Rome, 18 August 2020
The construction of the Verona-Fortezza line has taken a step forward.
Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (FS Italiane Group) has today published the call for tender for the final design and execution of the section of the line between Fortezza and Ponte Gardena. It covers around 22.5 kilometres of new railway line. The line travels through two twin-tube tunnels, Scaleres and Gardena, which are 15.4 and 6.3 kilometres long respectively and are connected by a bridge over the Eisack River.
The cost of the work, including execution planning, is over 1.15 billion euros, while the total investment is 1.52 billion, financed by the master plan agreed by RFI and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport.
The new Fortezza-Ponte Gardena line is the natural continuation of the Brenner Base Tunnel, and adds to the general strengthening of the Verona-Munich axis as part of the TEN-T Scandinavia-Mediterranean European railway freight corridor.
The section will come into use at the same time as the Brenner Base Tunnel is opened.
The project, which was approved by the Ministerial Committee for Economic Programming in 2017, was then implemented thanks to local involvement, which led to the signing of memoranda of understanding for setting up construction sites with the Autonomous Province of Bolzano and each of the eight municipalities involved in the work (Fortezza, Velturno, Bressanone, Varna, Chiusa, Laion, Ponte Gardena and Funes).
The agreement with the Consorzio Osservatorio Ambientale was already in place, and its coverage has been extended to include the first access section.
In October 2019 Rete Ferroviaria Italiana also signed a legality protocol to forestall and prevent infiltration by organised crime and ensure that the law is fully observed in executing public contracts by developing, in addition to the standards required by the regulations, further methods of detection, the exchange of information and procedures to ensure transparency.