The finishing tape for the Terzo Valico dei Giovi railway line in Italy has been moved further ahead once again. It has now shifted to 2029. In truth, this forecast is not entirely sudden or unexpected, as the delay to the completion of the works had long been regarded as inevitable. But there is now a formal and authoritative indication, as it has come from Calogero Mauceri, the extraordinary commissioner overseeing the delivery of the project, who in the past has always been cautious in making forecasts about the completion of the Terzo Valico.
The excavations will be completed in spring 2027 and the line will be ready for testing and pre-operational running during 2028. The new timetable was outlined during a meeting between commissioner Mauceri and Mathieu Grosch, the European coordinator of the Mediterranean TEN-T Corridor, during a visit to Liguria. Less than one kilometre of excavation is reportedly still outstanding. Two sections remain to be completed: Castagnola-Cravasco, where 240 metres are still missing on a single track, and Castagnola-Val Lemme, covering 640 metres, where excavation has been slowed, if not halted altogether, by the presence of gas in the tunnel and by the stoppage of mechanical tunnel boring machines due to the geological difficulties encountered.
The extraordinary commissioner expects the excavations to be completed in spring 2027, while another year will be needed for track-laying and for all the technological equipment, including electric traction, signalling and safety systems. The testing and pre-operational phase will then begin. Its duration is difficult to assess because it involves several institutional bodies, but at this stage it is realistic to expect the Terzo Valico to be inaugurated no earlier than 2029.
The new high-capacity rail crossing through the Ligurian Apennines can therefore wait. Nor do the other infrastructure upgrade works planned between Genoa and Milan: appear to be faring any better. These include the quadrupling of the section between Milano Rogoredo and Pavia and the one between Voghera and Tortona. The first, extending for just under 30 kilometres, is divided into two phases, the first of which covers a route of just 11 kilometres as far as Pieve Emanuele. Here, the completion of the works currently under way, initially aligned with the deadlines of the Pnrr (National Recovery and Resilience Plan), is behind schedule and has slipped to December 2028. As for the second section to Pavia, it is not even possible to make a forecast. Finally, between Tortona, where the Terzo Valico connects, and Voghera, a new pair of tracks will be laid alongside the existing ones over a length of 16 kilometres. Completion of the project is scheduled for 2030, but as of September 2026 the works had still not been awarded.
Piermario Curti Sacchi
