Iskra
Established Member
I've recently travelled the full line from Taranto, Apullia to Reggio Calabria, Calabria, Southern Italy, so I'm in position to deliver a few brief updates:
In terms of electrification, after the completion of the recent Taranto-Sibari electrification works, there is now significant progress on electrification in the Crotone area with masts installed either side of Crotone for a number of kilometers. However, this seems to be an isolated stretch of electrification, but this is not a problem since new bi-mode stock has been procured for the line (see below). Further down towards the South end of the line where the current electrification restarts at Melito di Porto Salvo, there is a significant gathering of engineering plant, so it's possible that something may happen in this area too?
Currently, two of the four Intercity trains per day have been extended to run a service to/from Lecce. From July the other pair of trains per day, will run/to from Bari. This is positive in terms of connectivity and hopefully helps build custom on the line.
In terms of rolling stock, some modern bi-mode Intercity units have been procured and are currently running the services that serve Lecce. The trains running to/from Taranto are currently still D445 hauled, but the stock does seem to be getting tattier and being run-down somewhat. I wouldn't be surprised if the D445 runs ended when the service extension to Bari is introduced in August, although that is just speculation on my part at this point. The new Intercity bi-modes look smart and feature an interior layout that is mainly tables, I've been up close to one but I'm yet to ride one. In terms of regional services, these are increasingly modern bi-mode multiple units but the old Aln railcars do still appear, but they also seem in decline but I suspect they will still be around for a while yet.
In terms of electrification, after the completion of the recent Taranto-Sibari electrification works, there is now significant progress on electrification in the Crotone area with masts installed either side of Crotone for a number of kilometers. However, this seems to be an isolated stretch of electrification, but this is not a problem since new bi-mode stock has been procured for the line (see below). Further down towards the South end of the line where the current electrification restarts at Melito di Porto Salvo, there is a significant gathering of engineering plant, so it's possible that something may happen in this area too?
Currently, two of the four Intercity trains per day have been extended to run a service to/from Lecce. From July the other pair of trains per day, will run/to from Bari. This is positive in terms of connectivity and hopefully helps build custom on the line.
In terms of rolling stock, some modern bi-mode Intercity units have been procured and are currently running the services that serve Lecce. The trains running to/from Taranto are currently still D445 hauled, but the stock does seem to be getting tattier and being run-down somewhat. I wouldn't be surprised if the D445 runs ended when the service extension to Bari is introduced in August, although that is just speculation on my part at this point. The new Intercity bi-modes look smart and feature an interior layout that is mainly tables, I've been up close to one but I'm yet to ride one. In terms of regional services, these are increasingly modern bi-mode multiple units but the old Aln railcars do still appear, but they also seem in decline but I suspect they will still be around for a while yet.
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