Parenzana

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La Parenzana is one of the nicknames of a defunct narrow gauge railway (operating between 1902 and 1935) between Trieste and Poreč, in present day Italy, Slovenia and Croatia.

Railway names

When constructed, the railway's official name was the Poreč Railway or shorter Parenzaner (Bahn). Later it was known as the Istrian Railway and TPC (standing for Trieste - Parenzo - Canfanaro, Italian names of Trieste, Poreč and Kanfanar, as original plans included its extension to Kanfanar). Among locals it was known as Istranka, Istrijanka (both meaning "a woman from Istria") and a wine or vineyard railway

After Italian annexation of Istria, the railway was officially renamed La Parenzana (after Parenzo, Italian name of Poreč) but non-Italian speaking locals didn't accept this name. The name was more widely accepted much later after World War II, after the railway had long been dismantled.

In Slovenian, the railway was also known as Porečanka or Poreška while in Croatian it was sometimes referred to as Porečka.

Route

The railway started at Trieste's St. Andrew station (after the end of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy renamed into Campo Marzio, now a railway museum). It passed Muggia/Milje and entered present day Slovenia in Scoffie/Škofije. The route first passed Dekani then turned towards the coast, passed Capodistria/Koper, Isola/Izola, Strugnano/Strunjan, Portorose/Portorož, S.Lucia/Lucija, Sicciole/Sečovlje, crossed the Dragonja and entered the territory of the present day Croatia. Then it turned westwards, reached Valica where Salvore/Savudrija's station stood and turned eastwards towards Istrian interior. It passed Buie/Buje, climbed to Grisignana/Grožnjan, soon after passing this town reached the highest point at elevation of 293 meters above sea level and then started to descend till it reached Bagni San Stefano Levade/Livade (13meters above sea level) where it crossed the Quieto/Mirna river. Then it started climbing again via Motovun/Motovun and Visinada/Vižinada to S.Domenico/Baldaši where it reached another local extreme at 273 meters above sea level. Then it was gradually descending, passed Visignano/Višnjan and reached Parenzo/Poreč after 123 kilometers from Trieste, thus making it one of Europe's longest narrow gauge railways.

Although initially planned and much effort made by local authorities, the fork from Valica to Umago/Umag was never built. On the other hand since 1909 Pirano/Piran was connected with the station in Portorose/Portorož (at that time Portorož was a spa and a stop for guests was arranged in a private villa two years after the rail line was completed), first with a trolleybus, in 1912 replaced by an electrical tramway which was operating till 1953.

Technical data

History

When laws of Austria-Hungary allowed constructing local narrow gauge railways, the first economical analyses of a west Istrian railway were prepared around 1880. In 1888 a Berlin based company Sanderop & comp, led by Peter Walderstein started to prepare project plan of the route. A Trieste based company of Luigi Buzzi did the same independently of Sanderop & comp. In 1898 a construction permit was obtained and in 1900 the TPC company was founded in Vienna, its chief was Ludovico Rizzi, then a governor of Austrian Littoral. The construction started the same year. Several contractors were assigned the construction works. The section between Trieste and Portorož was constructed by Butoraz and Zifer, both from Trieste, the section between Portorož and Buje was built by Filip Zupančič's company from Ljubljana, the section between Buje and Vižinada was assigned to Brunetti, List and Radl, all from Vienna, and the section between Vižinada and Poreč was constructed by Pellegrini and Strohmeier, both from Vienna as well. On April 1 1902 the first section between Trieste and Buje was opened. The other section betwwen Buje and Poreč was opened on December 15 1902. Initial plans included an extension to Kanfanar, then a rail junction of standard gauge rail lines from Divača, Pula and Rovinj (the section between Kanfanar and Rovinj is now defunct) but it was never built due to lack of funds and later due to upcoming World War I.

The railroad brought an economic progress to towns along its route. It was mainly used to transport agricultural products (with fish and salt) to the Trieste market. Products of Piran's chemical industry and dimension stones from quarries in Grožnjan, Momjan, Kanegra, etc. were transported as well. During the World War I the railway was used to transport military and food supply for the local population.

After the war and the independence of most parts of Austria-Hungary, the whole of Istria became part of the Kingdom of Italy. The railway was taken over by Italians, its headquarters were moved from Vienna to Pola/Pula, locomotives and personnel were brought from other parts of Italy. For about a decade the railway was still profitable, then the Great Depression arose and the railway could no longer compete with developing maritime, bus and automobile transport. The fascist regime found an excellent opportunity to further persecution of Slovenian and Croatian population, forming majority of Istrian hinterland population. From Rome the order to abandon the railroad arrived and the last train was operated on August 31 1935. This deteriorated the economic situation and forced many people to emigrate. The rolling stock was sold to other Italian railways, mainly to Sicily, and a legend tells that tracks were dismounted to be transported to Abyssinia, then an Italian colony, but never reached Africa as the ship sunk somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea.

During the operation of railway several minor accidents occurred. Some were a consequence of a human factor while others resulted from a fact that planners from interior of the Austria-Hungary did not know the local microclimate well. Especially around Muggia gusts of bora caused several derailments. The most tragic occurred on March 31 1910 when three people were killed and many wounded. Another derailment near Muggia happened in 1916,but no victims are reported. In 1917 Russian prisoners of war deliberately caused a derailment. An engineer and a fireman were killed.

The most tragic event in the railway's history occurred on March 19 1921 at 18:20. A group of fascists was travelling to Trieste. During the stop in Strugnano/Strunjan they shot from the train at a group of children playing near the track. 2 children were killed, 2 maimed and 3 wounded. In memory of this event Božidar Tvrdy later composed a poem Za Šentjanom je utonilo sonce (the Sun drowned at Šentjan, full text in Slovenian).

After the World War II several ideas arose to reconstruct the railroad at least partially for the purpose of tourism, however this never happened. The last such initiative came from the Croatian association for reconstruction of the railway Parenzana in 2003. However, at the moment this does not seem likely to happen. During preparation of railway's centennial celebration, the Italian and most of Slovenian sections were, with the financial help of the European Union, converted into a recreation Trail of Health and Friendship (Pot zdravja in prijateljstva in Slovenian, Percorso salute dell'amicizia in Italian) for pedestrians and cyclists and recently similar works started at the Croatian side as well.

Travelling

Due to many bends and ascents the average trains' speed was only 25 km/h and together with all stops the whole journey between Trieste and Poreč took around 7 hours. At slower sections passengers could jump off the train, pick a fruit from one of many orchards or relieve themselves (there were no toilets in cars) and return back to the train. Many "blind passengers" who could not afford to buy expensive tickets used this option to avoid ticket controls. At the steepest sections locomotives often could not handle the slope so all passengers had to disembark the train and push it. Sometimes the train stopped because children greased rail tracks with figs so the journey could only continue when the tracks were cleaned.

A steam locomotive of Parenzana.

Locomotives and rolling stock

During the first years of the railway U-series 3-axis steam locomotives without tenders were used to operate trains. They proved inefficient to handle many ascents and bends, so more efficient locomotives of P-series were ordered. They were designed by Karl Gölsdorf (as a combination of a larger version of U-series and a smaller version of a tender locomotive that were already operating in Bosnia) and the first three were assembled and delivered by the Krauss factory in Linz in 1911. Additional 3 were ordered but never finished due to the World War I. In 1903 a small single car train with a steam engine at one end, a BCM/s51, produced by Komarek factory in Vienna, was introduced. It did not meet all expectations so in 1906 it was sold to a local railway in Pinzgau. After Italian annexation of Istria the new administration of the railroad ordered four additional locomotives (copies of the P-series) from Officine Meccaniche Italiane in Reggio Emilia. They were delivered in 1922 and 1923.

All cars were 8.5 meters long. Passenger cars had 30 seats and were paraffin oil lit. They had balconies but no toilets. In addition, freight cars (both open and covered ones) and luggage cars were in use. In 1935, just before the decision to close down the line, a total of 180 cars of all types were in use.

Remains

Although all tracks were removed, a large part of other railway infrastructure (embankments, cuttings, bridges, viaducts, etc.) survives today. According to the Croatian association Parenzana it could still be possible to reconstruct the railway at 94% of the original route. Several milestones with the inscription "T.P.C." still stand along the former route.

Most of railway stations survive as well, mostly they were converted into homes, workshops, warehouses. The former "Savudrija station" in Valica still carries the original sign with an inscription "Salvore".

All 8 tunnels also still exist. Some of them were used to grow mushrooms. The others were and still are used by foot travellers and cyclists as "shortcuts". Probably the most famous of such tunnels is the one between Strugnano/Strunjan and Portorose/Portorož.

Of the original U-series of locomotives, U-37 is still preserved. After withdrawing from the Parenzana it was sold to the Austrian railway between Weiz, Birkfeld and Ratten, during the World war I it was moved to a Bosnian logging railway and later it was operating at the brickworks in Busovača. After its "retirement" it was exhibited in front of the new railway station in Capodistria/Koper (built in 1967 for the new standard gauge line from Divaccia/Divača) together with a few Bosnian cars, that were never used at the Parenzana. Another preserved U-series locomotive, U-40, is still in operation at Austrian Murtalbahn.

Two of P-series locomotives survived. P-7 is now exhibited in the technical museum Leonardo da Vinci in Milano. P-4 arrived to Bosnia and Serbia during the World War II. Before "retirement" it was in use around Čačak. In front of Izola's petrol station a P-3 was exhibited in 2002 but this locomotive never operated at the Parenzana. In the 1980s the railway museum in Ljubljana acquired another interesting locomotive of P-series. It was assembled after World War I by Krauss from the parts that were initially intended for three additional locomotives ordered by the TPC administration but the war cancelled the order.

External links

de:Parenzana sl:Porečanka

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