High-speed tourism, in 4 hours from Munich to Lake Garda: yes to the railway project

07 August 2023

Small route (about ten minutes by train), big yield: green light for the construction of the Rovereto-Riva railway link, included among MIT's strategic works. On 20 July last, the small but very important railway link (active until 1936) passed the technical screening for inclusion among the strategic works for railway mobility agreed between the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport and the Italian railway network with a high score. The project can therefore enter the next stage of the ministerial process, which concerns its inclusion (with funding) in the programme contract between the ministry and RFI. It is 27 km in all: 5 between Rovereto and Mori, another 9 up to Torbole, and then 13 up to the terminus, which will be located between Riva and Arco, in an area yet to be identified.

RFI's green light is a fundamental technical step. The ministry will now be able to include the project in the list of those to be financed and proceed with the agreement for planning and construction. At the end of the day, it will be a real tourist board: a Bavarian citizen will be able, for example, to get on his bike at the Munich station and in little more than four hours by train to reach the lake to enjoy a holiday on the Garda cycle path, which in those very parts, between the Upper Garda Park Riviera, Riva and Torbole, is able to offer unique routes.
 

Sustainable project
 

The intervention of European significance will in fact be useful for sustainable mobility as well as for the development of the Upper Garda tourist area, bringing benefits to the entire Garda basin and the connections through the Brenner line. "This is a substantial step forward in the shared path that saw the signing of the protocol with RFI in 2021, regarding the hypothesis of an intervention that was then the subject of a feasibility study and a cost-benefit analysis," emphasises the president of the Autonomous Province of Trento, Maurizio Fugatti. "The Rovereto-Riva rail link is an infrastructure that goes in the direction of greater environmental sustainability.
According to up-to-date figures, the project involves an immediate investment of 230 million euros, out of a total calculated cost of 317 million, for an overall return in terms of economic benefits of 450 million euros. The new line is estimated to have an average daily transport capacity of 6,700 passengers and peak times of 10,000. To make a comparison, the Brenner line between Trento and Verona has an average of 15,000 passengers, for about a hundred trains a day: "This is a particularly important moment for our area," emphasises the mayor of Riva del Garda Cristina Santi. "Carrying out this project is fundamental for the entire Upper Garda area, it favours sustainability and a type of mobility that is as environmentally compatible as possible. It is clear that our road system is congested. For the future of our area, rail mobility and the connection to the Brenner Pass will be increasingly decisive'.
Satisfaction is also expressed at the Salò district headquarters of the Garda Community: "This is the right recipe for rail mobility to facilitate access to the gates of Lake Garda," admits Pierlucio Ceresa, secretary general of the Garda Community. "Something similar is also happening in Veneto, where the region has already undertaken a feasibility programme by rail linking Verona-Villafranca with Peschiera or Lazise. The same thing has started on the Brescia side with the pre-feasibility study commissioned to the University of Brescia with the connection from the city to Lake Garda, for now as far as Tormini".


Read full article at: : https://www.bresciaoggi.it/territorio-bresciano/garda/turismo-ad-alta-velocita-in-4-ore-da-monaco-al-garda-si-al-progetto-ferroviario-1.10217741#:~:text=Piccola%20tratta%20(una%20decina%20di,le%20opere%20strategiche%20del%20MIT