The book on the San Marino – Rimini electric railway was presented
In the 90th year of the inauguration of the San Marino – Rimini Electric Railway, Wednesday 28 December 2022 was memorable for the board of the Treno Bianco Azzurro Association.
This was written by the Treno Bianco Azzurro Association, which adds: “After years we ‘dusted off’ from a hard disk a draft of an idea which was the ‘ATBA photographic book’, this draft, reworked, with the addition of documents, unpublished photographs , and stories and the story of ATBA created the book ‘THE SAN MARINO RIMINI ELECTRIC RAILWAY’, presented first of all to the Most Excellent Regency and then in the evening to the large crowd.
11 years of archive, 11 years of history of Atba born that June 2011 by chance on the same days that thanks to the intuition of the then Secretary of State for the Territory Gian Carlo Venturini, the engines and carriages saw the light outside the tunnel after 70 years of darkness, oblivion, degradation, theft and vandalism. From that June 2011 to today, a lot has changed and… San Marino can confirm that it has a railway, to date, for the current 800 meters, the shortest railway in the world.
11 years old, who thanks to the numerous initiatives of ATBA has kept alive the interest in restarting by train, bureaucratic slowness and provisions from those who believed little or were interested in something else, probably thinking that investing an “X” figure over several years was money thrown away.
The intuition, strength, decision and determination of the Secretary of Tourism Federico Pedini Amati, in aiming at the train as a tourist attraction and believing in the FS Italiane Foundation, in the person of the Director Cantamessa, to whom ATBA made our railway known in 2015, with that train stripped of the furnishings to which he said “you have a treasure and you don’t realize it”.
The meeting that took place in Rome on 12 July 2022 at the Ministry of Tourism with the then Minister Garavaglia, to whom the Secretary of State Pedini Amati strongly wanted the participation of the members of ATBA, gave us the unwitting opportunity to meet Director Cantamessa , who believing in us, seeing one of the first drafts of the book, sponsored part of the book with the foundation, together with the Aiep publishing house, which we thank in the person of Giuseppe Morganti.
The Borgo Città: the Secretary Canti, in his speech at the presentation of the book reaffirmed the will of the Secretariat of State for the Territory to arrange the parking area called Baldasserona, but also in the project there is the redevelopment and planning of the Borgo Maggiore railway section – San Marino city.
In his interesting speech recorded shortly before the presentation, Director Cantamessa concluded by saying, now is the right time, the possibilities with European aid are to be exploited.
The project is to be carried forward whoever is in government: these are the words of the Secretary Pedini Amati in the interview with RTV, Secretariat, which in the meantime has allocated a financial contribution for the lengthening of about 150 meters of the railway section from the mountain tunnel to the station square, we fully agree and thank everyone for the important words but above all for the concrete facts carried out such as that of Christmas of Wonders with the moving train with passengers on board after 78 years and hoping for future ones.
We take this opportunity to thank all the collaborators, the Giunta of Castello di Borgo Maggiore, the State Secretariat for Tourism, the State Secretariat for the Territory, the FS Italiane Foundation,
Aiep Editore, and all those who have a passion for the railway and are interested in the association”.