Il Freight transport is in crisis. With Austria continuing on the road of the Brenner restrictions to the imminent closure of Mont Blanc, passing through the accident in the Gotthard base tunnel on 10 August last, the road and rail crossings of thealpine arc are experiencing a number of critical issues which risk putting the Italian economy at serious risk. But let's go in order.
Over 200 million tons of goods pass through the Alps every year, 66% by road and the remaining 34% by rail. The importance of the Alpine passes, in particular, is therefore well understood Brenner, Tarvisio, Ventimiglia, Frejus, Mont Blanc, Sempione e Gotthard. Depending on the crossing point used, the goods can reach Austria, France or Switzerland and continue on to other destinations throughout Europe. And precisely for this reason the Alpine crossings must not block traffic flows but facilitate them. Instead, there are a number of difficulties such as the restrictions on the Brenner Pass imposed by Austria, or the maintenance work scheduled for the Mont Blanc tunnel (4 September-18 December 2023), without the Frejus Alpine railway representing a valid alternative. To complicate everything, the catastrophic floods in Austria and Slovenia which cut many communication routes. And the spotlights turn on the railway corridor Genoa-Rotterdam, whose terminal section on the southern side of our country is represented by the project Third pass of the Giovi.
Freight train derailment in Switzerland
On August 10, tragedy came close. A wagon of train goods from Chiasso in Mannheim, at the height of an exchange, ha derailed taking along 16 other carriages. All in the gallery. For eight kilometres, the conductor did not notice anything and the accident caused damage to the infrastructure which is still difficult to estimate. There were no injuries and there was no release of dangerous goods, but 20 concrete sleepers were torn up in the derailment causing the interruption of the Gotthard railway pass, a vital corridor.
Traffic is currently being diverted to the scenic route, which means more time. The Swiss Railways have announced that the works to restore the base tunnel will last several months: freight trains should return to transit starting from 23 August, while passenger traffic will continue to be diverted to the Gotthard panoramic line. For a return to normality we will have to wait until the beginning of 2024.
Traffic in fits and starts on Mont Blanc
The story of the Gotthard is, however, only one of the many unfortunate events of this summer. In July mobility in the tunnel of Mont Blanc it was in fits and starts due to maintenance work. For five non-consecutive days, traffic in the tunnel was suspended for eight hours each time. Even at the beginning of August the TRAFFIC remained interrupted once for another four hours. And now the highway tunnel will remain closed for over three months, from 4 September to 18 December 2023. This will have a strong impact on traffic, considering that the tunnel is crossed by an average of 5.250 vehicles a day, 3.600 cars and motorbikes and 1.650 trucks.
The Facchini 1 tunnel of the Third Pass
The spotlights are all on Third Pass. Just one day ago, the Italian Railway Network activated the new gallery Porters 1, located on the section between the crossroads and the Polcevera one, within the Municipality of Genoa. The infrastructure arises from the complete demolition of the historic one: the new tunnel is 137 meters long and will serve to connect the port of Genoa to the new Third Pass of the Giovi which must be completed by December 2025. It is one of the most important railway projects in Italy, 53 kilometers of line, of which 37 in tunnels through the Apennines between Liguria and Piedmont. And in a few years this junction will become strategic for the transport of people and goods between Liguria, Piedmont, Lombardy and the rest of Europe.
This in a few years. Now, however, the transport of goods to and from Italy is facing various critical issues with serious repercussions for the national economy. The proposed solutions aim more than anything else to overcome the problems of the individual crossings, and it seems that in the short term there are no alternatives capable of at least partially replacing the passage of goods from the usual posts. But if the links are missing, then the future is behind us.
