Milan, 20 February 2019
Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (Gruppo FS Italiane) is investing more than 14.6 billion euros to improve rail travel in Lombardy.
Details on the work were presented today in Milan by CEO and Director General of FS Italiane Group, Gianfranco Battisti, and the CEO and Director General of Rete Ferroviaria Italiana, Maurizio Gentile to the President of the Region of Lombardy Attilio Fontana.
The plan, shared between RFI and the Region of Lombardy and running until 2025, covers upgrades to the infrastructure and technology, the removal of 110 level crossings, work on stations and maintenance of lines in Lombardy.
Commuters will enjoy benefits ranging from an increase in the regularity of the service to improved reliability of the network, including better intermodality and a reduction of intersections between road and rail, leading, once the planned infrastructure work is completed, to a marked increase in capacity on some of the most used lines in public transport in Lombardy
As to technological upgrades, starting from this year new signalling and train distancing systems will be progressively be installed, leading to an immediate improvement in the reliability of the lines and the regularity of the service: the new computerised multi-station interlocking (ACC-M) on the following lines: Bergamo-Rovato (due to be operational in 2019), Voghera – Piacenza (2020), Carnate – Ponte San Pietro (2020), Romano – Brescia (2020); on the lines for Domodossola (2022) and for Tortona (2024); new technologies at Gallarate (2022), at Milano Lambrate(2022) at Milano Porta Garibaldi (2022) and on the Chiasso – Monza line (2021); the upgrade of the Carnate – Monza line (2021) and the new HD ERTMS distancing system to increase the capacity of the Milan node (2022).
The infrastructure work will include projects with great impact such the upgrade of the Ponte San Pietro – Bergamo – Montello line, the doubling of the Codogno – Cremona – Mantova line and the completion of the Milano – Mortara line, the new rail connection with the station of the Orio al Serio airport, the upgrade of Gallarate – Rho line, the quadrupling of the Tortona – Voghera line and of the Milano Rogoredo – Pavia line, the increase in speed on the Milano – Genova line, and the creation of the High Speed line Brescia – Verona and the project planning for building a new bridge at Paderno d’Adda.
All these projects account for nearly 11 billion of the 14.6 billion euros allocated for Lombardy.
Over 110 level crossings, with an investment of over 170 million, will be closed by 2024, according to a plan that involves as front of line the local and regional administration. This work will improve both the regularity of rail traffic and road safety.
New life will be given to the stations, which have already seen radical transformations to improve their functionality and their appearance, remove architectural barriers, improve public information systems and improve accessibility to trains. This is part of a broader project of renewing rail stations; last year stations such as Bergamo, Brescia, Como S. Giovanni, Varese, Rho, Pioltello – Limito, Desenzano del Garda were renovated, and in 2019 it will be the turn of Codogno, Cremona and Romano, for an investment of a total of 150 million euros from 2018 to 2022.
Finally, there is maintenance, with over 1.6 billion hours per year of ordinary maintenance to preserve the efficiency of the network in Lombardy, the renewal of equipment, electrification, signalling and telecommunications, including the renewal of 170km of tracks and the replacement of over 200 points every year.
Within the framework of the technical meeting between RFI and Regione Lombardia, further improvements to the infrastructure and technology were also studied. These will increase the benefits in terms of the quality of service. In parallel there will also be projects to improve regularity and to develop regional train service on single track lines and to create new stops. The priority in this area is the improvement of the interchange stations on the Valtellina/Valchiavenna line (in the process of being launched), on the Codogno – Mantova line (in the process of being launched) and on the Milano – Mortara line (already started) as well as the new station of Como Camerlata (started). This work will be co-financed by RFI – Regione Lombardia.