Regional Bus and Rail Company of Canton Ticino

The FART (Ferrovie Autolinee Regionali Ticinesi – Regional Bus and Rail Company of Canton Ticino) provides the urban and suburban bus network of Locarno, Switzerland, cable cars between Verdasio and Rasa, and between Intragna – Pila – Costa, and the Centovalli Railway which connects the Gotthard trans-Alpine rail route at Locarno with the Simplon trans-Alpine route at Domodossola, Italy. There are 10 stations on the Swiss side of the frontier and 12 stations on the Italian side, the complete rail journey taking approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes.

A formal request for the licensing of a rail network was made by the mayor of Locarno, Francesco Balli, in 1898, but although construction of the Centovalli Railway was begun in May 1913, the collapse of the financing bank later that year, together with the intervention of the First World War meant that construction was not resumed until August 1921, with the line being constructed from each end and meeting on 27 March 1923 and public service being inaugurated on 25 November 1923. As well as an important public service, the route of the railway is extremely scenic and the route is popular with tourists.

The company's acronym (a reference to flatulence) is often a source of some amusement to English speakers.

External links

* [http://www.centovalli.ch/ Centovalli Railway website (in Italian)]