The helical railway of Capistrello

The Helical Railway of Capistrello, from Avezzano to Roccasecca, is certainly a great masterpiece of railway engineering.
It was carried out between 1877 and 1902, the  latter was the year of the opening ceremony of the last stretch from Balsorano to Avezzano, which had presented a lot of difficulties because of its altitude.

The engineer Ernesto Mangiarotti and the designer architects of the Rete Mediterranea (Mediterranean Rail Network) made out a U-route in spiral way, the gradient of which doesn’t exceed 25 per thousand (reduced to 20 per thousand in tunnels).

That was the only way to solve the technical problems of the altitude in such a short space ( the altitude goes from 623 metres up at Pescocanale to about 725 metres up at the overlying Piani Palentini).

They succeeded in restricting the minimum curve radius to 300 metres, according to the characteristics of the locomotives at that time.

The railway runs through 7 tunnels 1500 metres long each.

The railway line Avezzano-Roccasecca was accomplished to connect Naples to the inland territories of Abruzzi, at the time of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

After the establishment of the Kingdom of Italy and the transfer of its capital to Florence in 1865, the line had become even more important because it was the only way to connect the South of Italy, bypassing the Papal States.

But at the end those States, this railway line has been used only for the local movement of people and goods, owing to the traditional and strong relationships between Abruzzi and Naples.