High speed, the line between Milan and Bologna reopens

It is the August of railway construction sites. Trains are slow due to works, even though the entire high-speed (Av) line between Bologna and Milan reopened on Monday 18 August. The more than 1,200 construction sites currently active, of which about 500 are dedicated to maintenance and about 700 to new works, lead to temporary closures of some lines. Such a high number of construction sites on the network has never been seen before, and this is due to the overlap between Pnrr works and ordinary maintenance work. High speed, but not only, since during the summer season several regional routes will be affected by works.

The 2025-2029 strategic plan of Ferrovie dello Stato (FS) will guarantee investments of EUR 100 billion over five years, of which EUR 62 billion will be allocated to infrastructure. The goal of FS is to make the national network increasingly modern, safe and efficient. It is a precise choice of the FS group to concentrate the work in this season, even though there is a tourist demand, because the usual users of trains (students and workers) are mostly on holiday or holiday.

On Monday 18 August, after a one-week stop, the entire Bologna-Milan Av line, interrupted from 11 to 17 August, was reopened. The Italian railway network (Rfi, a company of the FS group) replaced the turnouts, more commonly called exchanges, which are also essential for connecting the Av network to the conventional line. At the construction sites in Parma, Campegine and Rubiera, 160 technicians were engaged, including Rfi and contractors. About 200 Av trains (Frecciarossa and Italo) travel between Bologna and Milan every day. During the work on the construction sites, the high-speed trains bypassed the section under construction using the tracks of the historic line.

Says Stefano Antonio Donnarumma, managing director of the SBB group: 'A complex intervention, carried out with the awareness that, for the SBB group, guaranteeing the service is always the first responsibility. Thanks to precise planning, the trains continued to run, using the conventional line for the entire duration of the work. Each intervention is a concrete step along the path we have mapped out. And day after day we are building the network that the country expects. And that it deserves.

For one construction site that closes, many others continue. Until 25 August, railway traffic between Verona and Vicenza is interrupted (replacement buses will be provided): the works, which also affect the line between Vicenza and Schio, concern extraordinary maintenance and infrastructural and technological enhancement along the historic line and in all the stations involved for an investment of 14 million euros. The Florence-Rome Av line is interrupted until 22 August for extraordinary maintenance work on the Orvieto Sud-Chiusi Nord section. Monday 25 August will see the reopening of the Milan railway link, closed since 28 July for works between the stations of Milano Rogoredo and Certosa: the existing rails were demolished and then rebuilt on a concrete platform. Technological upgrades will also be carried out (total investment of EUR 5 million).