If the Gotthard tunnel, the flagship of Corridor 1 of the European railway network (the "Rhine-Alps", which will connect, at full capacity in 2020, Rotterdam and Genoa, and will connect freight rails for 80 million people touching 5 countries and a total of 2.700 billion of GDP), on 11 December 2016 it will be the longest railway tunnel in the world in service (the works will end in June 2016), the merit is not only of Switzerland and the European Union.
Indeed, if it is true that, thanks to the agreement just signed between Peter Fuglistaler of the Swiss Transport Office and the managing director of Rfi Maurizio Gentile, Bern will fully undertake the upgrading of the infrastructure on the Luino-Gallarate line (the Italian side of the outlet of the Gotthard) for the sum of 120 million euros, it is also true that Italy, as also underlined by the deputy minister of Transport Riccardo Nencini present at the annual conference on the state of the project held in Genoa, does not hold back.
“In recent decades – Nencini recalled – the State has invested 70 billion in the railway network, of which 70% has gone to works that have already been completed. Now this The Government has allocated another 6 billion for the three-year period 2013-2016 to build and make the third crossing operational by 2020 (the one that completes Corridor 1 by connecting Milan and Genoa across the Apennines, editor's note): the first two lots, for a total of 1,6 billion, have already been disbursed, while for the third tranche, 200 million have already been advanced in the Unblock decree Italy and another conspicuous part will come from the Stability Law”.
The third tranche was assigned with the condition that the works begin by June 2015, to speed up the timing: "We want to get in order and we are doing it", reiterates the deputy minister, also supported by the Strategic Director of RFI, Nannina Ruiu: "We have no complex, we are also participating: the third pass and Luino will be ready in 2020”. In fact, if Switzerland has advanced money to ensure the adaptation of tracks and tunnels in the part of Italian territory immediately close to the Gotthard, Italy is already working on the other outlets with 500 million invested by Rfi to adapt the Simplon and Noise.
It is mostly (except in the case of Luino where a track must also be added to the existing one) of extension works of tunnels and stations to reach a 4-metre gauge, the one necessary for the transit of trains of maximum capacity. “Often in fact – explains the engineer Maurizio Gentile, CEO of Rete Ferroviaria Italiana – these infrastructures are confused with the TAV: here we are not talking about high speed but about high capacity, which is very different. If tunnels are needed to allow convoys 4 meters high to pass, it is because they carry more goods, and if they carry more goods they are heavier and therefore cannot face slopes. Therefore, longer and wider tunnels must be built".
Always in full respect of the environment, however. While in fact in Val di Susa the situation is out of control, in Switzerland the project has been certified entirely eco-sustainable: the tunnels have a guarantee of 100 years of life without maintenance thanks to the various linings, made with concrete aggregated to the excavated material (28,2 billion tons, enough to fill a long train from Zurich to Chicago!), and all the vehicles used for construction sites have been equipped with anti-noise and anti-dust filters, as well as sound-absorbing walls have been installed on all outdoor routes.
To tell the truth however, at least on the Swiss side, high speed will also be guaranteed for passengers: the almost 60 km of the Gotthard, which cost Bern 12 billion euros (18 billion the total cost of the Alp Transit which also includes Lotschberg and Monte Ceneri), will be covered at full capacity at a speed of 250 km/h. But it is undoubtedly from a commercial point of view that the project is more ambitious: the new work will allow the passage of 250 freight trains compared to the current 180, with a reduction of the route by 30 km (which means one hour less travel time).
A revolution that cannot yet be quantified in terms of economic benefits, but on which the EU is betting a lot. The billions in all necessary for the construction of the so-called Ten-T, the maxi railway network including 9 corridors that will connect Europe far and wide, touching 94 ports and 38 airports for a total of 15 thousand km of rails, are at least 250, part of which the Union has already taken over. Currently, 26 billion euros have been allocated, of which 11 for Eastern countries and 15 for Western countries: of these 15, no less than 12 will be disbursed by February 2015 (subject to presentation of projects). And this is, at the moment, the single largest tender from Brussels for infrastructure. So much so that it was at the center of the discussion recently held in Milan between the EU transport and infrastructure ministers, during which, beyond the commitments already made and the efforts of the national governments, the usual criticality emerged: and the over 200 billion to be paid by individual countries?
“Minister Lupi – explained Deputy Nencini – expressly asked (together with his colleagues in France and Spain, ed) that these investments, which we are already partially guaranteeing, could be considered in derogation from the Stability Pact in calculating the deficit. We are referring not only to the third pass but also to the Turin-Lyon and the Brenner pass. Unfortunately there wasn't an answer, and I think it will be negative”. Once again, even in the context of major works, the austerity-flexibility rift has emerged, which has seen the Northern countries (Holland, Belgium and Germany, those involved in Corridor 1) turn up their noses in the face of this request. While trying to connect people and goods, we are still divided on how to do it.
