(Finance) – The Public Debate stops in Calabria to accompany the doubling of the Cosenza-Paola / San Lucido railway section. The geographical area affected by the interventions – reports Fs News, the information portal of the FS Group – is made up of the municipalities of Paola, San Lucido, Rende, Montalto Uffugo, San Vincenzo la Costa and San Fili, which fall entirely within the Province of Cosenza .
In the “Jole Santelli” room of the regional citadel of Catanzaro, the institutional subjects directly involved intervened today, in order to illustrate the objectives and methods of carrying out the initiative. At the opening of the proceedings were present, among others, the president of the Calabria Region Roberto Occhiuto; the president of the National Public Debate Commission, Caterina Cittadino in remote connection; the managing director of RFI and extraordinary commissioner for the construction of the work, Vera Fioraniand the Coordinator of the Public Debate Roberto Zucchetti.
“With the launch of the Public Debate of the Cosenza-Paola / San Lucido section, the path for the construction of the Salerno-Reggio Calabria High Speed line continues, a strategic work to improve connections between the South and the rest of the network – he underlined Fiorani -. The completion of the section, with the Santomarco tunnel, will make it possible to increase the levels of accessibility to the railway system and the high-speed network and to enhance the connections between the coast and the province of Cosenza. Crucial both for freight traffic to Gioia Tauro and for the establishment of a metropolitan passenger service for the innermost areas of Calabria, up to the Jonica ridge “.
“We have agreed with the mayors the dates and places of these appointments, open to the whole population and not only to experts. We will begin the meetings with an exposition by the technicians of the various aspects of the project; we will then open a phase of questions from part of the public, entering into the merits to give answers as exhaustive as possible – he said Zucchetti -. Finally, as happened in the Public Debate of Lot 1A Battipaglia-Romagnano, we expect a break from the lines: on the table, the project papers will be unfolded, to allow those present to consult them closely, under the guidance of RFI technicians “.
THE COSENZA-PAOLA / SAN LUCIDO SECTION – It is the first Calabrian section that is part of the new HS Salerno-Reggio Calabria line. The infrastructure – explains FS News – promotes the continuity and strengthening of a strategic passenger and freight itinerary for the connection between the South and the North of the Peninsula through the back corridor, the main axis of the country and an important piece of the Scandinavian – Mediterranean corridor. The doubling of the Cosenza – Paola / San Lucido section, which prefigures the construction of the new Santomarco tunnel and a new stop, represents one of the fundamental elements in the design of a broader scenario that sees the creation of a modern and sustainable infrastructure system for the South, able to respond to the mobility needs of a large interregional basin.
“Fundamental to the construction of the work – underlines FS News – will be the participatory process that will affect the territories directly crossed by the new line more closely. The technical characteristics, benefits, impacts and mitigation solutions will be at the center of meetings with citizens and with the local administrations involved in the new Salerno-Reggio Calabria HS railway. The traffic that will affect the new Santomarco tunnel will consist of High Speed services towards the Crotone area (evolution of the existing HS connections with Sibari) to which connections with Cosenza may be added , regional services between the Tyrrhenian towns and the Cosenza capital, freight connections between the San Ferdinando terminal and the intermodal hubs in the north of the country, which use routes along the Adriatic ridge.
Following the meetings, the institutions, associations and individuals will be invited to send further questions and written comments to the Coordinator, which will be published on the official website of the procedure and submitted to Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (FS Group) for an answer that will flow into the final report of the Public Debate.