The Raccordo project is to be refinanced. At the right time. A few days ago, Deputy Minister for Infrastructure, Edoardo Rixi, confirmed this at a conference organized by the North Tyrrhenian Port Network Authority focusing on the development of a Tuscan Simplified Logistics Zone.
“The project was not right. It has been recalibrated. Now it is worth €438 million. We are not at the EIA yet. It will probably start in June. Due to the complexity of the procedures, the work will need to be refinanced, which “could be as much as 500 million,” he said.
Mr. Rixi also stated that he would reserve the right “to include the commissioning of this work in the Infrastructure Decree in the coming months, in order to reduce the time required for the EIA and subsequent procedures, and to have the financial coverage at the moment the call for tenders begins.”
The Raccordo project is strategic for the local area. Together with the overpass between the Port and its Vespucci freight village, which has already been financed and is in the process of being built, the strip of track with the line extending from Pisa to Vada, south of Livorno, is essential for avoiding the Romito cliff tunnels, which are now unsuitable for cargo trains, and to allow the port to be connected, via the Pisa bypass (the second part of the project, still to be financed), to the Florence railway junction and, therefore, to the high-speed freight network.
In June 2022, the first part of the project, related to the construction of the currently non-existent railway link between Vespucci freight village and the Collesalvetti – Vada line, was included in the RFI (Italian Railway Network- Translator’s note) 2022- 2026 contract, with a €300 million budget.
The Meloni government’s decision to cut the funding allocated by the previous government from €312 million to €12 million had provoked strong criticism among institutional representatives and various political stakeholders, who saw the unwarranted reduction as an incomprehensible, penalizing choice for the local area.
“Last year, €300 million was deducted and reallocated, because it would never have been used,” Mr. Rixi said. “However, not a single day has been wasted over the last eight months,” he added- “The process has continued as it had done when the €300 million was there. In the meantime other work has been carried out with that money, and we have also managed to finance projects in the regional area.”
Translation by Giles Foster
