On the railway lines of Sicily to the rhythm of… “Pop”

John

By John

The latest investment plan for rolling stock in Sicily was dated 25 July 2022. Now, the Schifani Council has made corrections, on the basis of significant updates calibrated to unexpected eventualities. The new resolution was approved on March 11th and contains changes and additions. In light of a previous meeting between the regional councilor for Infrastructure and mobility, Alessandro Aricò, with RFI, it was decided to purchase 9 Pop electric trains, for a cost of 90,000,000 euros, VAT included, as part of the Fesr Sicily 2021/2027 programming; another 6 “POPs” from the regional and/or national development and cohesion fund, for 60 million euros (again including VAT); two additional trains with electric traction and blocked composition with a speed of 200 km/h, for a total of 35 million euros, from the regional and/or national development and cohesion fund. Green light also goes to the purchase and installation of Ertms system equipment (for the management, control and protection of railway traffic and related on-board signaling) and other electronic safety devices in the 25 Pop trains owned by the Region, for an investment under the 2021/2027 Fesr Pr of 15,250,000 euros; then off to cyclical investments aimed at extending the useful life of each new generation train already present in the fleet (25 Etr Pop, plus 22 Bimodal Blues, plus 8 Etr Pop 2), for 67,100,000 euros (Development and Cohesion Fund regional and/or national).