New tourist trains coming: Espresso Langhe-Monferrato and Espresso Assisi

With the end of the construction sites, train circulation is gradually normalising along the routes that were the subject of the work (even if in recent days there have been cases of failures on some high-speed trains : the Rome-Florence Av line between Capena and Gallese and the Rome-Naples Av line, near Cassino). Operations on the Av (High Speed) Florence-Rome line for the extraordinary maintenance of the Paglia viaduct, near Orvieto, ended on 23 August. Here, about 40 technicians from Rete ferroviaria italiana (Rfi), the lead company of the infrastructure pole of the FS group, and the contractors, worked on the arches of the viaduct over the Paglia river. Rfi's investment amounted to about EUR 2 million.

A few days earlier, on 18 August, work had been completed on another section of the high-speed line between Fidenza and Castelfranco Emilia, on the Milan-Bologna line, which is travelled by around 200 high-speed trains every day. Some numbers: about 90 technicians from Rfi and the companies are at work, three construction sites are operating simultaneously 24 hours a day to replace a number of switches (scambi) on the line, i.e. devices that allow trains to pass from one track to another, 140 metres long and weighing about 200 tonnes. Rfi's investment amounted to EUR 5 million.

Then the Rome-Naples conventional line via Formia, travelled daily by 80 regional and Intercity trains. Here, work involved waterproofing the Massico tunnel, opened in 1927, to make it more resistant to infiltration. But that's not all: widespread maintenance work was also carried out on the entire line. More than 70 technicians were at work until 23 August, with an investment of around 60 million euro.

In Calabria, the railway yard between Catanzaro and Lamezia Terme was synonymous with innovation. On 19 August, Rfi completed the technological (upgrade) and infrastructure upgrades and the activation ofErtms (European Rail Transport Management System) technology. The renewal of technology with the Ertms system, the same system used on the high-speed lines, will ensure greater reliability of the infrastructure, leading to an improvement in traffic regularity and service quality.

Back to the north, on the Milan-Venice line: on the night of 21 August, the first train ran on the tracks of the two new stretches of railway line built with two variants between Verona and Vicenza for a total of 7 kilometres. The new infrastructure, which extends 1.2 kilometres between Verona Porta Vescovo and San Martino Buon Albergo and 5.8 kilometres between Montebello Vicentino and Montecchio Maggiore, respectively, is a fundamental stage in the work on the Av Verona-Bivio Vicenza section, financed with Pnrr funds, as it is preparatory to the construction of the new tracks. At the same time, other works were carried out to upgrade the line and maintain the stations and tracks. Rfi's economic investment amounts to 114 million euro.

Among the work sites completed in August was also the track renewal between the stations of Castel Bolognese and Russi, on the Bologna-Ravenna line, a section already heavily damaged by the 2023 floods. Here, work was carried out mainly overnight: a total of 50 kilometres of new rails were laid, more than 41,500 reinforced concrete sleepers were replaced, and almost 20,000 cubic metres of rubble were restored. About 80 technicians from Rfi and the contractors were at work, assisted by numerous work vehicles. These included two real worksite trains, each about 500 metres long, which were used respectively in the ballast renewal and track renewal phases. Rfi's investment of approximately 23 million euro.