Key Sardinia rail link shuttered for 5 months for resilience works

Italian infrastructure manager RFI has launched a €50m upgrade on the Chilivani–Porto Torres route, a key northern link in the standard-gauge network on the island of Sardinia, targeting landslip risk, track renewal and ERTMS readiness. However, it means traffic on the line will be shut down from today until 13 June.

Italy’s infra manager Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI) has launched a major modernisation programme on the Chilivani–Porto Torres railway line in northern Sardinia, triggering a full suspension of rail traffic between 19 January and 13 June 2026. The works, backed by an investment of around €50 million, form part of a broader effort to stabilise and upgrade a key section of the island’s standard-gauge network.

The line connects the Chilivani junction, Sardinia’s principal rail interchange in the north of the island, with Sassari and the port city of Porto Torres. It forms the north-western branch of the region’s Y-shaped main line, which links Cagliari in the south to Olbia/Golfo Aranci in the north-east and to Sassari–Porto Torres in the north-west. While passenger demand on the island is heavily concentrated around Cagliari and the southern commuter belt, the Chilivani–Porto Torres route remains a key northern link, providing access to Sardinia’s second-largest urban area and one of its principal ports.

Resilience works for north Sardinia

At the heart of the programme is a set of resilience and safety-driven civil works. Chief among them is the construction of the foundations for the new Muros rockfall-protection tunnel, a structure of nearly 500 metres designed to secure a section of line particularly exposed to geological and hydrogeological instability. The tunnel forms the final phase of a wider project that began in 2023 and is co-financed with the Sardinia Region, underlining the territorial importance of keeping the route reliably open.

Further measures include hydrogeological risk mitigation in the Calamasciu River area, consolidation of vulnerable sections of the line, and the complete renewal of track and switches. RFI says these interventions will improve reliability and service regularity on a corridor that, like much of Sardinia’s rail network, remains largely single-track and non-electrified.

The works package also includes a significant technology and safety upgrade. RFI will install the latest-generation BCA Progress Rail train spacing system, replace worn cabling for safety equipment, and activate new level-crossing protection systems, all in line with European safety standards. In parallel, preparatory activities will be carried out for the future deployment of ERTMS, reflecting Italy’s wider push to extend the digital signalling system beyond high-speed lines.

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