The project for the so-called Terzo Valico, a new railway which is expected to boost freight traffic from the Italian port of Genoa, remains under a veil of uncertainty. Local and national politicians are now expressing their worries about the project’s timeline and the lack of clarity about the infrastructure surrounding the future line.
The Terzo Valico will create a new connection, along a four-track railway, between Genoa and Tortona, the start of the Rhine-Alpine axis. The main issue is that the 2026 deadline set by Italian infrastructure manager RFI concerns the end of the works, not the start of operations. In other words, trains might start to run regularly along this new railway only in 2027, as former Italian senator Maurizio Rossi highlighted.
Moreover, it seems that convoys will initially have to run on a single-track, with no clear deadline for when the whole infrastructure will be ready. The main issues causing these delays are of geological nature. Most of the line will be in tunnels, the digging of which has often been disrupted by high pressure of the ground above or the presence of gas. So far, only the northernmost section of the Terzo Valico, linking Tortona with Rivalta Scrivia, has been commissioned.
What about the Tortona-Milan section?
The following section of the corridor, between Tortona and Milan, also needs to be quadrupled to fully exploit the benefit of the Terzo Valico. The timeframe for this project, which was divided into two sections, remains somewhat vague. RFI confirmed that the Milan-Pieve Emanuele section will be completed by 2026, but for the Pieve Emanuele-Pavia section the project is still seeking authorisations and funds. “Without the quadrupling of the Tortona-Milan railway line, the benefits of the Third Valico risk remaining incomplete”, said Italian senator Lorenzo Basso.
