Railways in Cattala

The rail transport system in Cattala consists of 2,957 km of railway lines, of which 65% is electrified. Most traffic is passenger trains, although there is considerable freight goods traffic between Jennai and the ports of Calora and Celeste.

The railway network and a majority of passenger trains are operated by Cattala Rail,its subsidiaries and its private affiliates. Goods transport is performed by competing railway companies, including DB Schenker.

Cattala is a member of the International Union of Railways (UIC). The UIC Country Code for Cattala is 77.

Railways
Ferrovie Cattala is in charge of 2,957km of rail way lines, since there are no private railways in Cattala. All are of standard gauge since narrow gauge lines disappeared during the post-war reconstruction of the railways.

Cattala has three types of railway lines, as distinguished in the 1990 restructuring. The main urban route that makes up the InterCity network connects Jennai, Calora and Celeste in a triangular basin home to more than 50% of the island's population. Trains on this line can travel at a maximum of 200 km/h. The other main lines have speed limits of 160km/h, whilst branch lines are limited to 120 km/h.

Future projects
The government announced in its March 2011 Railway Review its plans to develop the Cattalian rail network over the coming ten years. Included in the programme were plans to introduce the Alstrom-designed New Pendolino to the South and East Coast Lines, from Jennai to Cape Point. The high speed line upgrade would cut journey times along the east coast by up to a third. The service speed of the trains is 250 km/h, more than 50 km/h more than the current speed on the InterCity lines. Construction on the line will begin in 2014, and will be completed by 2018. An extension along the Northern Railway to Seina will be built by 2020 separately.

In 2017, consultation and planning for a second New Pendolino Line along the rest of the Northern Railway will begin, and that line is expected to be completed by 2023.

By 2018, all of the railways will be electrified, including all minor branch lines. The Ministry of Transport announced a general £90 million of extra investment for maintenance upgrades and efficiency programmes up to 2016. All rural lines will be safeguarded and the government committed to an increase in services and more improvements to services over the next five years, up to 2016.

Note to Author:

High Speed Rail
Plans for 300 km/h high speed railway in Cattala have been afoot since Italy began building its dedicated network in the 1970s. Currently only the Intercity lines qualify as classic high speed lines, but no lines qualify as modern high speed routes.

In 2011, the government announced that planning for a dedicated High Speed connection between Jennai and Calora, separate from the InterCity line, would begin in 2015 and the possibility of a further bridge extension to Sicily, thereby connecting Cattala to the European High Speed network, would be studied after 2016.

Jennai Railair
Jennai Airport Station was opened in 1972 and operated railway services between Jennai Victoria and Celeste's central station three times an hour, with 60 minute journey's between both main cities cutting journey times compared to the congested main roads. However the service was underused and passengers complained about the large number of suburban stations stopped at by the trains; Jennai Station was regarded as a "small town station on a slow line" according to a Ministry of Transport inquiry, commissioned in the 1980s to investigate why there was so little usage of the railway service.

In 1990, the railway station was closed for a major upgrade, and a spur was built connecting it to the InterCity line between Celeste and Jennai Victoria. A dedicated connection between two major cities and the airport was made and regular services increased. The station was extended underground, with two platforms and two tracks created to reduce delay and congestion on the line.

By 2005, the station had seen its passenger numbers rise above 7 million from just 1 million a year six years earlier. The station had reached capacity and required a major expansion to limit congestion and encourage more passengers to stop using cars to travel to the airport. The following year the new government announced its intentions to close the station for six months to build a further two railway tracks and an extra platform to resolve the capacity problem. Controversially, the station was closed and a replacement bus service set up to take passengers to the nearby town of Ovarco, which had become the de facto terminus for the services from Jennai International to the city itself. The upgrade meant new 10-car trains could run on the spur and services could for the first time terminate at the airport station.

Upon the opening of the new station, the Managing Director of Jennai Airport announced that the station was being renamed from "Jennai Airport Station" to "Jennai International", and the new terminal routes on platforms 1 and 3 would be referred to as "Jennai Railair" services. This branding was later rolled out across the line. Despite the recent upgrade and expansion of the railway service, there are already proposals to construct a fourth platform above ground to the north of Terminal Two, for dedicated suburban services and potentially direct services to Calora and the North. In 2013, the replacements for the 1982 train sets were delivered. The Hitachi-built British Rail Class 395 trains travel at considerably higher speeds than the older trains, but not at full speed, and cut direct journey times from Jennai to just 8 minutes. Stopping services take up to 26 minutes.

InterCity Rail
The InterCity Rail franchise began in 1990, and took over the West Coast Main Line, Transmonte Express and the western stage of the South Coast Main Line, a total length of 598km between Calora, Jennai and Celeste.

InterCity currently uses Siemens Class 444 Desiro trains with adaptations for overhead rail, but there are plans to introduce new high speed trains to the line, possibly using CARTERrail's Railjet or more Hitachi Javelins, which are currently in use on the Jennai Railair services.

Transmonte Eastern
The Transmonte Mainline (TMML) is the major railway route between Jennai and Seina, that traverses the eastern borders of Monte Calida province, hence its name as the eastern side of the former Transmonte route. It serves towns and villages between Jennai Harbour Station and the capital of Monte Calida, including the towns of Confini and Cressa. It is the shortest main line in the country.

The line was built in the 1870s during railway expansion northwards. The mountainous region of Monte Calida had proven problematic for transport for centuries, with inadequate mountain roads the only form of travel to the towns and villages of the north. A rail link towards the Hellenic islands and Italy was also needed to improve trade with the European mainland. The Jennai - Calora line, built in 1859, opened up the southern plateaus of Monte Calida to rail travel but the north remained poorly connected to the south. The Central Main Line was built by British construction companies and opened in 1878. Within a decade, trade between Jennai and Seina had quadrupled and the northern town became a key freight terminal, despite the Italian occupation beginning just three years after the line opened.

During World War Two, the line was used predominantly to ship military goods from Italy to the south coast. The track was repeatedly bombed by the resistance movement and after the war, was unusable for any form of transport until it was rebuilt in 1954. Under the new state-owned national rail company, it became part of the TransMonte network, which included the Jennai - Calora line. Passenger numbers continued to rise annually as the railway became more popular; by 1989, it was the only major railway line not directly rivalled by a major arterial road.

In early drafts of the Railways Bill, which would be released in 1990, Ferrovie Cattala planned to separate the TransMonte network into two, with the Jennai - Calora line becoming the Transmonte Western, and the Jennai - Seina line becoming the Transmonte Eastern. Rebranding of the lines began in earnest, to prevent passenger confusion when the bill was approved. However, it soon became clear that the intercity lines would form one central network in a grander proposal that made it into the final bill. Despite the branding already having been put on display for passengers, the Transmonte Eastern was to be the only Transmonte railway line. However, when Cattala Rail took over management of the rail network they decided not to alter the branding back, and to this day it remains the Eastern line.

Cattala Rail's Transmonte Eastern division use a British Rail Class 450 trainset, having previously also operated British Rail Class 444's before they were moved to the InterCity routes. Transmonte Eastern is the only main line service not operating Bombardier-developed trains.

Much of the line is relatively high-speed, with large stretches cleared for 160 km/h running. The Jennai end of the line has eight tracks, but this narrows to four after the South Coast Main Line branches off. After Confini station, the rest of the line is two tracks only.

Northern Railway
The Northern Railway uses British Rail Class 222 trainsets, developed by Bombardier.

South Coast Main Line
The South Coast Main Line use British Rail Class 377 "Electrostar" sets built by Bombardier Transportation in the UK.

East Coast Main Line
The East Coast Main Line uses British Rail Class 375 sets built by Bombardier Transportation in the UK.