THE 32km Puster Valley Line in South Tyrol, northern Italy, reopened to passenger traffic on January 27. The line between Fortezza and Brunico had been closed for more than a year while 27km of track and catenary was renewed and 13 stations were refurbished.
The work was carried out by infrastructure manager Italian Rail Network (RFI), with funding of around €17.5m provided by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport and the province of Bolzano. Passenger services are operated by Trenitalia and local operator SAD.
Reopening celebrations were attended by the minister of infrastructure and transport, Matteo Salvini, RFI CEO, Aldo Isi, and provincial president, Arno Kompatscher.
“We have worked tirelessly so that trains can once again run throughout the Puster Valley in time for the Winter Olympics,” Kompatscher says.
Work is continuing on the Val di Riga bypass, a €251m project to construct a new 3.8km alignment, of which 190m will be on viaduct and 800m in tunnel. Completion is expected by the end of this year, when the journey time between Bressanone and Brunico is expected to be cut to 15 minutes.
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