Seven Italian rail projects secured EUR 785 million grants, of which EUR 491 million will go to the FS Group through the 2023 Connecting Europe Facility calls for proposals. For FS, this amount is EUR 100 million more compared to the previous call for proposals in 2022.
The focus of the current programming mainly concerns the completion of the cross-border sections and the modernisation of the transport networks, the technological upgrade of the rolling stock as well as the development of multimodal and connected passenger hubs.
The non-refundable EU contributions, which cover on average 50% of the total eligible costs of the FS rail approved projects, have been awarded to four companies part of FS Group. Since 2014, FS secured over EUR 2.3 billion through CEF supporting major projects with great impact in promoting growth and competitiveness as well as sustainable mobility. As part of the 2021-2027 programming period, the companies of the FS Group have obtained approximately EUR 1.1 billion in CEF contributions with a growth of +112% in the average annual amount awarded, compared to the previous programming period 2014-2020.
Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI) secured EUR 68.9 million for the Southern Access Route to the Brenner Base Tunnel covering the construction Works of Lot 1 Fortezza- Ponte Gardena – phase 2 as part of the TEN-T Scan–Med Core Corridor. The project concerns the Southern Access Route to the Brenner Base Tunnel (BBT) and in particular the construction of the Scalares tunnel. The main benefit of the project will be the timely completion of the access routes from Italy to the BBT cross-border connection.
It is worth to mention that for Brenner Base Tunnel project, CEF also provided ÖBB-Infrastruktur EUR 17 million to develop studies for the Northern Access Line to the Brenner Base Tunnel between Schaftenau and Radfeld (Austria). The main benefit of the project will be the increased capacity of rail traffic in the future for freight and passengers along the Brenner corridor. In June 2023, the European Commission also approved through CEF a EUR 700 million grant for Brenner Base Tunnel project.
RFI also obtained EUR 1 million grant for design studies for upgrading the multimodal passenger hub in the urban node of Bologna that will support co-modaility.
Trenitalia Tper Scarl will benefit from a EUR 1 million grant for the installation of ERTMS Level 2 Baseline 3 on 9 vehicles running on the TEN-T core corridors on the Italian rail network. According to the projects, Trenitalia will upgrade the regional fleet operating in Emilia-Romagna region in northern country.
Trenitalia also secured a EUR 8.1 million grant to upgrade ERTMS Level 2 to Baseline 3 to a total of 70 high speed trainsets for national and international traffic. The vehicles will run on the rail network in Italy and France. This is the second phase of the ERTMS retrofitting project for high-speed trains operating MED, SCAN-MED, Rhine-Alpine and Baltic-Adriatic Core Network Corridors. The main benefit of the project will be increased capacity, efficiency and interoperability of rail traffic in the TEN-T network in Italy and France.
Tunnel Euralpin Lyon Turin (TELT) obtained EUR 700 million, the third largest European investment among the 134 projects selected under CEF 2023 calls for proposals. The grant goes for the Turin-Lyon rail project on the Mediterranean TEN-T CNC covering the works between Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne and Susa/Bussoleno.
It includes the 57.7 km connection to the existing line in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, the Mont Cenis cross-border base tunnel (37.3 km have already been excavated), the Susa valley crossing, the interconnecting tunnel between Susa and Bussoleno (around 2 km) and the entry into the existing Bussoleno railway station. The main results of the project will be the timely completion of the cross-border rail connection between France and Italy (Lyon-Turin), enhancing rail capacity for passenger and freight traffic.
Through the CEF, FS Sistemi Urbani obtained EUR 5.86 million for preliminary design studies regarding the development of the Napoli Centrale/Garibaldi Porta Est intermodal hub by converting a former railway yard into an underground regional rail station, a bus terminal and a parking. The main result of the project is the future construction of a multimodal passengers hub in the urban node of Naples.
Stretto di Messina, a company owned by the Italian government, secured EUR 24.7 million CEF grant supporting the completion of the technical design of the 3.6 km rail-road bridge over the Strait of Messina, to connect the Calabria Region and the island of Sicily. In February 2024, the company’s board has approved the final design for the rail and road bridge.
The project estimated at EUR 14.6 billion will enter authorisations and environmental approvals which will allow the start of preparatory works, archaeological digs, and geotechnical investigations. The main benefit of the project will be to prepare the future construction of the bridge.
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