Three months of closure and the forecast of investments of 23 million euros. It will be another summer of inconvenience for public transport between Bologna and Vignola because from the second week of June, with the closure of schools, trains on the railway that serves the territories of the area between Casalecchio and Vignola will stop due to construction sites restoration of a stretch of roadbed between Ponte Ronca and Chiesa Nuova, damaged by the floods of last May near the Rio Casella and the Rio Podice. But also for the start of preparatory works for the doubling of the tracks between the stations of Casalecchio Garibaldi and Via Lunga di Valsamoggia.
“Unfortunately it is now almost a ‘fixed appointment’ – explains Maurizio Quartieri of the Bologna-Vignola railway users’ association –. Even if this time it is news with a ‘bittersweet’ flavor because, if it is true that the closure was necessary to the reconstruction of that damaged section of roadbed, preparatory works will be started at the same time for the doubling of the track between the Casalecchio Garibaldi and Via Lunga stations, which will then continue in summer 2025, with a new inevitable closure of the section objective of eliminating other level crossings in the Zola territory”.
According to Quartieri, the resumption of investments in the Vignolese infrastructure by the Region is certainly good news given that the final objective is the partial doubling of the track and this will be able to achieve the objective of bringing the train timing to 30 minutes. “It is an improvement whose benefits will be usable by users in the medium-long term because, in addition to the complexity of the intervention in a highly urbanized area, many resources that are currently unavailable will be needed”, continues Quartieri, who observes that in the short term we will have to live with the inconveniences, first of all those resulting from the replacement of trains with bus services which in recent years were entrusted to inadequate vehicles which often then provided a substitution at an insufficient level.
“We therefore ask that all available tools be used to prevent inefficiencies: the possibility of partial and not total closure of the route, the choice of operators capable of guaranteeing certain quality standards (last summer some drivers traveled with a paper map to the identification of stops!), the control over the work of the chosen partners and the strengthening of existing lines”.
