Naples, Chiaia funicular closed. The NC shuttle flop. No minibus for Palazzolo. Central funicular without enhancement
The replacement systems adopted by the municipal administration of Naples to compensate for the closure of the Chiaia funicular were a total failure.
After the 15 passengers who used it every day last Saturday virtually celebrated the funeral of the cableway with a sad farewell poster, today the consequences on the city's traffic and road system were even more dire.
Read also: Naples, Bassolino: 'Chiaia funicular stop a serious problem'
“The fable, which some, led by Councilor Cosenza, are still trying to spread, about the possibility that, in six months, therefore from April 1st, coincidentally on the very day in which April Fools' Day is celebrated, the Chiaia funicular, renamed, for the occasion, “Chiaia funicular”, closed to the public since October 1st, for the twenty-yearly overhaul work, could resume its journeys, clashes with the fact that the system has finished its journeys without the twenty-yearly overhaul work having been contracted out.
As proof, even today, inside the station on Via Cimarosa, with the gates barred, no workers were visible at work”. Intervening once again on the emblematic issue is Gennaro Capodanno, engineer, president of the Comitato Valori collinari, former president of the Vomero District, who has been committed for years to highlighting the continuous disservices that characterize the malfunctioning of public transport in Naples.
"At this point – emphasizes Capodanno – it would take a real "miracle", even invoking San Gennaro, to restore, in six months, the Chiaia funicular to full functionality, after all the necessary work had been carried out, which includes, among other things, the replacement of important parts of the electromechanical systems.
And then it is well known that, after the execution of the necessary works, it will be necessary to implement all the technical-administrative activities to be able to restart the plant. First the tests and then it will be necessary for the appropriate commission of the USTIF, the special office for fixed plant transport, which reports to the ministry of infrastructure and sustainable mobility, to come to Naples and, after having carried out all the necessary checks, issue the so-called "no objection".
These latter activities, as has already happened in the past, on the occasion of the twentieth-yearly revision of the Central funicular, require a long time."
"Meanwhile – points out Capodanno – valso broadcast the widely announced flop of the NC shuttle. At 13 pm, rush hour also due to the end of lessons in the schools of Vomero, at the stop of via Scarlatti no one got on and the shuttle left sadly empty. A service that is also poorly advertised and that does not reach the upper station of via Cimarosa, as would be logical, cutting off all the numerous users that gravitate around piazza Vanvitelli.
Things are no better for the Central funicular, where, for the entire morning, at the Piazza Fuga station, the increase in tickets sold was a few hundred. What has certainly increased in Vomero since last Saturday is instead the traffic, with traffic jams even today that have rarely, in the past, been recorded on Mondays”.
“At the same time – adds Capodanno – fthe numerous protests of thousands of residents of a vast area that goes from via Luigia Sanfelice to the first stretch of via Palizzi, passing through via Toma, cut off from every connection with the closure of the Palazzolo station of the Chiaia funicular. In this regard, a petition has also been started for the creation of a line of pollicini, which however, at the moment, has not yet been established, something that we urge once again”.
“Just as – New Year's Eve continues -, despite the availability, since last Saturday, of the staff who provided service to the Chiaia funicular, the increase in the number of runs of the Central funicular has not yet been achieved, with the extension of the operating hours of the Piazza Fuga system until midnight, and, on Fridays and Saturdays, until two in the morning, as requested for some time by citizens, also with an online petition, which has exceeded 24 signatures”.
Article published on 3 October 2022 - 17:45
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