CREMONA – In a city council marked by the absence of 12 out of 32 elected officials, the motion presented by the PD group leader did not receive unanimity Roberto Poli in which the «maximum support for Cremonese commuters». However, the document was approved with 15 yes votes and 5 abstentions. Together with the majority he voted Claudia Monteverdicandidate with FdI and passed to the Mixed Group.
There are four points on which the motion requests action from the regional councilor Frank Shiny: «Reopen the Cremona-Piacenza connection; equip the lines with new vehicles; prepare a replacement service plan that takes into consideration the use and strengthening of other railway lines and routes in consideration of the expected closure of the Cremona-Codogno line for the doubling of the line; review the methods of obtaining the railway bonus whose recent changes have made the bonus (in case of train delay, ed.) much more complex to request».
Poli also stigmatized the Region’s award of the service to Trenord without tender for another ten years. On the question of the transition from automatic bonus to compensation on request, Simona Sommi (Lega) attacked: «It is specious to ask Milan to review the bonus. The Region has complied with a resolution of the Transport Regulatory Authority.” Sommi then added that Lombardy is the only region “to have raised the compensation quota to 30% of the cost of monthly and annual season tickets”.
For Carlo Malvezzi (Forza Italia) «two elements are needed for a decent service: the first is rolling stock and the Region has put 154 new trains into circulationof which several are intended for our lines, with a total investment of approximately 1.7 billion euros. The other element is infrastructure. Everyone is doing their part. Assignment without tender? You are not in a position to give lessons because you did the same for the sale of LGH.” In a subsequent note, Malvezzi condemned: «It is unacceptable and squalid that the Cremonese left continues to exploit the sacrifices of Cremonese commuters. The Galimberti-Virgilio council, which would like to set itself up as a champion of commuters, is the first to ignore their needs: in 5 years it has not even been able to complete a car park in the former tramway area.”
The Mobility Councilor Simona Pasquali he underlined that an interruption of approximately 4 and a half years is expected for the construction of the first lot of the railway doubling. The Municipality has already asked to know what temporary solutions are envisaged. It is not conceivable that the replacement vehicle is only the bus, which is insufficient for all commuters. Hence the request to evaluate a solution that strengthens the lines in other directions: in particular the Brescia-Cremona-Piacenza (with the possibility of passage of multi-storey trains), the Cremona – Parma and the Cremona-Treviglio. For this reason, was the councilor’s appeal, a unanimous vote of the Council can strengthen our proposals.
As for the bonus, Pasquali explained that the Authority’s indication is a possibility and not an obligation. Poli added: «I expected a gesture of coherence and generosity from the center-right. And appealing to the Agency for the Bonus is a scramble for a Region that has always moved with great autonomy on other issues.” Poli then defined as «Embarrassing» the local center-right which «to defend the regional council defends the indefensible. Fortunately, the usual divisions of the centre-right led Councilor Monteverdi to vote in favor of the motion.”
Tags: City Council support #commuters #unanimity
