(Finance) – “I hoped to be able intervene quickly in the Chamber in light of a situation that appears objectively worrying and on which the institutions, starting from the FS group, they reacted quickly. When there are inconveniences, the first thing to do is to apologize as done by FS. We have a worrying picture of arson, explosions, breakdowns, breakages, electrical problems. Episodes that occurred with disconcerting regularity and which – look at your luck – after public complaints they no longer occurred, so much so that traffic returned to normal with very rare exceptions, largely caused by bad weather“. This was said by the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Matteo Salvini during the briefing to the Chamber expressingo “maximum support and solidarity to the 92 thousand employees of the FS group and to the women and men of the police force. Every day they are engaged in delicate activities and do not deserve the too many controversies, insinuations and accusations that we have heard in recent weeks.”
At the same time – he added – I want to thank the half a billion travelers who chose our country’s trains in 2024 alone: it is a record figure, growing compared to the past. To all of them, and to those who continue to travel, the promise is that we do and will do everything to guarantee increasingly efficient transport, safe and worthy of a large country like Italy. In this regard, thanks to the collaboration with Paris, I am pleased to confirm the reopening of the Frejus Railway by the end of March”.
“The investments of the Italian Railway Network in 2024 amount to over 10 billion euros, a result that exceeds the budget forecast of 9 billion. What makes this performance possible are the investments in maintenance (30%), the technological upgrading of the network and the investment in stations, says the Minister, underlining that “Compared to 2022, investments in new works have doubled (from 2 .8 to 5.6 billion euros). the first increase was found in 2023, with 3.9 billion new works. In 2020 the value of investments in new works was just 1.5 billion”.
“Let me highlight another aspect, that of extraordinary maintenance. In 2023 we have increased the resources for this chapter to 3.3 billion. An increase compared to the average value of the last 5 years which stood at 2.9 billion euros. To these are added approximately 1.2 billion euros that are accounted for every year for ordinary maintenance. In other words, we are working because this Country cannot tolerate other Morandi Bridges”he added.
There were 8,874 trains in circulation in October 2022, on January 15, 2025, 10,252. Increase of 15.54%. In 2022, there were 616 construction sites for new works, this year they became 673. Increase of 9.25%. In 2022, there were 400 maintenance sites, this year they have become 520. Increase of 30%.
“I am proud to have unblocked works that have been stopped for decades, such as the intervention to erase the real funnel in Florence worth 2.7 billion. An intervention that has received positive comments from administrators of different political colours”.
The Minister who underlined that “all these construction sites have repercussions on traffic. Unlike other European railway networks, where they suspend the lines for months without worrying about how to guarantee alternative mobility, in Italy the infrastructural interventions involve interruptions with shorter times, a strategy to protect the entire community and guarantee the right to mobility. The closures of the lines are necessary to allow maintenance and infrastructural upgrading interventions since they cannot always be limited to night time slots only”.
Finally, Salvini concludes: “I have broad shoulders and I don’t stop if I think I’m right and I’m working for the good of Italy and Italians. I thank all of you for listening, given that even among the opposition there are those who work constructively for a better country, and I guarantee you that in the next three years we will work with the passion and dedication that our extraordinary country deserves”.