Track gauge in Italy

Historically, Italy had two unusual dominant track gauges which were legally defined depending on the terrain encountered. The gauge of 1,445 mm (4 ft 8+78 in) was used for the national Italian rail network and was very similar to the 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+12 in) standard gauge commonly used elsewhere in the world.

Since the 1930s, the 1,435 mm gauge has been adopted as the standard and gradually replaced the 1,445 mm track gauge. Thus, in Italy, only a few older tram systems, such as the Milanese tramway network, remain equipped with 1,445 mm.

The other popular gauge, a narrow gauge, was defined at 950 mm (3 ft 1+38 in) and is very similar to the metre gauge1,000 mm (3 ft 3+38 in) – commonly used in many other parts of Europe and thus came to be known as "the Italian metre gauge".


Developed by StudentB