“Today is a very important day for Tuscany and the North Tyrrhenian port network,” said Port Network Authority president, Luciano Guerrieri, commenting the beginning of the work on the Livorno railway overpass that, once operational, will provide a direct link between the port of Livorno and Guasticce freight village.
During the work commencement ceremony, attended by, among others, the president of Tuscany Regional Administration, Eugenio Giani, Mr. Guerrieri thanked the Regional Administration and the Italian Railway Network (RFI) for having firmly believed in the project and for having financially supported it, which will cost a total of 27 million euros.
The president of the ports of Livorno and Piombino pointed out the strategic nature of the project which “significantly increases the port’s logistical value, enhancing the freight village.”
This is a one-and-a-half-kilometre section of track with a 14-span railway bridge. The route from the port to the freight village is currently interrupted by the Pisa-Rome railway line. The overpass will solve this problem, with a direct link between the port and the freight village.
“Our objective,” Mr Guerrieri added,”is not only to reduce transport times between the port and the freight village, but also to manage to up our intermodal traffic. In 2022, Livorno port recorded a 35.8% increase in the total number of terminal trains. We can soon expect to further improve on this.”
The construction site was opened this morning, near Calambrone Station. Completion is scheduled for the first half of 2024. However, the track cannot be put down before the end of next year, once the verification, certification and testing have been completed.
In Mr. Guerrieri’s view, “the overpass is the first important part of the ‘Raccordo’ project, which, once completed, will connect Guasticce freight village with the Pisa-Collesalvetti-Vada railway line’.
A fundamental project, “financed (under the RFI 2023-2026 programme contract) thanks to the teamwork between Tuscany Regional Administration, the municipalities involved, the Port Network Authority and the freight village,” he said
There is also much more on the cards, however. Mr Guerrieri explained how the Port Network Authority is working on drafting its Rail Plan with the aim of improving the infrastructure serving its terminals and quays.
The devising of the project planning (feasibility study and preliminary design) for the reorganization and upgrading of the railway infrastructure of the ports of Livorno and Piombino was adjudicated in July 2021 and completed in December 2022. The infrastructure will cost approximately €70 million.
“We are preparing to transform Livorno into a modern railway port,” he concluded. The target? “Being able to transport more and more goods by rail: not only containers but also semi-trailers; the traffic which the port is a reference point for in the Mediterranean.”
Translation by Giles Foster