The development and modernisation of Italy's historical rail network, according to the most advanced infrastructure standards and integrated with the HS/HC system, responds to the changing mobility needs related to the growth of domestic and international passenger and freight traffic.
Upgrade and speed up one of the main railway lines in northeastern Italy, which runs largely along the Gulf of Venice, starting in Venice in the Veneto region and ending in Trieste in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region.
The route is 145 km long in toto, and the speed in maximum speed category P is 150 km/h. Depending on the rolling stock used, travel times for passenger service trains range from a minimum of 1 hour 24 minutes to a maximum of 1 hour 53 minutes. Upgrading and speeding up works are under way for the purpose of upgrading/optimising the line itself.
The remote control of peripheral equipment will be achieved via an innovative system of computerised electronic apparatus with concentrated logic, called ACC-M (Multistation central interlocking), to be installed in the Milano Greco Controlled Point where a global control system (SCC-M) is also planned. Technological buildings will also be built to contain peripheral equipment.
Technological and infrastructural interventions aimed at giving the railway route the performance characteristics necessary to enable the backbone line itself to perform, in terms of passenger and freight traffic, the functions of a fundamental North-South connection in the northwestern quadrant of the peninsula. In terms of passengers and freight, the North Tyrrhenian Route constitutes the most important connection between the most relevant railway and intermodal hubs present along the peninsular section of the upper Tyrrhenian Sea (Genoa-Pisa-Livorno-Rome).
Infrastructural interventions to complete the doubling in the single-track sections and substantial technological interventions extended to the entire line, aimed at giving the railway route the performance characteristics necessary to perform, in terms of passenger and freight traffic, the functions of a fundamental North-South link in the southeastern quadrant of the peninsula. The Adriatic Route, which runs mainly along Italy's eastern coast from Bologna to Lecce/Taranto, connects Northern Italy and Central Europe with the southern port system (Brindisi, Taranto, Gioia Tauro) and is an integral part of the trans-European system of freight corridors called the "TERFN Network".
The Orte-Falconara line is the backbone of the Umbria-Marche railway system, ensuring the connection between the Milan-Rome backbone and the Bologna-Lecce line. The upgrading of the railway system on this Line aims to generate greater attractiveness for users as a result of the increase in frequency and decrease in travel time associated with an increase in capacity and speeding up of the route. The expected benefit is that rail transport can become a viable alternative to road transport, with consequent benefits for both the end user and the environment.
The upgrading interventions concern the doubling of the train bed that will run partly alongside and partly on a new route, the elimination of all existing level crossings, the construction of roadways connected with the structures crossing the line, the upgrading of stations and stops, and restructuring and technological upgrading through the construction of Electric Traction (TE) lines, and systems for Signalling and Safety of Networked Traffic (IS) and Railway Telecommunications (TLC). In addition to what has already been carried out in previous years, the overall project of infrastructural upgrading of the Orte-Falconara line includes interventions on the following sections:
The upgrading of the Rome-Pescara route has a key infrastructural function that can establish an efficient long-distance cross-Apennine link, with a view to improving and to making competitive freight and passenger rail services, to reducing travel time, to increasing frequency and to offering new intermodal travel solutions.
The Global Project includes the following sections: Lunghezza Guidonia, Rome-Tagliacozzo, Tagliacozzo-Avezzano, Sulmona bypass, Pratola Peligna-Sulmona, Scafa-Pratola Peligna, Manoppello-Scafa, Interporto d'Abruzzo-Manoppello.
The interventions contribute to the pursuit of important objectives defined at European and national levels. In particular, the project aims to develop a regional intermodal port system that is competitive and coordinated with the rail and intermodal transport network system with the hinterland, both for freight and passengers, and that can support the three objectives of EU energy policy: competitiveness, secure supply and sustainability. The interventions will also improve the efficiency of diagonal rail connections through the development, modernisation and speeding up of the main rail axes, healing the territorial imbalances resulting from the lack of rail infrastructure in the territories concerned.
After completing the doubling of the Fiumetorto-Ogliastrillo railway section, about 20 km long, the work currently under way concerns the doubling of the Cefalù Ogliastrillo-Castelbuono section. Italferr is in the process of supervising the works.
It is a doubling of about 12 km, which runs entirely as a track variant and consists mainly of two sections in tunnels, the Cefalù Tunnel made using the mechanised boring technique and the S. Ambrogio Tunnel using the conventional excavation method; the two tunnels are separated by two short viaducts built in succession, while the new Cefalù stop is planned to be built entirely underground and the Castelbuono Station above ground.
The interventions are aimed at increasing traffic volumes and speeding up the line, at improving the degree of performance, regularity, and safety of rail operations, and at reducing the travel time of the regional connection.
The Catania-Syracuse section falls along the Messina-Syracuse railway line, also known as the 'Dorsale Jonica' (Ionic backbone), one of the two main lines in Sicily's railway network in terms of both traffic volume and population served. The intervention, which is consistent with Axis I "Fostering the creation of a single European multimodal transport space with investments in TEN-T", is part of a larger set of interventions planned for the Scandinavia-Mediterranean Corridor's Messina-Catania-Palermo section and is framed within the 2014-2020 PON "Infrastructure and Networks", one of the Major Completion Projects. The Great Catania-Syracuse Speeding Project, which extends from km 233+634.800 in the PRG area of Bicocca to km 301+841.11 in the PRG area of Targia, divided into the two functional Lots "Bicocca-Augusta" and "Augusta-Targia," concerns a series of interventions aimed at increasing traffic volumes and speeding up the line (with a considerable reduction in travel time), at improving the degree of performance of the line and regularity and safety of rail operation, and at reducing travel time on the regional link.
Speeding up of the line, through route adjustments and consequent infrastructural and technological changes.
The interventions, carried out along the entire route, were managed directly by RFI with the exception of the contract entrusted to Italferr concerning the so-called "Variant 2.1 - Lercara Tunnel", for a total extension of about 6.5 km, including the new 2.8 km long single-track bored tunnel.
Currently under construction are the Emergency and Rescue Posts (PES) located at the portals of the afore mentioned new Lercara tunnel.
In order to restore operation on the Palermo-Trapani line (via Milo), services are being performed on the civil engineering works and superstructure of the Alcamo, Trapani branch line and electrification of the Piraineto-Alcamo, Trapani branch line (via Milo).
Renovation and upgrading of the Metaponto-Sibari and Sibari-Cosenza lines set in the Gioia Tauro-Taranto alternative freight route.
The Sibari-Cosenza line is single-track between Sibari and Castiglione Cosentino and double-track between Castiglione Cosentino and Cosenza. By means of a link railway, direct routing of trains from and to Sibari is possible on the Paola-Cosenza Line; it therefore represents the link between the Tyrrhenian and the Adriatic lines (Sicily-Puglia connections).