FS Italiane, Umbria: trains are back on the tracks between Perugia Ponte San Giovanni and Perugia Sant’Anna

Perugia, 13 September 2022

The Perugia Ponte San Giovanni-Perugia Sant’Anna, an underground offshoot of the former Ferrovia Centrale Umbra Umbertide-Terni line, is once again in operation.

Starting tomorrow, 24 trains shall accompany tourists and commuters to the acropolis. This new service, operated by Busitalia (FS Italiane Group), will make a decisive contribution to the decongestion of Perugia’s historic centre, streamlining the entire mobility system within the area of Umbria’s capital city.

The intervention of Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (FS Italiane Group) started at the end of 2019, after RFI had taken over management of the infrastructure from Umbria TPL e Mobilità, the previous manager of the line, on 1 July of the same year.

The main works along the 5.2-kilometres of line included:

• Consolidation and broadening of the railway headquarters on the Perugia Ponte San Giovanni-Piscille section
• Complete redevelopment of Piscille station with:

o   A new rail plan to extend the track capacity to 100 metres

o   A new station underpass equipped with lifts

o   New pavements fitted with shelters and tactile pathways for visually-impaired travellers

o   Restoration of the Central Electrically-Controlled Shunting system (ACEI) for railway traffic management

• Consolidation of the railway track on the Piscille-Pallotta section
• Consolidation of the Pallotta Tunnel
• The Pallotta stop going into service, with the broadening of the railway track and the addition of the odd-numbered track to facilitate train crossings
• Restyling of the Perugia Sant’Anna station with:

o   New pavements fitted with shelters and tactile pathways

o   Restoration of the Central Electrically-Controlled Shunting system (ACEI) for railway traffic management

• Complete preparation for the electrification of the entire Perugia Ponte San Giovanni-Perugia Sant’Anna section, which shall be activated at the same time as the electrification of the whole San Sepolcro-Terni line

The entire project was completed by RFI and contractors in less than three years. This truly is a short construction time when considering the record gradients of the line – as much as 60 per thousand – which require the use of ad hoc machinery and special processing procedures and longer production times, not to mention the pandemic emergency that had a great impact on the procurement of materials and the smooth running of activities.

The total investment amounted to 25 million euro financed with resources from Law 211/92 for the development of public transport in urban areas.