ITALY: Urban rail investments in various cities have been allocated funding from national or European sources.
The Ministry of Sustainable Infrastructure & Mobility invited city authorities to apply for a share of a dedicated urban transport fund set up in the 2019 national budget, to be allocated annually through to 2033. The first set of eligible projects were announced on November 9:
• Brescia was awarded €359∙5m to support the construction of its first tram line, linking Pendolina in the northwest to the exhibition grounds in the southwest;
• Renewal of the rolling stock used on Roma metro lines A and B has received €159∙5m;
• €97m has been allocated to Padova for the second line of its rubber-tyred Translohr network, known as SIR2;
• €35m has been granted to Torino, supporting the extension of its VAL metro Line 1 to Cascine Vica and a new depot, plus €9m to realign a section of tram route 15 to serve Ospedale Martini.
The ministry has also published draft legislation outlining an agreement with the regional and city governments about how much of the European Union’s Covid-19 recovery package will be spent on urban transport development. This sets a total spend across the country of €3∙6bn, covering bus and trolleybus investment as well as the following urban rail projects:
• Palermo tramway phase two (€504m);
• Firenze tramway Line 4 phase two, Le Piagge – Campi Bisenzio (€222m); Piazza Liberta – Bagno a Ripoli tram link (€150m);
• Bologna light rail construction: Green Line northern section (€222m), Red Line (€150m);
• Catania metro extension from Misterbianco Centro to Paterno (€317m);
• Padova SIR2 (€238m), augmenting the ministry’s grant;
• Roma first section of a cross-city tramway linking Termini and Piazza Venezia (€120m), tram line along Viale Palmiro Togliatti (€100m);
• Milano tram extension from Niguarda Parmenide to Cascina Gobba, Route 7 extension from Bausan to Villapizzone, acquisition of 14 trams (€140m);
• Napoli tram extensions and acquisition of five new cars (€64m), and procurement of metro cars for lines 1 and 6 (€71m);
• Bergamo second light rail line (€50m);
• Genova construction of Corvetto metro station (€44m).
Full details of investment in Italy’s urban rail networks can be found in the Autumn 2021 issue of Metro Report International, available to subscribers in our digital archive.
