"Moving the Future": Merano - Malles Venosta Railway Restoration

Best Practice

Topics

• Mobility

Short description

* Project updated on 25 April 2007 according to information from the project contact persons * The Val Venosta railway line from Merano to Malles (a 60 km-long stretch) was closed in 1991 by Italy’s state railway company (Ferrovie dello Stato) and given over in 1999 to the Independent Province. The project included reorganising, modernising and reopening the line in order to boost commuter and tourist mobility in the region. A total of 61 bridges and 2 tunnels have been overhauled, 54 level crossings rebuilt (replacing the 85 originally located along the line), the superstructure replaced and the safety and signalling systems redesigned, the latter now boasting the best technologies available for a regional railway line.

---

Project executive

see below

---

Participants

The project was entirely promoted and developed by the Independent Province of Bolzano. Throughout the duration of the project, the local bodies through whose territories the railway line passes were periodically called in and consulted.

Objectives

The aim of this project was to offer the approximately 30,000 inhabitants of the Val Venosta valley a modern railway service, not only to boost mobility within the valley itself, but also to promote sustainable tourism and agriculture. Over the years Val Venosta, whose strong point lies in a well preserved landscape, has developed a "soft" form of tourism, in particular cycling tourism. Val Venosta is also a great producer of apples (about 280,000 tons a year), which are exported both to Northern Italy and to Central Europe and which can, at least in part, be transported by rail. Strengthening railway transportation in the area is a useful way of rebalancing the motor versus rail equilibrium. The Bolzano Provincial Council has set the target of 1.8 million passengers travelling on the Merano-Malles railway line by 2010.

Activities

The project is split into a series of activities, which include planning and implementing the interventions required to reopen the line, purchasing new rolling stock, managing the network and ultimately providing the service.

Process

The project is split into a series of phases, which include the strategic decision to reopen the railway line, planning and implementing the project, purchasing rolling stock, planning the transportation service and providing the service.

Results

The main result of this project is the reopening of the railway line, which had been closed for over ten years, by the established deadline. An average of around 100,000 passengers a month availed of this service during the opening months. This figure goes way beyond the most optimistic expectations, and is proof of the worth of the project.

Evaluation

The efficiency, service quality and costs of the project will be periodically assessed. No evaluation reports have as yet been written. As regards quality of service, passenger satisfaction is so far the only indicator available. Efficiency indicators register a 90% success in punctuality.

Difficulties

The local communities were initially wary of the whole project, but their fears were allayed when they realised they were being kept constantly informed as to the status of the project and made feel involved. In terms of the project itself, the main difficulties encountered lay in choosing the signalling, safety and traffic management technologies best suited to a line specifically conceived and developed to offer a regional service. Nowadays, most railway technologies focus on high speed solutions. The difficulties encountered were tackled by adapting available technologies and developing original solutions in line with the project’s objectives.

Budget

M€116 (Euro)

Financial backer

Reopening the line cost a total of M€116, M€91 of which were spent for overhauling and modernising the infrastructure and M€24 for purchasing rolling stock. The cost was almost entirely borne by the Independent Province of Bolzano (with a M€5 contribution from the Italian Ministry of Finance).

Source of information

Competition

Participant at the 2005 Future in the Alps competition

Homepage

http://www.sad.it/treni_public/ http://www.vinschgauerbahn.it/index_i.asp

Publication

“Il treno in Val Venosta”, Editore ETR, Salò BS, 2005 “Vinschgaubahn Neuer Schub nach 99 Jahren”, VIA n° 7, 2005

Project executive as above

Contact person as above

Comments

Impact on nature and environment

The project safeguards and enhances the area’s natural resources both directly, by reducing the number of cars along the routes now served by the railway line, and indirectly, by contributing to shape the Val Venosta’s infrastructural policy - oriented traditionally and by choice towards maintaining high environmental, territorial and landscape quality - with emphasis on the environment. The impact on the environment has not been quantified in that the aforementioned evaluations are implicit in the decision to reopen the railway line.

Economic value added

The project’s financial added value has not been quantified, it being implicit in the strategic decision made by the provincial authorities to reopen the railway line. Nevertheless, the valley’s economic development - in terms of increased residents’ mobility and, in particular, the development of the tourist industry - has been boosted by the increased accessibility resulting from the reopening of the line, and the dynamic, innovative image offered by same.

Socio-cultural value added

This project is tangible proof that not only is it possible to overhaul a railway line, but that the development of an infrastructural network can go hand in hand with promoting the environment and landscape of tourist-oriented territories.

Innovative content

Researching, planning and implementing cutting edge technological solutions aimed at containing running costs while complying with safety and comfort requirements.

Good governance

Throughout the project a constant two-way communication flow was maintained between the local communities involved and their local authorities.

PR impact

Local residents were kept up do date through frequent meetings with the local authorities involved. Press releases were written and press conferences organised in order to keep the entire population abreast with the project’s progress and, once the works were finished, with the new services offered.

Multiplier effect / networking

The multiplier effect cannot as yet be measured, as the railway line only opened in May 2005, and will be primarily sought in the potential enhancement in the valley’s tourist industry. With regard to the network effect, on the other hand, reopening the line has led to the immediate coordination with the public transport systems of nearby Switzerland and Austria, and to integrating the timetables of the Swiss railways and the postal transport services on the one hand and those of the Merano Malles railway line on the other, through the services between Zurich and Merano/Bolzano via Chur and Zernez (see the ÖV im Rätischen Dreieck project developed by Fachstelle öffenticher Verkehr Graubünden and the Independent Province of Bolzano). Please also note the installation of bicycle hiring services in the stations of Malles, Silandro, Laces, Naturno and Merano.

Transferability

There is no information available.

Remarks

The costs incurred and execution times achieved allow the experience to be considered transferable to other areas with similar infrastructures, in particular with an infrastructure to be renovated and relaunched.

Further information