Improvements to Italian rail infrastructure possible thanks to EU support

The European Union will provide support of over €7 million from the TEN-T Programme for two key rail infrastructure works in the towns of Genoa and Bologna, in northern Italy. The first project contributes to the realisation of the “Railway axis Lyon/Genova-Basel-Duisburg-Rotterdam/Antwerpen” (TEN-T Priority Project 24), whilst the second one contributes to alleviating congestion at the Bologna railway node, on the “Railway axis Berlin-Verona/Milano-Bologna-Napoli-Messina-Palermo” (TEN-T Priority Project 1). They will ultimately lead to the improvement of rail traffic flows and multimodality in the region.

The first project, which was selected for funding under the 2011 TEN-T Annual Call and will receive €5 million in support, involves significant rail infrastructure works in the Genoa railway node, starting point of TEN-T Priority Project 24. The local and regional rail traffic flows will be separated from the long-distance ones for both freight as well as passenger convoys in order to streamline traffic on this very busy rail section and increase capacity. Multimodality will also be fostered by the improvement of the freight service connections with the city’s port, one of Italy’s busiest.

The second project, which was also selected for funding under the 2011 TEN-T Annual Call and will benefit from EU support to the tune of over €2 million, supports the construction of a 4.2 km long high speed and high capacity rail section in the town of Bologna. Several underpasses will be upgraded as part of the project, and tracks, electricity, signalling and other equipment will be also deployed.

The projects, which will be managed by the Trans-European Transport Network Executive Agency, are set to be concluded by December 2014 and September 2014 respectively.

For more information: http://tentea.ec.europa.eu/en/ten-t_projects/ten-t_projects_by_country/italy/2011-it-93096-p.htm and http://tentea.ec.europa.eu/en/ten-t_projects/ten-t_projects_by_country/italy/2011-it-93098-p.htm or e-mail: [email protected]