BOLZANO. It was 2010 when people started talking about a “light metro” towards Merano, capable of shortening travel times and decisive in eliminating vehicles from the streets.
Perhaps – it is the old and never-ending request of the residents – with the collateral advantage of doubling the train stops in Casanovaevery half hour instead of every hour.
Fourteen years later, yesterday on the tables of the sala Ortlesin Anne Frank Square, Sta technicians have unrolled the preliminary design papers. The time horizon is equally long – 2035, that of the Sustainable Mobility Plan – and the objective is ambitious, to increase the annual capacity from today’s 2,195,220 passengers to 4.254.581 once the work is finished, with times reduced from 41-44 minutes to 26.
And the Casanova stop? In the Province, the prevailing idea is to accompany it to the Rfi project. Otherwise, according to the technicians’ calculations, connections would be missed and delays would accumulate.
Massimiliano Valleproject manager at Sta, shows two maps. The first describes the intensity of road traffic, which is highest between Bolzano and Merano, the second shows train travel, which is important especially where the train is a valid alternative to the highway, i.e. between Bolzano and Bressanone.
“The data demonstrates the potential of doubling the railway,” he says. Therefore the doubling is “A decisive piece” in the councilor’s strategy Alfreider. The costs will be borne by RFi.
How large the outlay will be is not yet known. Five years ago it was 200 million euros. Much will also depend on the variations and expropriations to be paid to the owners of the orchards along the route. So yesterday, along with the technicians from Sta and the Province, they too were there, the farmers, studying the maps, alongside the residents gathered in the Casanova Laboratory committee.
”It’s not just the needs of the farmers. They will be paid for their land,” he notes Valter Rigon. Con Casanova Laboratory for years he has been fighting for the train to stop every half hour even in the neighborhood. By train you can reach the city center in 11 minutes compared to 40 by bus during rush hour. Between Casanova, Firmian, district Otler/Similaun e Via Resia we are talking about a potential of 10 thousand users.
Among the project’s knots, the most complicated is that of TerlanoFarmers would like the new track to run on the old route, while others would not mind a station closer to the town centre.
Valle highlights an advantage: “Terlano has three stops, two of which are on-demand. With the doubling, the train will always stop at Settequerce and Vilpiano”. However, the stop on curves must be straightened.
This is established by the technical parameters of EU regulations. “We are in contact with the mayors – he explains Alexander Alberdirector of the Infrastructure Office – so that they can help us understand the needs of each municipality”. Those of those who deal with ecology are already clear. Renaturalize areas along the Adige.
“This project is an opportunity to do so,” explains the director of the Environmentalists Federation Hanspeter Stafflerwhile observing the maps. The next appointments: today in the town hall of Postal, July 4th at the Raiffeinsen of Terlano, July 5th in the civic hall of via Huber in Merano, always from 2 to 8 pm.
Satisfied Martin Vallazza, director of the Infrastructure Department: “We are gradually approaching an optimized path”. RFI will incorporate the information collected during the information days into future works.
