Railway network of Sicily

Sicily's rail network, which has included only standard-gauge lines since 1986, is operated entirely by Rete Ferroviaria Italiana; an exception is the 111-km narrow-gauge Catania-Randazzo-Linguaglossa-Riposto line,^[1] which is operated by Ferrovia Circumetnea. As of 2018, the FS network in operation covers a length of 1369 km.^[2]

The Sicilian railways consist of 8 lines, spanning all nine provinces of the region. Many lines were decommissioned and generally dismantled, particularly in the 1960s (but even up to almost the threshold of the 1990s, decommissioning took place^[3]), mainly because they were uncompetitive in comparison with road transport, or because the needs for which they were created, such as the transport of sulfur extracted in large quantities in the mines in the center of the region,^[4] had ceased.

The Sicilian network constitutes the most extensive island rail network in the Mediterranean, but the routes have, by and large, remained original and circuitous, and modernization works during the 20th century have been very limited. It was only in the first decade of the 21st century that route modifications were planned and in some cases initiated to adapt them to transportation needs.