The freight line between two of Italy’s most important cities, Rome and Naples, will be adapted to the 4-metre profile, allowing the rail transport of semi-trailers. Italian infrastructure manager RFI will fully close the section between 5 August and 12 September 2025 to carry out the necessary work.
The Rome-Naples railway via Cassino is the main rail freight axis between the two cities. It is a key artery of the TEN-T Scandinavian-Mediterranean Corridor and as such needs to accommodate semi-trailers on the railways. A few weeks before the total closure, the line will be shut down at night time so that workers can prepare the infrastructure for the activities.
The project entails the adaptation of the tunnels and the lowering of the tracks. Moreover, the overhead line will be replaced and a few passenger stations will be renovated. After 12 September, RFI will keep the railway closed on some nights for the finishing touches and testing “without interfering with normal rail traffic and with minimal impact”. The investment for this initiative will be 21 million euros.
The Scan-Med corridor in Italy
A large portion of the Scan-Med corridor runs through Italy, crossing it from south to north. This is the second large recent project along the Italian section of the corridor to be adapted to the 4-metre profile. Between 2023 and 2024, the same actions were taken along the Bologna–Prato stretch, allowing the transport of semi-trailers to and from the Tuscan port of Livorno.
These infrastructure upgrades are necessary to comply with TEN-T requirements and boost the modal shift to rail throughout Europe. However, they are a big burden for rail freight operators, who have to deal with temporary capacity restrictions more often than they would like. According to many Italian industry experts, the strain caused by these works are leading to a reverse modal shift and threatening the collapse of the sector.
Why has Australia stopped this traffic when there is so much available.