RFI opens Bicocca–Catenanuova double-track line in Sicily

On 29 October 2025 RFI put the new 38 km double-track line Bicocca–Catenanuova (lot 6 of the new Palermo–Catania line) into operation; it cost over EUR 600 million, has 17 viaducts and 2 tunnels, replaces all 14 level crossings and is controlled from a new interlocking in Bicocca. Since 2 November 2025, after years of replacement buses between Caltanissetta Xirbi and Catania, through trains have again run between Catania and Palermo (journey time 2 hours 57 minutes). The overall Palermo–Catania–Messina scheme is worth about EUR 13 billion (partly PNRR-funded); work continues on, among other things, the roughly 42 km double track Giampilieri–Fiumefreddo, and in the end 128 of the 179 km between Palermo and Catania are to run in tunnels. (LOK Report, 29 Oct 2025; travel report of 14 Dec 2025)