“Recovery of the train from Cerasolo to Città is possible”
He said he was fascinated by the recovery project of the White Blue Train and willing to discuss a collaboration that would allow its recovery already at the meeting in Rome last month but yesterday, on the sidelines of the work of the Territorial Tourist Board, the Minister of Tourism Massimo Garavaglia wanted to confirm his availability at the end of the visit organized with the collaboration of the White Blue Train Association and the AASLP at the first 800-meter stretch of the old route, already reopened and already practicable. During the evocative visit of the electromotive, the Minister of Tourism had a constructive discussion with the Secretary of State Federico Pedini Amati, with the Director General of Fonazione Ferrovie dello Stato Luigi Cantamessa, with the members of the White Blue Train Association, with the ‘Italian Ambassador to San Marino HE Sergio Mercuri and with the Mayor of Coriano Gianluca Ugolini.
The common goal is to be able to connect the border of Cerasolo (Municipality of Coriano) with the Historic Center of San Marino, a UNESCO World Heritage Site by recovering the White Blue Train and most of its original route (some deviations from the buildings that have arisen are inevitable. after the destruction of the railway in 1944). A small historic railway will certainly be an important value in terms of electric mobility and sustainability (as it is electric) but above all it would be a candidate to be a world-class tourist attraction as is already the case for numerous historical routes in Italy and other parts of Europe. A with the State of the feasibility of the recovery supported by the Director General of Railways, Eng. Luigi Canmessa who illustrated several historians of similar initiatives that have succeeded precisely in supporting the workshops thanks to Ferrovie dello Stato which depend on skills and machinery and who are available to intervene on the project. Furthermore, Cantamessa himself explained, the route, especially in the first section, would not require major changes, the tunnels can be recovered and in some spaces now occupied by the roadway, mixed routes could be created with tracks in the asphalt such as, for example, in some sections of the famous Bernina red train which today attracts millions of tourists and which UNESCO has declared a World Heritage Site.
The Italian Minister of Tourism Massimo Garavaglia is certain that, if the Republic of San Marino demonstrates that it wants to say so, the feasibility of the project must not represent a problem: “The recovery of the historic train of San Marino has an environmental sustainability and a certain economic sustainability -said Garavaglia-. Every year San Marino is visited by 2 million people, half of these tourists could go to San Marino by car and half by train, here is implicit economic sustainability, in addition to the environmental sustainability guaranteed by an electric train. These are topics that we have already studied in depth at the Ministry with the Secretary of State for Tourism Federico Pedini Amati and with Eng. Luigi Cantamessa, General Director of the FS Foundation. If the Republic of San Marino has to recover the White Blue Train, it will find our collaboration ”.
“Sometimes dreams come true – explained the Secretary of State for Tourism Federico Pedini Amati – it is enough to believe in them. In reality, today, the recovery of the railway section of the White Blue Train in the path that goes from the Municipality of Coriano to the Historic Center of San Marino is something more than a dream. There are studies that demonstrate its feasibility, there is the support of the Ferrovie dello Stato Foundation and Eng. Cantamessa, leading expert in projects of this type, there are successful case histories in Italy and abroad and above all there is the support of the Italian Ministry of Tourism and Minister Massimo Garavaglia who, not surprisingly, at the end of the Forum of the TTT has chosen to visit and evaluate with their own eyes the current situation of the White and Blue Train. If we allow more time to pass, we will continue to talk about it as a dream. By working hard, dreams come true ”.
The first citizen of the Municipality of Coriano Gianluca Ugolini was also involved in the journey of the White Blue Train organized on Friday, directly involved in the initiative as the first recovered section should end in Cerasolo: “It is impossible to deny support for a tourist initiative of this genre, we are really happy that the Secretary of State Federico Pedini Amati has involved us in this project, we will work to make it happen and to ensure that the departure station is located in the Municipality of Coriano! “