page_title: Rail transport in Vatican City
section_title: Route
hierarchical_section_title: Rail transport in Vatican City / Route
caption_attribution_description: English: "Eight-span viaduct carrying the Vatican Railway over the Gelsomino valley up to the sliding-door gateway into Vatican precincts. St. Peter's in the background"
context_page_description: The Vatican Railway was opened in 1934 to serve Vatican City and its only station, Vatican City. The main rail tracks are standard gauge and 300 metres long, with two freight sidings, making it the shortest national railway system in the world. Access to the Italian rail network is over a viaduct to Roma San Pietro railway station, and is guaranteed by the Lateran Treaty dating from 1929. The tracks and station were constructed during the reign of Pope Pius XI, shortly after the treaty.
  Beginning in 2015, one passenger service runs each Saturday morning with passengers for Castel Gandolfo.
  Most other rail traffic consists of inbound freight goods, although the railway has occasionally carried other passengers, usually for symbolic or ceremonial reasons.
context_section_description: The Vatican City State Railway branches off from the Rome to Viterbo railway line at the Roma San Pietro railway station and crosses Gelsomino valley via a 143.12 metre long masonry viaduct of eight 15.30 metre arches (bearing the Fasces and the Savoy Coat of Arms), which crosses Viale Vaticano (which it interrupts) and Via Aurelia. The Via delle Cave and the Via del Gelsomino are also interrupted by the viaduct and thus merge with the Via Aurelia.
  The single track section of the route up until the border was subsequently fitted with overhead electric line.  The first 100 metres of overhead line is always supplied with 3000V DC, with the remainder of the distance only energerised as needed.
  Before passing through the Vatican City walls and terminating in the Vatican City railway station, the line passes under an arch decorated with the Coat of Arms of Pope Pius XI with a two-piece 35.5 ton iron gate which slides into the recesses of the Vatican walls. The gate is closed when there is no traffic scheduled on the line.
  The railway has two tracks (partly located in Rome, outside the gateway), but only one is served by a station platform. Two dead-end loading tracks, for freight wagons, are situated on the northwest side of the building. They are connected to the main track that ends in a headshunt in a straight tunnel under the hillside.
  The station is near the Vatican Gardens, behind St. Peter's Basilica. Other buildings near the station are the Governatorate Palace and the Domus Sanctae Marthae. The gateway separating the station from rail track in Italian territory is an opening in the Leonine Wall.
caption: Eight-span viaduct carrying the Vatican Railway over the Gelsomino valley up to the sliding-door gateway into Vatican precincts. St. Peter's in the background. Railway Magazine (1934)
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