The Italian infrastructure manager RFI will invest 80 million euros to boost rail freight capacity to and from the port of Ravenna, on the eastern coast. Seven new tracks dedicated to rail freight will be added to the terminal on the left bank of the Candiano Canal, leading to the decongestion of the Ravenna Central Station.
The new infrastructure should be ready to welcome the first trains by 2030. The first tenders will be assigned throughout 2026 with start of construction expected for 2028. Once the new rail bundle is commissioned, around 4,000 trains will be rerouted here every year, alleviating pressure from the line running along the right bank of the Candiano Canal.
The modernisation of the rail freight terminals around the port of Ravenna is a must, considering that the number of trains more than doubled since their construction. This port is the second for rail freight volumes in Italy and adequate infrastructure is vital to maintain the positive trends. Last year, for example, Ravenna was one of only two Italian ports increasing the number of trains handled, together with Livorno.
The importance of dedicated freight lines
With the new line in Ravenna, a significant portion of rail freight traffic will be separated from the passenger ones, as the central station will be bypassed. Such initiatives are (slowly) becoming more popular in Europe, both in port cities and landlocked hubs. For example, a new section exclusively for freight volumes was opened in Valladolid, Spain, last May. More recently, a new line separating freight and passengers was announced at the port of Gdańsk in Poland.