Good afternoon everyone. Today I'm here to propose you the Brescia-Iseo-Edolo Railway, for Train Sim World. We are in Lombardy, in the Brescia Povinciality. On the picturesque Iseo Lake and the splendid Camonica Valley. The route represents one of the most characteristic and interesting lines (due to the location and valuable landscape/scenery) in Northern Italy. Furthermore, the first third of route passes through the splendid Franciacorta Territory. Famous for its wines. An exciting and challenging journey, starting from the city of Brescia, crossing its North-West suburb, passing through the splendid vineyards of Franciacorta, along the wonderful Lake Iseo, until reaching the highest point of the Camonica Valley (near Tirano). Along the route, you'll have to manage Trenord's Regional and RegioExpress services, from Brescia to Edolo and Iseo. Braving some steep climbs, impressive passages overlooking the lake (100m+ in some sections!) and some tunnels. Choose your service pattern: Regional with many stops, or slightly more direct RegioExpress. You choose! This is the Brescia-Iseo-Edolo railway! GENERAL FEATURES The line is characterized by a total length of 103 km (64 miles), standard gauge (1435mm/4 ft 8+1⁄2 in), no electrification on site. The entire route is single track served, except for loops at some stations. The maximum gradient reaches 2,1% (21x1000) in the last stretch, towards Edolo. Operating Speed range from 30km/h (19mph), 60km/h (37mph) up to 85km/h (53mph) in the linear section. The line is equipped with: - CTC (Centralized Traffic Command), with operational base on Iseo FN station. - SSC (Conduct Support System). - BCA (Electric Axle Counter Block). The units adopt the SCMT system. The line is managed by: - Ferrovienord s.p.a (FNM Group). Passenger service is operated by: - Trenord s.r.l. (FNM Group). The line was built from 1885 to 1911, with various modifications carried out in the first half of the 20th Century. the last of which at the end of World War II. In 2015, the switch that allowed access to platform 1 of the Brescia RFI station was removed. Between 2021 and 2023, all the railway superstructure and ballast were replaced, along 80% of the route. New concrete sleepers and new unified tracks. Some level crossings have been removed. ROUTE AND STATIONS The current structure includes three main stretches: - Brescia - Bornato-Calino (16.7 km/10.38 miles) - Bornato-Calino - Edolo, through Iseo (86 km/53.4 miles) - Bornato-Calino - Rovato Borgo (5.74 km/3.6 miles), not in use The railway is connected to the Milan-Venice Main Line (RFI) on Rovato Borgo. There was one freight yard: Rovato Borgo (now home to the new depot). There are two rolling stock depot: Iseo and Edolo (Trenord). An additional depot is under construction, on Rovato FN (new hydrogen trains). There are 36 stations in the main Brescia-Iseo-Edolo stretch. Artogne-Gianico, Erbanno-Angone, Mandolossa, Niardo-Losine are stopped on request; the others operates regularly. The closure of these stops to passenger traffic is expected. The calls are as follows: - Brescia FN, southern terminal of the route. It's a separate structure from the main station (Brescia RFI). There is no connection between the two. - Brescia Borgo San Giovanni, renovated in 2022, with the addition of new shelters. - Brescia Violino, open in 2023. - Mandolossa (deactivation underway) - Castegnato - Paderno Franciacorta - Passiriano Junction with the Bornato-Calino - Rovato Borgo branch. - Bornato-Calino, first node station. Former R9 service terminal. - Borgonato-Adro - Provaglio-Timoline Beginning of the section on Lake Iseo. - Iseo FN, Direct service terminal to/from Brescia. Presence of the Trenord depot/maintenance plant. There are also some sidings, for temporary convoys storage. - Pilzone - Sulzano - Sale Marasino-Monte Isola - Marone-Zone - Vello - Toline - Pisogne, second node station. The railway leaves the Lake Iseo and climbs up Camonica Valley. - Piancamuno-Gratacasolo - Artogne-Gianico (deactivation underway) - Darfo-Corna - Boario Terme - Erbanno-Angone (deactivation underway) - Pian di Borno - Cogno-Esine - Cividate-Malegno - Breno, third node station. Terminal of some R3 services. - Niardo-Losine (deactivation underway) - Ceto-Cerveno - Capo di ponte - Sellero - Cedegolo - Forno d'Allione - Malonno - Sonico - Edolo FN, northern terminal of the route. Equipped with sidings for the temporary storage of convoys and a small attached diesel depot. Another 3 stations are present on the Bornato-Calino - Rovato Borgo branch, but they are no longer in use: - Cazzago San Martino, closed 2018. Under renovation (new open in 2025) - Rovato Centro (former Rovato Città), closed 2018. Under renovation (new open in 2025) New hydrogen train depot/workshop (Trenord). - Rovato FN (former Rovato Borgo), closed 2018. New terminal under construction (new open in 2025) Connection with the Milan-Venice Main Line. PASSENGER SERVICE Regular passenger services are operate on this line during day, from Brescia to Edolo; from Brescia to Breno and Edolo. The following services are present on this route (2024): - Trenord RegioExpress (RE3) service: Brescia-Iseo-Edolo. Stops only at main stations/stops. A train every two hours. - Trenord Regional (R3) service: Brescia-Iseo-Breno, with extensions to Edolo. Stops at most stations, with different patterns from service to service (Brescia--->Edolo, Iseo, Pisogne or Breno). A train every 2 hours. - Trenord Flavors Train: small railtour convoy, operated by a diesel locomotive with two restaurant coaches and a baggage/kitchen in tow. It takes place mainly on Saturdays and Sundays: one trip in the morning and one in the afternoon. This is a service where it's possible to have lunch/dinner on board, exploring this splendid railway! The service patterns are overlapped so that there's a train every 40/60 minutes. Since 2018 the R9 Rovato-Bornato-Iseo regional service has been suspended and replaced with buses. It will resume in late spring/summer 2025. Timetable Link 2024: https://www.trenord.it/fileadmin/co...Orario_ferroviario/ORARIO_in_vigore/Q_187.pdf Freight service has been completely suspended. Even the last company near Rovato now uses trucks for its supplies/shipments. ROLLING STOCK The following rolling stock can be seen on this route: - ATR 115 diesel-electric MU (Stadler Rail GTW 2/6) Number of units in service: 6 (8 built) Seats: 104+7 Cars: 2+1 diesel module Max speed: 140km/h (87mph) - ATR 125 diesel-electric MU (Stadler Rail GTW 4/12) Number of units in service: 2 (20 built) Seats: 231+12 Cars: 4+2 diesel modules Max speed: 140km/h (87mph) - ALn668 140-Series diesel-mechanical railcar (being replaced by 2025/26) Number of units in service: 6 (8 built, 2 demolished) Seats: 68 Cars: 1 (It can be coupled to another ALn668) Max speed: 120km/h (75mph) STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES STRONG POINTS - The route is long - There are a good number of stations along the line - Fairly dense passenger traffic throughout the day - Immersive landscape, full of details - Steep slopes, especially in the last half of the route. - Variety of landscape: city, countryside, lake, valley - Possibility of reusing the ATR 115/125 on other Trenord diesel routes (for example the Como-Molteno-Lecco R18). WEAK POINTS - Complex landscape, difficult to model - The last stretch, towards Edolo, is a bit lacking in detail (mountain environment) - Lack of freight service ROUTE VIDEOS R3 Regional service Edolo-Iseo-Brescia Introducing the route (there should be English subtitles)! CONCLUSIONS This was just a brief introduction, to give an idea of the context and structure of the Brescia-Iseo-Edolo Line. For further informations, I leave here the link to the dedicated Wiki page, where you will find all the informations required (unfortunately it's in Italian): https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrovia_Brescia-Iseo-Edolo I hope that this post will be an incentive to bring this map to Train Sim World 4, finally giving space to the Italian railways too! Caravatt.
ROUTE PLAN INTEGRATION I apologize, for not including this above! This was my very first proposal on this forum!
Yes, you could say that this route brings together the Maintalbahn, the West Somerset Railway and the Arosa Line. As layout and progression of the route I mean. Basically, in a two-hour journey you can go from the city center to the mountains near Tirano! And it would make it possible to have the DMU version of the EMU Stadler Flirt of Lucern-Sursee in TSW.
Just think that almost the entire section from Iseo to Pisogne is like this! There are tunnels that literally pass under the villages, with points where you pass more than 60m above the lake!
Lainzer Tunnel in Vienna is like that and the one after that, Wienerwald Tunnel, passes under the hills and forests of Wienerwald thus forming a crucial part of new Westbahn from Vienna to St. Polten and further
Consider that here you will have some slope points and sections where you will be almost flat. I'm not familiar with the route you mentioned, but I think there are good slopes there too, right?
if you mean those tunnels, not sure what gradient they are... I know that after Meidling station in Vienna trains dive right into Lainzer Tunnel... as for gradients on the route, not sure if you mean Badner Bahn, it has an underground section shared with some trams, and outside of Vienna it mostly runs on dedicated tracks winding in between small towns, sometimes running on the streets of some of them, last section also street running in Baden and terminating on the main square there and here is my own video taken pretty recently, from the position of a passenger aka me - the whole route from Oper/Karlsplatz in the very center of Vienna all the way to the terminus in Baden, Josefsplatz:
However, I assure you that this route is different from the one you showed. It's much more like a hill/mountain course in the final two thirds. While in the first section it is substantially suburban. Here's a video for you, from Edolo to Brescia central station:
MAJOR INTEGRATION! Starting from autumn 2023, the new Alstom Coradia Stream H2O have arrived in Lombardy. The first 3 HMUs in regular service in Italy! These will enter in service in mid-2025 on the Brescia-Iseo-Edolo Railway. Followed by another 3 units in 2026 and 2 in 2027. For a total of 8 4-car+hydrogen/fuel cell module trains. A new dedicated depot/workshop has been built in Rovato. Equipped with a hydrogen refueling plant for convoys. They replace the ALn668 140-series. This upgrade of the fleet is part of the Iseo H2O Project, started in 2020. Here's the first image: It's named HMU 214 (Hydrogen Multiple Unit). The Trenord service name is yet to be revealed. It's similar to Trenitalia/Trenord's "Pop"/"Donizetti". Have a good day!
An Italian route? I would love one with such diverse scenery. The length is a plus! The only thing is that their is no freight service…
80km/h (Class B convoys, like diesel locomotives), 85km/h (Class A convoys, like DMUs)! Originally, there was a 90km/h section after Brescia, but it was lowered to 85km/h too! I agree with you! It would be nice to create the ATR115 as main traction. Introducing the Coradia Stream H2O as DLC!
Oh, I was wrong! You meant the speed of this train! I believe the HMU 214 will be limited to 140km/h, like the ATR115/125s. Its autonomy will be around 600km.
