FLORENCE. «A more efficient and faster representative railway connection between these cities of Arezzo and Siena is an objective of interest both for the mobility of citizens residing in the areas and for the high tourist value of these territories. Improving the connections between two such important cities is a strategic opportunity for southern Tuscany that can have positive implications for the local economy and services. The direct connection between the two capitals would be possible with the construction of a passerby of a few meters of meters, to be built with the resources of the PNRR at the Sinalunga station, which joins the Siena-Chiusi and Sinalunga-Arezzo-Stia railway lines. Currently, rail public transport connections have excessive travel times and non-integrated services. Pending the construction of the new infrastructure it is necessary, in the short term, to further integrate the railway services between these two lines ». The regional councilor Vincenzo Ceccarelli relaunches its proposal for a railway connection between the cities of Arezzo and Siena and announces the presentation of a question to the regional council to the request to take action to favor the integration of services, in terms of number of trains and timetables, considered a first measure necessary to improve the connections between the two capitals.

The railway relationship today sees between Siena and Arezzo the presence of two railway lines managed by as many managers; on the one hand there is the Siena – Chiusi railway line (not electrified and with a single track) owned and managed by the Ferrovie dello Stato, on the other hand the Sinalunga – Arezzo – Stia railway line (electrified line) owned by the Tuscany Region and managed by the LFI Group, both as regards the management of the infrastructure and as regards rail transport, including vehicles and personnel. The connection would be made possible by the connection in service of so-called “three-modal” trains (electric-diesel-battery) capable of passing from the electrified to the non-electrified railway line of the services designed for direct travel between Siena and Arezzo without breaking loads directed to the mass station of Sinalunga.

«In the current planning of railway services there are few possibilities for interchange to be considered adequate – he explains Ceccarelli – In most cases there are interchange times that are too long, up to an hour, or too short, three minutes, in other cases there are no departures for Arezzo after the arrival of the train from Siena. A more coordinated management of the two railway lines, with the design of faster connections, represents the first step towards having direct connections once the new railway link has been built. The transition between electrified and non-electrified railway would be possible thanks to the entry into service of the three-modal trains provided for in the service contract stipulated between the Region and Trenitalia in 2019. This is an important intervention, but with an absolutely sustainable cost within the framework of the programming of European resources, which can mark a change in connections and in the infrastructural network of southern Tuscany ».