Naples – "This year, the first new train will finally arrive on the Naples-Sorrento line." Campania Regional President Vincenzo De Luca announced this on the sidelines of a meeting in Cercola, setting a specific deadline for a long-standing issue plaguing regional public transportation.
The Circumvesuviana railway is a crucial step, and the governor himself has not hesitated to call it "the only remaining critical point in Campania's public administration."
The Circumvesuviana Roadmap and Rescue Plan
De Luca has outlined a precise timeline for the renewal of the rolling stock: the first of 56 new trains will be delivered by the end of 2025, while the entire fleet, consisting of 56 trains, will be tested and put into service by 2026. This project is presented as the final, crucial step in a redevelopment project that will affect the entire regional mobility system.
In a sort of defense of his government's actions, the president recalled the situation he inherited ten years ago: "I remember that the EAV company had 700 million euros in debt and 15 construction sites closed due to no investment when we took over the regional government."
Against this backdrop, De Luca contrasted the figures for subsequent investments: "In these ten years, we have purchased 1500 new buses, hundreds of new trains, and on this line, too, we have purchased 56 new trains for the Naples-Sorrento route."
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Delays and critical issues overcome
The governor did not hide the delays that plagued the supply, attributing them to a series of adverse events. The agreement for the 56 trains, in fact, dated back to 2019, but its implementation was hampered first by the Covid-19 pandemic and then by technical and bureaucratic issues.
The contract had in fact been awarded to a company in Valencia, Spain, which in turn suffered the repercussions of a serious flood that slowed down its production.
A further complexity, De Luca specified, is of a technical nature: "I recall that all this is happening because the Circum has a narrow gauge track and therefore we had to have custom trains made, which are suitable for that width of track," a factor that made it impossible to purchase standard trains on the market.
The announcement therefore constitutes a clear political commitment, with which the regional government aims to definitively close the Circumvesuviana renewal project, removing a powerful weapon from the opposition and restoring an essential service to thousands of commuters.
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