Ferrovieri Engineer Regiment

The Ferrovieri Engineer Regiment (Italian: Reggimento Genio Ferrovieri) is a military engineering regiment of the Italian Army based in Castel Maggiore in the Emilia Romagna. The regiment is assigned to the army's Engineer Command and is the Italian Army's only unit capable of constructing and operating railways. The term "Ferrovieri" comes from the Italian word for railway (Italian: Ferrovia) and is used to denote units of the engineer arm tasked with the construction, restoration, maintenance, and operation of railways. Enlisted personnel in such units is addressed by the singular form: "Ferroviere".

In 1873, the Royal Italian Army formed the first Italian Ferrovieri companies, which were tasked with the construction and repair of railways. In 1891, the first railway operations companies were formed. In 1910, the Ferrovieri units were used to form the 6th Engineer Regiment (Ferrovieri). During World War I the regiment's depots formed numerous units, which built and operated railways along the Italian front. In 1919, the regiment was renamed Ferrovieri Engineer Regiment. During World War II the regiment formed ten Ferrovieri battalions and three Pontieri battalions, as well as three railway operations groups. One of the Ferrovieri battalions served in the Western Desert campaign and Tunisian campaign, while two Ferrovieri battalions served with the Italian Army in Russia during the Italian campaign on the Eastern Front. After the announcement of the Armistice of Cassibile on 8 September 1943, the regiment was disbanded by invading German forces, while the Ferrovieri units in Southern Italy joined the Italian Co-Belligerent Army. These units repaired and operated railway lines, which supported the advance of the allied 15th Army Group during the Italian campaign. In 1957, the regiment was reformed and included a Ferrovieri battalion and an operations battalion. In 2017, the two battalions merged into a single unit. The regiment's anniversary falls, as for all engineer units, on 24 June 1918, the last day of the Second Battle of the Piave River.