We are entering a decisive month for Palermo tram system. The June 30th in fact it should be delivered there executive planning of the first scheduled lines. The Municipality’s technicians are working together with those of Sys, the Italian-Spanish company that will take care of the construction sites, to define the final details. As already announced in recent weeks, the first lot of phase two includes five sections. Interventions should start at September 2024 and they should conclude within four yearswith the definition of the excavations of the E1 line. In between there will be work for the C linethe B linethe first section of the line A and for those of the F line. Portion of the project necessary to complete the closure of the tram ring. The objective remains to convince the average Palermo resident to give up his car. To do this, however, many parking spaces will be needed. Element on which the tram system game will be played.
Palermo tram system, waiting for the executive design
In recent weeks, the editorial staff of BlogSicilia had brought you to know the first details about C line, a section that will connect the current branch of via Pitrè to the Central Station. A key step for the structure in question will be to guarantee connections to or from viale Regione Siciliana through the Basile junction. At the moment, the options on the technicians’ table are various: from a possible underpass to the use of a modification of the existing junction, passing through the creation of an elevated artery. Definitive certainty will only come with the definition of the executive design. Document in which the timetable and steps of the construction site will necessarily be indicated.
Excavations which will affect a large portion of the city and which will allow the upper half-ring of the tram to be closed. Eleven kilometers of railway line which will practically allow you to move from the Central Station to the Notarbartolo Station, circumnavigating the city. But the interventions will not be limited only to this, as the councilor for Sustainable Mobility Maurizio Carta explained on Friday 31 May. “Where the tram will pass, the complementary works will also arrive which will make it possible to fix roads, sidewalks and street furniture. Furthermore, we are imagining that new functions can be placed around the new lines, avoiding a concentration of offices and activities only in the centre”.
Carta: “Today the user is too specific”
The objective, according to Carta, is to make the Palermo tram a reference system for the entire city. “To date it is used by a very specific application“, admitted the representative of the Lagalla Council. A significant consideration given that the work in question, once completed, should guarantee the use of approximately 20 million tickets per year. A process that will be long and which passes through the fate of the first package of works. It will open, as mentioned above, with line C. Then it will continue with the B line. A section that will connect the Notarbartolo station to the Giachery station and which will allow the upper semi-ring to be joined to the lower one in the future. Not a small operation, also considering the interventions that are affecting the Palermo metro train.
“Together with RFI, we are accelerating all the procedures to complete the railway ring – highlighted Maurizio Carta -. An important work that will allow you to move around the center without using the car. The railway link will be another key element, as it will become a backbone for crossing the city.” And, speaking of crossings, line B will guarantee a direct connection between two of the key stops on the railway ring. However, there is a problem to be solved, namely theimpact that the construction site will have on traffic. In fact, Via Notarbartolo is one of the busiest arteries in Palermo. It constitutes one of the few connection axes between the port axis and the ring road.
The challenges of line B
An element not to be underestimated especially in light of the effects that the tram has had on the city’s traffic in the past. To cite an example, the first that comes to mind is the bottleneck that was created on the bridge of the Notarbartolo station. A funnel that causes inconvenience to thousands of motorists on a daily basis. An issue on which, at the beginning of May, the mayor Roberto Lagalla announced interventions that will be included in the general restyling that will affect the Notarbartolo terminal. Initially, the Administration had thought of asking the Region to use part of the FSC funds to double the viaduct above the Notarbartolo station. An operation which, however, over time, was deemed too burdensome from a bureaucratic point of view. It was therefore decided to turn towards another solution, simpler but which at the same time could allow us to gain precious meters. The portion of the tram line that crosses the bridge it should become barrier-free and single-lane.
Tram in Palermo, the match is played on the parking lots
But the tram is not just railway lines, but above all ancillary works. The idea behind the infrastructure is to convince the citizen of Palermo to travel by public transport. Fact that leads to a logical necessity: i parking lots. Spaces that the city needs like bread but are difficult to find. Seven new interchange car parks are included within the tram project. But at least for the moment, the tenders carried out for the assignment of the works have been unsuccessful. A fact on which the Administration was not discouraged. Indeed, councilor Maurizio Carta relaunches the objectives of the project. “We have included another element, namely an interchange parking plan. Twenty new facilities are planned. Some exist and need to be improved, others need to be created from scratch. Six will be on the ring road, so as to also reduce entry traffic. Seven car parks will instead be located around the historic centre, in order to facilitate the use of the ZTL. The rest will be around the central area. By adding these elements, you have an idea of a city in which sustainable mobility becomes a real alternative.”
