Italy: Northbound railway traffic from the port of Genoa reinstated next week

The Bastioni and Sommergibile lines that run parallel to each other under the collapsed Morandi bridge, are scheduled to reopen on Thursday, 4 October 2018. The restoration involves four tracks for the northbound movement of goods from the port of Genoa and passengers to Acqui/Ovada and Busalla/Arquata via Sampierdarena/Rivarolo. This reinstates railway traffic to the level before the collapse of the Morandi bridge, with some minor changes to the timetables to be determined by RFI in the next few days, as the tracks of the Succursale line are still blocked by debris.

Work to reopen the northbound freight lines from the port has been carried out by a team of 60 people working in shifts 24 hours a day for 19 consecutive days.

To ensure maximum safety, RFI has followed the request of the expert committee and installed a barrier which is 70m long and 8m high. Furthermore, safety-monitoring sensors placed on the stumps of the bridge are connected to the RFI operations center; they allow RFI to stop the railway traffic at once in the event of a warning signal.

Since the collapse of the bridge, freight transport at the port of Genoa has decreased by 35 percent from the 2017 level. The President of the Port Authority: “We hope for the reopening of rail traffic.”

GK, WKZ, Source Region Liguria

With particular regard to the freight traffic, trains having origin/destination in Genova Marittima (the port terminal) will be managed on an "ad hoc" basis for the coming days, aiming to come to a consolidated program in the shortest possible time.