Malpensa-Lugano, Ticino doubles … the tracks

New investments for the railroad in the Canton Ticino: the Grand Council has approved funding for additional works on the Mendrisio-Lugano-Malpensa line, which also includes the new stretch Arcisate – Stabio. The initial predicted credit was expected to be 36.9 million, but was increased at the request of the Green Party to add a further 5 million francs more, allowing the doubling of the tracks between Mendrisio and Ligornetto. It is a stretch of approximately 900 metres which was initially expected to be a single track and instead will be doubled to increase the capacity of  trains and make the trains more regular (both fast trains Lugano-Malpensa and local border trains are expected). The Director of the Planning Department Marco Borradori said that the project would be fully functional with a single track but the Grand Council (with 46 votes in favour, 30 against and 3 abstentions) preferred to double the tracks, fearing the "bottleneck" effect. Work began on the Swiss section just over three years ago.