rock and ice abounded.

The outcome of World War I is common knowledge. In November 1918 the Italian railway authority was placed in charge of the Venosta Valley railway. A few years later, and for several decades, the “Littorina” train would travel up and down the valley. The train was regarded as a remarkable technical achievement by the Fascist regime. At the same time, it was a nightmare for many passengers. Until recently, the people of the Venosta Valley had a love-hate relationship with this railway that connected the valley with Merano, Bolzano and the rest of the world.

In the late 1980s, rumours about the closure of the railway line began to intensify. People had grown accustomed to these rumours ever since they began to spread as far back as 1961. Yet this time they seemed more plausible. The Italian railway authority launched a radical streamlining effort in order to “cut off the dead branches” in the national railway system. On June 9th 1990 the Venosta Valley witnessed the local train making its last journey, marking the end of an era.

But a new era began as the Nineties drew to a close, as the Provincial Authorities of Bolzano took over the disused railway line. Work was soon under way to revamp the railway line and tunnels, fix the bridges and level crossings and purchase state-of-the-art rolling stock. The Venosta Valley railway was being prepared for the new millennium. On May 5th 2005, following a monumental overhaul funded by the Provincial Authorities, the first train  began its journey to Malles. From then on, there would be a train every hour.

Booklet:

Cent’anni di ferrovia in Val Venosta (1906-2006) – One hundred years of Venosta Valley trains

by Sebastian Marseiler

A collection of historical facts and figures concerning the Merano-Malles railway. This volume tell the tale of the ambitious project to set up a transcontinental route in the late 1800s up to the grand re-opening in 2005.
This booklet is available from the Provincial Transport Department, Via Crispi 8, Bolzano (Italy). Tel. +39 0471 413401.