About this journey

The journey departs from Luras station on the Sassari–Tempio–Palau railway, a secondary narrow-gauge line in Sardinia managed by the regional public company ARST. The line runs at 950 mm gauge — a figure that reflects a historical Italian convention of measuring track width from rail centre to rail centre rather than from the inside edges, producing a gauge that is non-standard by international norms.

Tourist use of the line began in 1997, and since 1 February 2015 the entire route has operated exclusively as the Trenino Verde scenic service, having progressively withdrawn from regular public transport in the years before that date. The locomotive hauling the journey is an ARST LDe Breda-TIBB LDe.501, a diesel railcar characteristic of Sardinia's narrow-gauge network.

The line arrives at Tempio Pausania station, the terminus for this segment. Tempio Pausania is co-capital of the Gallura province in north-east Sardinia and is listed among I Borghi più belli d'Italia. Its historic centre is built in grey granite blocks, with an architectural character that recalls southern Corsican towns. Monte Limbara, at 1,359 metres elevation and lying 16 kilometres to the south, defines the skyline of the surrounding highland landscape. The journey thus moves from a quiet inland halt to one of Sardinia's most distinctive granite hill towns.