Speeding up and upgrading the Adriatic railway line

Home Strategic Projects Adriatic railway line

The enhancement of the Adriatic Line introduces a new connectivity scenario to the Single European Transportation Area. By being a functional axis connecting the country north to south, the Line represents an important northbound freight route from the ports of Gioia Tauro, Taranto and Brindisi, bringing added intermodality and rail logistics growth benefit in the south.

The Line, currently crossed by intense heterogeneous traffic, has significant capacity limitations that negatively affect the service. Hence, the need to come up with a total or partial track-quadrupling of the existing line.

Track-quadrupling works on the Bologna–Castel Bolognese–Riolo Terme line represents the first priority phase in the project to upgrade the Adriatic Line to high-speed and high-capacity standards (maximum speed 250 km/h). With this in mind, completion of the HS/HC track-quadrupling works between Bologna and Lecce is currently the subject of a Feasibility Document of Design Alternatives, aimed first and foremost at identifying further construction lots to follow the priority Bologna - Castel Bolognese section.

The overall project involves the construction of a 780 km long route, divided into 7 functional lots, and the construction of a variable number of interconnections and new stations, based on the chosen scenario.

The competences attributed to the extraordinary commissioners appointed for realisation of the works affecting the same Adriatic Line in whole or in part - "Termoli-Lesina track-doubling works", "Bari railway junction", "Napoli-Bari" - will not be affected.

The work is partially funded in the Bologna-Castel Bolognese section.

The project whole-life cost - which may only be fully determined once the ongoing DocFAP study has been completed - is estimated to be around EUR 80 billion, currently unfunded. This estimate will vary, depending on the scenario in terms of route, number of interconnections, and number of stations along the line.

Aldo Isi was appointed Extraordinary Government Commissioner of the project to strengthen the Adriatic Line.

Advantages

Purpose of the track-quadrupling project is improving performance in terms of punctuality and regularity of passenger and freight services.

Specifically, the intervention will solve the current restrictions on rail traffic, increasing the available capacity and reducing journey times.

Indeed, the project completion will:

Introduce new services, resulting in increased frequency and reduced waiting times for users
Separate the flows between the existing regional and Intercity line, and the new line, dedicated to high-speed passenger and freight services in order to increase regularity
Adapt the route to the freight traffic performance standards, as set out in the TEN-T Central Freight Network, to stimulate rail freight traffic
Increase freight traffic with Europe and Southern Italy

300 km/h maximum speed

780 total km

80 billion € of investements

Work progress

The progress details refer to the Bologna-Castel Bolognese section. For the remaining lots, the DOCFAP is still in progress:

Project
From 2025
Permits
From 2026
Tenders
From 2027
Start work
From 2028
End of work
From 2028