Rail connection Genoa-Lugano to be improved
The European Investment Bank is analysing an infrastructure project to improve the rail freight connection between the Port of Genoa (Italy) and Lugano (Switzerland), covering around 210 kilometres. The project, named LuMiMed, includes new railway and allows for 750-metre length trains between the Italian peninsula and Central Europe.
The main good to be carried is iron imported through the Port of Genoa, on a railway connecting northern Italy with Switzerland and, later on, with the Port of Rotterdam. The LuMiMed Project has an estimated budget of 12 billion Euros. Italy will develop not only a new rail track but also extend rail freight stations in Genoa and Savona ports to handle 750-metre trains. Once the infrastructure is completed, the new corridor will have a capacity of 260 trains per day.
New Railway Link through the Alps
This project is awaiting the completion of the third tunnel designed in the New Railway Link through the Alps (NRLA) project. This is the tunnel under Monte Ceneri , complementing the Gotthard Tunnel (57 kilometre long) and Lötschberg Tunnel (14.6 kilometre long) rail axis.
The Ceneri Base Tunnel will connect the Swiss towns of Locarno and Lugano, in the canton of Ticino, bordering Italy. This infrastructure will be 15.4 kilometre long and reduce the journey time between the mentioned towns from 58 minutes to 30 minutes. It will become operational in 2020. The tunnel consists of two single-track tubes around 40 metres apart, which are linked to each other every 325 metres by cross-passages.
