Italy's Salerno–Reggio Calabria high-speed line faces a €17.2 billion funding gap

Italy's planned high-speed line between Salerno and Reggio Calabria still lacked €17.2 billion to be completed, on top of the €12 to 13 billion already allocated, according to a calculation published in August 2025 by the business daily Il Sole 24 Ore based on the 2024 update of RFI's programme contract and a Court of Auditors resolution. At the time, only the first of its six lots, between Battipaglia and Romagnano al Monte in Campania, was under construction.

Work on lot 1a began on 21 February 2025. The section was designed as a line of about 35 km for speeds of up to 300 km/h, through Eboli, Campagna, Contursi Terme, Sicignano degli Alburni and Buccino. Its funding from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) was cut in the June 2025 revision, from €1.8 billion to about €720 million, after the Ministry of Infrastructure cited "unforeseen and unforeseeable events of a geological nature". The PNRR then covered only 14.7 km, due by June 2026, and the government said €1.08 billion of national money would replace the lost EU funds. By 30 June 2025, payments on the lot stood at €117.65 million, Il Sole 24 Ore reported.

Nothing designed south of Praia a Mare

The next lots, Romagnano–Buonabitacolo, Buonabitacolo–Praia a Mare and Praia a Mare–Paola, rely on national funds of around €10 billion. RFI targets 2032 for Buonabitacolo–Praia a Mare and 2030 for the doubling of the Santomarco tunnel near Cosenza. For lots 1 and 2 together, the whole-life cost is put at €17.48 billion against about €12.1 billion available.

The largest gap lies further south. No project has been launched beyond Praia a Mare, and the stretch from Gioia Tauro to Villa San Giovanni and Reggio Calabria, mostly in tunnel, is costed at €12.85 billion with no funding attached. Il Sole 24 Ore splits the missing €17.2 billion into €4.35 billion for the lots between Salerno and Paola and €12.85 billion for the southern end. The newspaper points out that the gap is larger than the current cost estimate for the Strait of Messina bridge, which the line is meant to feed.

Transport minister Matteo Salvini said in August 2025 that the money "will be found", without saying where it would come from, Il Post reported. Lucio Menta, an RFI manager, was appointed extraordinary commissioner for the project at the end of 2024. The Court of Auditors has asked that the next RFI programme contract leave "adequate space for the rapid completion of the functional lot".

Sources: Il Sole 24 Ore (06/08/2025); Il Post (08/08/2025).

Photo: a Frecciarossa 1000 at Firenze Campo di Marte station. Moliva, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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