The Lugano–Ponte Tresa Railway (FLP) (it.

Italian language

Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

: Ferrovia Lugano–Ponte Tresa) is a local railway line in Canton Ticino

Ticino

Canton Ticino or Ticino is the southernmost canton of Switzerland. Named after the Ticino river, it is the only canton in which Italian is the sole official language...

 in Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

. The line links the town of Lugano

Lugano

Lugano is a city of inhabitants in the city proper and a total of over 145,000 people in the agglomeration/city region, in the south of Switzerland, in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, which borders Italy...

 with Ponte Tresa

Ponte Tresa

Ponte Tresa is a municipality in the district of Lugano in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.-History:Ponte Tresa is first mentioned in 818 as ad Tresiae Pontem, though this comes from a 12th Century copy of the earlier document. In 875 it was mentioned as Ponte Tretia...

, and is 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) long. It has a gauge of , and is electrified on the overhead system at 1200 volt

Volt

The volt is the SI derived unit for electric potential, electric potential difference, and electromotive force. The volt is named in honor of the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta , who invented the voltaic pile, possibly the first chemical battery.- Definition :A single volt is defined as the...

s DC

Direct current

Direct current is the unidirectional flow of electric charge. Direct current is produced by such sources as batteries, thermocouples, solar cells, and commutator-type electric machines of the dynamo type. Direct current may flow in a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through...

.

The FLP is the last working line of a network of three suburban lines and four urban tramways of Lugano. There are projects to extend the line into Italy and to the centre of Lugano via a tunnel under a hill. From the centre of Lugano it may continue as an urban tramway. Trains run every 15 minutes on weekdays and every 30 minutes on weekends since December 2007; later headway may be reduced to 10 minutes.

External links

• Official web site of the FLP (in Italian)