Lucca railway station

Lucca
Lucca
	Lucca's passenger building
General information
Location	Piazza Ricasoli; 55100 Lucca LU; Lucca, Lucca, Tuscany; Italy
Coordinates	43°50′15″N 10°30′22″E / 43.83750°N 10.50611°E
Operated by	Rete Ferroviaria Italiana; Centostazioni
Line(s)	Viareggio–Florence; Pisa–Lucca; Lucca–Aulla
Distance	43.750 km (27.185 mi) from Firenze Santa Maria Novella
Platforms	5
Tracks	9
Train operators	Trenitalia
Connections	Urban and suburban buses;
Construction
Structure type	At-grade
Architect	Vincenzo Pardini
Other information
Classification	Gold
History
Opened	29 September 1846; 178 years ago
Services
Bar, Ticket office, Ticket machines, Snack and beverage machine, Railway Police, Toilets, Waiting room,

Lucca railway station (Italian: Stazione di Lucca) serves the city and comune of Lucca, in the region of Tuscany, central Italy. Opened in 1846, it forms part of the Viareggio–Florence railway, and is also the junction for lines to Pisa and to Aulla. All of these lines are only served by regional trains.

The station is currently managed by Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI). However, the commercial area of the passenger building is managed by Centostazioni. Train services to and from the station are operated by Trenitalia. Each of these companies is a subsidiary of Ferrovie dello Stato (FS), Italy's state-owned rail company.

History

The passenger building was designed in the first half of the 1800s by Eng. Enrico Pohlmeyer, author of the plan, and by the Lucchese architect Giuseppe Pardini, who was the creator of the elevations: the building was inaugurated on 29 September 1846. The elegant and refined façade has a double order of arches which lightens the structure. Some changes over the years have not affected the original nineteenth-century construction.

Since 1884, the terminal station of the Lucca–Ponte a Moriano tramway had stood in the square in front of it, the urban penetration section of which used a gallery built under the walls called the Cairoli sortie, which is still visible today. This tram station, called Porta San Pietro due to its proximity to the homonymous access work to the city, was in turn equipped with a masonry building serving the "Tranvia Lucchese" company and a central canopy. The system was completed by a water tank for supplying the tram locomotives. A siding with the railway freight yard, not connected to the state network, completed the plant. The tramway to Ponte a Moriano was closed in 1932.

The electrified metric gauge track of the Lucca-Monsummano tramway, inaugurated in 1907 and definitively suppressed in 1957, also passed in the immediate vicinity of the station, with a dedicated stop.

From 22 May 2023, works have begun for the construction of a new cycle-pedestrian underpass that will connect the cycle-pedestrian path around the walls at the height of Piazzale Ricasoli to the station, this new underpass should improve the safety of pedestrians, cyclists, and improve traffic flow.

From 3 July 2023, the restoration work on the main building of the Lucca station began, with consequent changes to circulation and parking.

Station yard

The station yard has six tracks, including five loops used for passenger service, and three sidings.

Track 1 has a platform for trains to and from Media Valle del Serchio, Garfagnana and Lunigiana. Track 2 is for passing Freight trains. The passenger trains stopping at the platform facing track 3 are from Florence and heading towards Viareggio. The platform facing track 4 is for trains from Viareggio towards Florence. Tracks 5 and 6 are used by trains heading to the hill towns, to Pisa and to Florence.

Siding tracks 1 and 2 west are used as the terminus of the lines to Pisa and Viareggio. Siding track 3 east is the terminus of the line to Florence.

Passenger and train movements

Passenger traffic is very heavy at all hours of the day, especially in the morning and evening, when the station is crowded with commuters. In summer, the station is often the focal point of the entire province of Lucca for tourists and people heading to Viareggio.

All trains passing through the station are bound for various regional destinations, of which the most important are Florence, Aulla, Viareggio and Pisa. The station also has one train a day for Livorno, and a daily bus to Pisa Aeroporto.

The station has a daily passenger traffic of 4018 units (1,500,000 per year) ( data from unspecified year )