Orio Train Delays & Underpass Opposition – Residents Protest

“The train passed, but it wasn’t the one for the airport.” It is a bitter irony that the residents and the Boccaleone neighborhood committeegathered on Saturday in about sixty in front of the level crossing in via Pizzo Recastello. Yet, given the data in hand, it is not unjustified sarcasm. The delays in the works for the railway connection with the Orio al Serio airport and the supporting infrastructure remain serious.

The latest in chronological order is that of the narrowing of the road via Rovelli in the stretch between your Tolstoy and the level crossing, necessary to allow the construction of the new train tracks: starting in early November with the creation of the one-way direction towards the city centre, the movement restrictions were to remain active until Januarywhile even today the roadway is halved.

Just as the construction of the new footbridge between via Rovelli and via Rosa is progressing slowly, the delivery of which is scheduled for this spring while, probably, it will be discussed for the end of the year. A closure, that of the overpass, which meanwhile forces residents to cross the neighborhood via the level crossing Recastello lace.

And it is precisely on the suppression of the latter that the delay becomes most glaring: already scheduled for the end of 2024, there is still no certainty about its elimination. It had been announced again for January 2026, or in any case by the winter, but for it to happen we will most likely have to wait for the completion of the work on the walkway between via Rovelli and via Rosa and those for the new road system for the connection with the Fair.

In short, the delays are accumulating, and even the Municipality remains on the sidelines. In recent days, a meeting was held between the technicians of Palafrizzoni and those of the Italian railway network to take stock of the general progress of the railway works in the city – which also involve the doubling of the tracks for the Bergamo-Ponte San Pietro line – but no “relevant updates” emerged, the Municipality said.

However, it seems that some news should arrive this week. In fact, a new one was also expected in January RFI update on the progress of the construction sitesin order to promptly account for delays and the consequent necessary changes to interventions to make up for lost time. A painting which, however, has not yet arrived. When contacted, RFI did not respond due to “office closure”.

In the meantime, in Boccaleone residents continue to protest against the idea of a cycle/pedestrian underpass to replace the level crossing. «We must not let go – he says into the megaphone Elena Zoppetti of the neighborhood committee -. We have always said no to the underpass, also for safety reasons. There could have been a great project to mend the neighborhood but instead they continue to propose the underpass. So far, nothing has been seen. The train to Orio had to be ready for the Olympics. At this point – concludes Zoppetti – we will wait for him for the next ones”.