THE 1966 FLOOD | MILANO - VENEZIA

English Version

The electrified, double-track Milan–Venice railway line is the most important in northern Italy. With its key junctions at Verona, Vicenza, Padua and Mestre, it handles all passenger and freight traffic travelling from east to west and vice versa. Such a prolonged disruption, as occurred during the great flood of 1966, brought communications between the country’s two most industrialised regions to a standstill. We are talking about the 1960s, at the height of the industrial and economic boom.

The work to restore train services, although slowed down, was the most intense and all-encompassing undertaking for the entire former Venice Division of the State Railways.

Staff from the Works Service (road maintenance workers and the new track maintenance workers) were deployed to repair the track bed and construct temporary bridges with the assistance of the Regional Bridges Team, using both H-beams and rail bundles; staff from the T.E. (electric traction) were involved in installing the poles and the contact line, alongside technical and managerial staff to supervise the works. All maintenance contractors were called upon to provide personnel and equipment.

Four areas were affected by the collapse of the abutments of small bridges, eroded by the force of the water, stretching from Grisignano di Zocco station to Vicenza station:

• Km 205+085: a 2-metre-long bridge;
• Km 205+219: a 2-metre-long bridge;
• Km 207+544: a 1.5-metre-long bridge;
• Km 207+792: a 7-metre-long bridge.

As the first two are close together, they were affected by the same watercourses, as can be seen from the arrows in the diagram.

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