Cantieri Parlanti: a new Infopoint is inaugurated at the Napoli Afragola HS station

Naples, 28 June 2023

The first Cantieri Parlanti Infopoint in Campania, a space open to the public with information panels and interactive videos on the FS Group’s main investments in Campania, has been inaugurated at the Napoli Afragola HS station.

This morning’s ceremony was attended by the European Commissioner for Transport Adina Ioana Vălean and the Vice General Manager of Rete Ferroviaria Italiana Vincenzo Macello, who illustrated the main projects underway to modernise and upgrade the infrastructure and technologies of the railway lines in Campania, with a focus on the new Naples-Bari High Speed/High Capacity Line.

The initiative is part of the Cantieri Parlanti project, conceived and implemented by the FS Group with the companies of the Infrastructure Business Unit, Rete Ferroviaria Italiana and Italferr, together with the companies involved in the works, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport and the Extraordinary Government Commissioner. Cantieri Parlanti ‘gives a voice’ to over 30 strategic works all throughout Italy, in which thousands of people are engaged each day.

In Campania, operations totalling 21.7 billion euro are underway, partly financed with funds from the PNRR (Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan). These include: the Naples-Bari route, the HS/HC Salerno-Reggio Calabria line (Battipaglia-Romagnano section), the completion of the Salerno metro, the electrification of the Salerno-Avellino-Benevento line and the speeding up of the Battipaglia-Potenza line.

It is precisely the new HS/HC Naples-Bari line that represents the initial and most advanced works that the FS Group’s Infrastructure Business Unit is conducting to upgrade the railway network in Southern Italy. A total investment of 5.8 billion euro is also financed with funds from the PNRR (Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan). Its completion by 2027 will shorten the direct link between Naples and Bari to 2 hours, improving the connections of Puglia and the innermost provinces of Campania with the HS/HC Milan-Rome-Naples line. Before this date, however, progressive reductions in journey times are expected, thanks to the phased opening of the new sections of the line, starting with the new direct connection in 2024, which will also progressively increase rail freight traffic.

The Infopoint in Napoli Afragola joins those already inaugurated in Palazzo Ducale in Genoa, Palazzo Zanca in Messina and the Palermo Centrale station, set to be replicated in other railway stations, worksites and institutional venues.