Salerno-Reggio Calabria, MIT: no high-speed financing problem

No problem on the financing of the Salerno-Reggio Calabria high-speed train. The line is divided into different lots. Lot 1A, from Battipaglia to Romagnano, has a cost of 2.9 billion and is fully financed: thanks to the impetus of minister Matteo Salvini and the joint work of Mit-RFI it was possible to start the works which are still in progress . Lots 1B and 1C, from Romagnano to Praia, are worth a total of 8 billion, 7 of which are financed with the Complementary Plan (Pnc): the authorization process is still underway, at the end of which the missing resources will be found to complete the requirements to allow a rapid start of the construction sites. The Santomarco tunnel has a cost of 2.1 billion, entirely financed by the PNC, and – once again thanks to the work of the MIT – it was possible to start the tender (still ongoing) to start the works. The remaining lots are being planned and will be financed in the RFI program contract as the projects are developed, consistently with the approach – desired by Minister Salvini – based on the programming and concrete development of investments in the various phases, and not on mere ideological “flags” that create false expectations about territories. No defunding, therefore, as feared in the press. As regards the route, studies have long highlighted that alternative hypotheses would lead to an unjustified increase in costs (already high), with an unacceptable increase in construction times, as well as travel times. Finally, it is worth remembering how the construction of the Salerno-Reggio Calabria line, as well as the Palermo-Catania-Messina line, find their main infrastructural foundation in the construction of the Bridge over the Strait of Messina, surprisingly opposed even by those raising alarms unmotivated on the Salerno-Reggio Calabria railway. Thus a note from MIT.