A third of Abruzzo’s municipalities are far from motorways and trains

Recently, the public debate became animated following the complex process of upgrading the Rome-Pescara railway line, a project initially foreseen within the national recovery and resilience plan which however was excluded from funding following the revision of the floor.

But these are issues that have always been much discussed within the region. The presence of transport infrastructures is a central aspect when talking about the marginality or peripherality of local communities and territorial planning, both with a view to improving the lives of citizens and to increase the competitiveness of businesses. It is no coincidence that one of the elements that defines the pole municipalities within the classification of internal areas is precisely the presence of a silver-type railway station.

However, the presence or absence of these infrastructures does not completely exhaust the debate. The possibility of reaching mobility access such as railway stations or motorway toll booths with ease and not excessive travel times is another theme, directly connected to the previous one and with implications on numerous other aspects, such as depopulation or the economic competitiveness of the region.

The accessibility of mobility infrastructures

Before delving into the situation in Abruzzo, it is important to define what is meant by accessibility. Among the numerous methods that can be used, Istat has defined a matrix based on a methodology proposed in an OECD study. In this context of analysis, the ease with which mobility infrastructures can be reached is given by two main components: absolute accessibility (the ability to reach the station or toll booth within a pre-established maximum time) and proximity (the presence or less of an infrastructure within a certain time). The first therefore defines the possibility of having an efficient connection to reach toll booths or railway stations, the other the actual proximity of this type of structure.

These two elements are linked to various possible interventions that can benefit the communities present in the territories. In the first case, in fact, the greatest need is to create and strengthen connections with the station or toll booth, while in the second case the construction of mobility infrastructures makes up for the problem more. Before continuing with the analysis, it is important to note that not all train stations were considered in the analysis. In fact, Istat only took into consideration the stations where passenger service is provided and where regional or long-distance trains pass. Only stations where there are at least 3 trains per day were considered.

In Abruzzo, the municipalities with accessible and nearby motorway networks and railway stations are 30, equal to 9.8% of the total. In 2022, 42.1% of the region’s population lives in these territories (537,652 residents). A clear element that shows how much the centralization of the population also depends on the presence or absence of services. The worst condition, however, is that of municipalities where these infrastructures are neither accessible nor nearby.

A situation in which he falls approximately 1 in 3 Abruzzo municipalities and which involves 136,334 inhabitants in the regional territory (10.7% of residents).

As regards the incidence of municipalities, Abruzzo is the sixth region in Italy and exceeds the average calculated at national level by 10.3 percentage points. Even at a population level the value exceeds the Italian one (by 2.3 percentage points). In this case, the region is the eighth in Italy in terms of incidence.

The link between mobility and depopulation

Mobility is a crucial service for community development. The lack of capillarity of such an important infrastructure forces those who need it to lengthen travel times in such a way that they no longer consider it advantageous to use the service itself and instead make the idea of ​​moving more attractive.

As we have already explored, the region itself is becoming depopulated and future prospects point to an even more serious scenario. However, it is a phenomenon that is distributed heterogeneously. In central-southern Italy, the Apennine areas are among the most affected. A process that began in the last century and continued almost inexorably, with few exceptions. This led to a reduction in the population of a portion of the territory.

However, the process directly affects the very characteristics of rural areas and raises questions for decision makerswhich must bring this type of service to an area where the population is declining and therefore a cost-benefit balance is unfavorable.

To capture the trends of recent years, it is possible to compare the demographic trend of the population with the condition of accessibility and proximity of railway stations and motorways. Considering the municipalities with the most isolated situation both for rail transport and motorway access, the population decline between 2015 and 2022 is equal to 8.7%. A decrease that is five percentage points larger than the regional average (-3.8%).

It is possible to go into detail, trying to understand the differences between access to vehicles. Providing a general overview, between 2015 and 2022 there are 28 municipalities that show population growth, 276 where there is a decline and 1 where it is stable. Analyzing the condition of access to the motorway, the majority of municipalities in which the population has grown are located in areas of the region where the infrastructure is accessible and close (17, 60.7%) and 6 instead in the more distant areas and with less possibility of reaching. However, as regards the municipalities where the population has decreased, a double dynamic is noted: out of the 276 municipalities considered, 122 are located in accessible and nearby areas (44.2%) while 118 in non-accessible and not nearby areas (the 42.8%).

Different situation however for railway stationswhere the municipalities with population growth are mainly either in accessible and nearby territory (10) or not accessible and not nearby (10). However, the condition of the municipalities with a negative percentage is clearer, where the majority are in inaccessible and not nearby areas (154, 55.8%) but there are also several where there is a problem of accessibility of the infrastructure but not of distance (88, 31.9%).

It is clear that a good part of the municipalities furthest from these infrastructures are located within mountainous areas which, as we have recently explored, are also among those most affected by the phenomenon of depopulation. In the case of motorways, the majority of municipalities are located in areas where the infrastructure is inaccessible and distant (86 municipalities out of 166 in the internal mountain area). As regards the railway stations, 97 are in the most complex condition of isolation while for the remaining 69 the service is not excessively distant but difficult to access.

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Photo by Antonio Martinetti on Flickr – License