“The Tuscany Region will develop a feasibility project to build the Prato-Peretola tram train. The funding may come from the tender opened a few weeks ago by the Ministry of Infrastructure and which expires on 31 October”. This was announced by the president of the Tuscany Region Eugenio Giani in Prato, in a meeting with the centre-left mayoral candidate for the municipal elections Ilaria Bugetti, who included the infrastructure in her electoral programme. Also present was the mayor of Prato Matteo Biffoni. As Giani explained, the metro tram “integrates with the Florentine tram system”, will leave from Prato station, pass through Campi Bisenzio, Osmannoro and arrive in Peretola. Compared to the Peretola-Pecci tramway project that he spoke about in 2020, at the time of the regional elections, the current plan under study “reverses the route priority, first the stretch from Prato station to the beginning of the municipal area of Campi Bisenzio and then the one from Osmannoro to Peretola. The first lot – explained Governor Giani – is approximately 8-10 km, of which 5 are in the Prato area. The overall route would cover 16 km. “Already next Monday there will be professional assignments worth 250 thousand euros which the regional council will assign and I have already talked about it, finding agreement, in the supervisory table on the development of the tram routes”. Giani added that “it will be a different means of transport from the Florence tramway. We will have a metro tram with stops every 400-500 meters in the less densely populated areas and with a commercial speed of up to 70 km per hour”. The estimated cost of the work is equal to 800-900 million euros, said the President of the Region, who specified: “It is difficult to say and I prefer to abstain from setting the times because we rely on a ministerial tender which did not specify times and amount of financing”.
“We included this infrastructure in the electoral program because mobility is central – said the mayoral candidate Ilaria Bugetti – and to conceive large projects you need to have a path and a history that allow you to participate in European or national tenders as in this case said the president, and if you don’t have the projects ready for tenders, don’t participate. It is a golden opportunity to put Prato back at the center of mobility in the connection with Florence, for tourist and economic development, to connect Prato to high speed, alleviating car traffic as much as possible and trying to give a boost that together with local public transport it makes our city more dynamic,” said Bugetti.
