Nardella: ‘After more than half a century the tramway returns to the historic center of the city, it is a memorable day’
The tram passes through Piazza San Marco: the technical journey of the tram on the VACS route of the historic center took place this morning.
After system tests on the first section of the Vacs (Variant to the historic center), on Viale Lavagnini, today the tram left from Piazza San Marco continuing until Lavagnini-Fortezza stop where it took place dedication ceremony to Giuseppe ‘Beppe’ Matulli, former deputy mayor and ‘father’ of the tram project.
Present this morning were the mayor Dario Nardella, the councilor for mobility Stefano Giorgetti, managers and technicians of the Municipality.
“I want to thank the companies because they worked hard to meet the objective of bringing the tram to Piazza San Marco. After more than half a century the tramway returns to the historic center of the city, I think it’s a memorable day – said the mayor at the start in San Marco – The works will be completely finished within about a month, and at that point we will have the route 100% completed. The necessary tests will be carried out in the following weeks in order to have the tram in operation already this summer, before schools start. It’s a historic milestone, the tram in the center with the redevelopment of the entire Piazza San Marco and Via Cavour, Why the work with the orange trees is progressing, by the end of the month the main part will be completed with all the trees and stone sidewalks. Thanks to the tramway, the entire entrance quadrant to the historic center to the north is redeveloped.”
“After me, whoever will continue the work of the tramways will provide an extraordinary benefit to the city – continues the mayor – because the goal is to reach 85 million passengers per yearwe reached 41 million in 2023, with elimination of 65 thousand cars from the streets of Florence every day. With the completion of the tram the traffic problem will be drastically reduced and every day we will have 250 thousand Florentines, commuters and workers who will take the tram. It’s a great satisfaction, despite the great difficulty of entering the center with the works we managed to reach this goal too.”
Tramway and road transport. “We are working with Autolinee Toscane so that it is there, also thanks to the purchase of new ones electric knockers, a strong one interconnection between the tram lines and the bussini system so that public mobility is never interrupted, giving citizens the opportunity to quickly change vehicles. When we have the tram running from Piazza San Marco there will no longer be any buses, previously 1800 a day passed. It means less noise, less chaos and fewer road maintenance problems. Many benefits with a tram system that will allow anyone to reach the historic center from the south west, from the Piazza dell’Unità side, or from the north, from the Piazza San Marco side”.
“As regards the political and electoral aspect, we know that Schmidt, the right-wing candidate, does not want tramways, we want them, and we want to see them through. At least there is clarity, on one side that there are those he is against the tramways, he has always said it, on the other hand, those who want to see this work through to completion will be the point on which, more than any other, the Florentines will vote on 8 and 9 June the face, I’m happy, andOn 8 and 9 June we will not only have the vote to choose the next mayor but a real referendum on tramways“, concludes Nardella.
“We are moving towards the completion of the works, via La Marmora is being completed – explained the councilor Giorgetti – there is the possibility of quickly reconnecting Piazza della Libertà too, the month of June will be the month in which the works will be completed, then afterwards there will be the phases related to testing. This start already helps us because system tests can already be carried out to shorten the subsequent phases linked to testing, which however must be carried out on the entire line. So the end of June-early July is the end of the works and then testing. After the tests it will be operational, we cannot say how long the commission will take for the testing. Through the new studies we have done along this line we will recover parking areas in via La Marmora, in via della Dogana for residents, loading/unloading points in Piazza San Marco”.
The test trip arrived at Lavagnini-Fortezza stop, which has now been named after Beppe Matulli, in the presence of friends and family. “The memory of Beppe Matulli is a gesture that I cared about very much, born from a proposal by the mayor Leonardo Domenici who during the funeral of Matulli, who we all affectionately called the tramway councilor, proposed naming a stop on the new line after him. We immediately accepted the proposal and today we name the stop in viale Lavagnini closest to the Fortezza a Matulli”, said Nardella.
The line
The section includes a double track route which, starting from the junction of Viale Strozzi of the T1 Line, runs entirely along Viale Lavagnini, passes around Piazza della Libertà up to the beginning of Viale Matteotti, where the two tracks separate . The outward track towards the historic center goes down via Cavour to Piazza San Marco, then goes up along via La Pira-via La Marmora, until it reaches viale Matteotti again where it finds the double track. The total length is approximately 2.5 km and there are 6 stops.
