Doubling of Rome-Pescara railway (partly) back on track?
The initiative to improve rail traffic along the Rome-Pescara line, which connects the Italian Tyrrhenian and Adriatic coasts seems to be back on course, at least partially. As the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni mentioned, almost a billion euros was put back on the table for Lots 1 and 2 of the project.
The project to double this line, one of the most important for the east-west axis in Italy, was put to a halt in October 2023, when Italy missed out on 1,5 billion euros from the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility. As Meloni mentioned, the Italian government is now ready to partly refinance the initiative with 951 million euros. Around 720 million euros were unlocked by the Interministerial Committee for Economic Planning and Sustainable Development (CIPESS) via the EU Cohesion Fund. The remaining 231 million euros are coming from the funds for non-deferrable works.
What about the rest of the line?
Both lots mentioned above concern infrastructure in the Abruzzo region, on the Italian east coast. Lot 1 envisions the doubling of the line connecting the Interporto d’Abruzzo terminal to Manoppello. Lot 2 entails laying a second track between Manoppello and Scafa. In total, these lines amount to roughly 13 kilometres of the roughly 240 making up the whole Rome-Pescara line. However, there are two more lots that still need to be addressed: the Sulmona-Pratola Peligna and Tagliacozzo-Avezzano sections, for which there does not seem to be any plan. Moreover, the previous plan included the improvement of the railway connecting the terminal to Pescara via Chieti. No new decisions have been made for this section either as of yet.
Having such a fragmented approach significantly reduces the advantages of rail freight. Most of the Rome-Pescara line is still a single track, except for its first 15 kilometres near the Italian capital. Doubling small sections of it, thus, might not necessarily mean that longer and faster trains can travel or that capacity increases. This railway line is quite old, as it was built at the end of the 19th century. It also presents steep segments and the tunnels throughout it are not yet suitable for the current European standards. Moreover, elections are coming up in Abruzzo, and the timing of the announcement raises a few eyebrows. Is it just an electoral promise or will the project actually take off this time?
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