Italy approves rail investments for €5.4bn

Italy’s draft budget law for 2027 allocated €5.43 billion to the national rail network over the next two years. The funds will be sent to infrastructure manager RFI, with the Terzo Valico project getting the largest share of the funds with €1.6 billion. According to article 77 of the bill, the ‘Services’ part of the programme contract will receive €600 million in 2027 and €970 million in 2028 for extraordinary maintenance of the network. The ‘Investments’ part gets €2.19 billion in 2027 and €1.67 billion in 2028. Of these, €1.45 billion is earmarked for programmes “aimed at improving safety and the technological development of the national rail network”.

The rest is divided among four specific projects. On top of the Terzo Valico, the bill sets aside €500 million for the Trento bypass, key to access the future Brenner Base Tunnel. Another €170 million will fund the doubling of three sections of the Naples-Bari line (Frasso Telesino-Telese, Telese-Vitulano and Apice-Orsara), while €140 million goes to the doubling of the Giampilieri-Fiumefreddo section on the Messina-Catania line.

The Terzo Valico funds refer “specifically to the variant made necessary by the significant geomechanical conditions that emerged during construction”, the bill states. The project will receive a further €350 million in 2029 and €500 million in 2030, bringing its total to €2.45 billion over four years. The Messina-Catania doubling gets an extra €40 million in 2029.

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