Valtellina Vettori Veloci (3V). Per una nuova centralità della ferrovia con Milano

The Valtellina Vettori Veloci (Valtellina Fast Carriers) project, proposed by Alberto Quadrio Curzio, points to the need of (re)focusing on Milano- Tirano railway transport for the connection of the province of Sondrio to Milan as capital of the Lombardy Region and to concentrate the whole mobility of Valtellina, Valchiavenna and with the Rhaetian railway on this. The proposal is rooted in the works by Alberto Quadrio Curzio carried out since 1989 (mainly with the support of Credito Valtellinese and SEV - Valtellina Economic Society) - on sustainable development in the Sondrio province. Such a proposal was formally presented in an interview to the newspaper “La provincia di Sondrio “ at the end of 2008. After that a debate was started and an important conference “Valtellina Vettori Veloci: Starting again with railways” was organised by SEV in July 2009. Since then there has been an institutional and economic process involving both the President of the Province – Massimo Sertori – and the CEO of Trenitalia-LeNORD – Giuseppe Biesuz. Their great commitment has led to a tangible and very relevant result: the pilot project named “Snow Train” running for the first time on 3rd December 2010. The same project is part of a larger initiative called “Valtellina Project”. In its three parts, this study accounts for the past and for the present and also meditates on the future sustainable mobility developments. • The first part shortly summarises reviews and assessments made in various works by Quadrio Curzio throughout the last twenty years on the topic of the Sondrio Province’ sustainable development, and with a particular focus on transportation. It goes on with presenting “Valtellina Vettori Veloci” proposal – within the framework of the “Statuto Comunitario per la Valtellina” (Valtellina Community Statute) (art. 4, art. 9 and particularly art. 10) - with regards to infrastructures, connections and sustainable development and then moving to a summary of the above mentioned conference. This section also presents an organisational proposal aimed at creating an agency coordinating those transport related issues and being expression of the Valtellina Community in a public- private partnership. It is indeed clear that a deep involvement of both political and economic actors of the province is needed; otherwise it will be difficult that the 3V initiative will manage to succeed and grow. • The second part is about Trenitalia–LeNORD’s response to the need for an improvement in railway transport from Milan- Tirano. It presents the “Valtellina project” including the “Snow Train” realised together with the support by local institutions and economic actors of the province. “Valtellina project” is presented as a possible pilot project which, as a prototype, will possibly be exported also in other territories and local contexts. • The third part concludes this research by looking forward, opening up to new perspectives offered by the link with the Rhaetian Railway and by EXPO 2015. It also looks at the need to develop projects for alternative mobility and for freights with a view to effective intermodal transport systems. It then proposes new possible research analysis and specific lines for action.