The high speed returns to head in Calabria by looking out in the project, just contracted, of the new “Santomarco” gallery which will be born on the railway line that binds Cosenza to Paola-San Lucido, on the Tyrrhenian Sea. The reference to the SuperTreni is within the objectives of a contract of about 1.6 billion euros which was awarded to the “Santomarco” consortium, led by Webuild and which also includes the companies Ghella, Pizzarotti & C and Seli Overseas. RFI, in a note, explains that the new double -track line will be made with “high -speed and high complexity characteristics of the length of 22.2, of which about 17 in the tunnel and the remaining 5 on the surface”.
The new track will cross the municipal territories of Paola, San Lucido, Rende, Montalto Uffugo, San Vincenzo La Costa and San Filo, in the Cosenza area. Near the entrance of the Cosenza side gallery, a new station is also scheduled in Montalto, with the relative connection viability, for the territory and the university center of Rende. The gallery will be ready only in 2032 and will solve historical problems for travelers often forced to long and sudden stops due to faults on the trafficking.
With the new work, the political objective of the government is to connect the Salerno-Reggio railway line of the high speed and capacity with the bridge over the Strait. Usual triumphalistic tones of the Minister of Transport, Matteo Salvini, in announcing the work and confirming the realization of the AV to Reggio. «There is in the design phase the final part on the Tyrrhenian Sea to arrive in Reggio through the province of Cosenza. I realize that there will be positive responses shortly. There are no financing problems, RFI has 100 billion euros in the next 10 years for rail works. For us it is essential to reach high speed up to Reggio Calabria because the bridge over the Strait, in addition to being an extraordinary work of engineering, solves the problems and unites Italy to northern Europe and relaunches all the ports of Southern Italy and the Mediterranean. The goal is to get to the built bridge. The engineers say around 2032, with the high speed that arrives on the two sides, then in Reggio on one side and in Messina on the other, both for passengers and for the goods ».
