The railway line between Pisa and Livorno has recently undergone a
severe limitation because for a few days trains usually used bycommuters in the morning time slot were cancelled. ---- RFI, Rete
Ferroviaria Italiana, announced in a press release that "circulation is
suspended on 10-12-13-17-18-19-20 June from 9:50 to 12:50 to carry out
work to complete the renewal of the switches and tracks at Tombolo that
until now have been carried out at night". The press release continued
by giving reassurances on the purposes of the interventions that "will
guarantee more flexible management with positive impacts on the
regularity of circulation" specifying that "for technical reasons the
scheduled work must necessarily be carried out during the day".
It might seem like marginal news, but it is not. The railway line in
question is in fact the one that passes through the military base of
Camp Darby in a connection area between the military airport of Pisa and
the port of Livorno.
The complaint was promptly launched by the collective Ferrovieri Contro
la Guerra and the Livorno Antimilitarista Coordination, which in a joint
flyer highlighted the real purposes of the works that led to the
blocking of traffic. The strengthening of switches and tracks on that
stretch in fact - it reads - "will lead to a substantial increase in
arms trafficking between the Tombolo railway station, the Navicelli
Canal and Camp Darby, the largest US arsenal outside US soil. A civilian
railway network bent to the warmongering wishes of NATO". Ferrovieri
Contro la Guerra and the Antimilitarista Coordination also underlined
how all this is connected to the climate of war escalation, which sees,
in addition to the war in Ukraine and the Palestinian genocide, 56 armed
conflicts involving over 92 countries, a situation that is becoming more
dramatic day by day with the start of further wars, as demonstrated by
the US attack on Iran. The role of the Italian government, fully
involved in war policies, was also punctual, as is evident from the
record figure currently reached by military spending and the forecast
increase, in addition to the national rearmament plans already underway.
Billions of euros to finance wars, military missions, the war apparatus,
while poverty increases and social services such as schools, healthcare
and, indeed, transport are being torn to pieces.
On 18 and 19 June, Ferrovieri Contro la Guerra and Coordinamento
Antimilitarista Livornese held a two-day event to denounce the real
reasons for the interruption of circulation on the route between Pisa
and Livorno. A press conference was called at the Livorno train station
and information leaflets were distributed. The interest of travellers,
including numerous commuters, was notable, expressing solidarity with
the initiative and openly demonstrating opposition to warmongering
policies and what is effectively a war economy. Solidarity and
supporting positions have also come from other antimilitarist and
pacifist groups in the area, which have given rise to parallel
initiatives. Local and national newspapers have highlighted the
initiative, which will undoubtedly see moments of relaunch in the coming
weeks.
It is also significant that the two days of denunciation and protest
were held on the eve of a general strike against the war called by
grassroots union groups. As was clearly highlighted in the flyer
distributed, strikes, particularly in the transport sector, are under
attack from regulations that make it increasingly difficult to strike,
but also from communication that points the finger at the interruption
of service and the inconvenience that the strike causes to users. In
reality, RFI cares very little about users, especially if they are
commuters and workers, as years of disinvestment have shown and as the
interruption of the railway line between Pisa and Livorno in recent days
has clearly demonstrated: to support the military purposes of the
restructuring of the route, users are left on foot, without even
worrying about organizing replacement transport.
The situation denounced, clearly linked to the maintenance and expansion
of the world conflict, therefore calls for the need to continue on the
antimilitarist path. A path that the collective Ferrovieri contro la
guerra (Ferrovieri against the war) undertook a year ago, forming from
an assembly launched by the magazine Cub Rail following the agreement
between Leonardo and RFI on military transport circulating on the
railway network and the need to be able to find forms of practicability
of conscientious objection by workers who are against carrying out their
work in the military transport sector.
Military logistics is a very important sector. There has been frequent
talk of the important mobilizations of port workers against trafficking
and movement of war material, but rail traffic is also largely affected
by an increasingly heavy militarization.
The strategic areas of investment linked to the Rearm Europe operational
plan of 800 billion explicitly also include military mobility, with the
adaptation and expansion of European multimodal infrastructure networks
and with the adoption of common standards for military logistics. They
range from the abolition of regulatory obstacles that can complicate the
transit of weapons and military vehicles to the creation of new
logistics hubs.
While disinvestment in civilian transport and the cut in public utility
services continues, the military transport sector is proceeding at full
speed.
The agreement between Leonardo and RFI of May 2024 provided for the
adaptation of the railways to the transit of military convoys to
guarantee the movement of weapons and troops even at short notice and on
a large scale. But the process had already started before, and the
strengthening works on the Pisa-Livorno section with passage through
Camp Darby had also begun in 2017.
The increase in the militarization of the railways began years ago
throughout Europe with a plan that attributed to the TEN-T network
(Trans-European Transport Networks) a dual use, both civil and military.
This was followed by huge restructuring projects, including the opening
of new tracks or reinforcements of existing ones in view of the passage
of heavy loads, adaptation of gauges and switches, reshaping of tunnels,
construction of new tunnels and bridges and so on. A gigantic project
that has seen an acceleration in the last three years with the war in
Ukraine.
Italy is crossed by four TEN-T network axes: the Mediterranean corridor,
the Rhine-Alps corridor, the Scandinavian Mediterranean corridor and the
Baltic-Adriatic corridor.
In February 2025, the European Court of Auditors expressed the need to
further refinance the militarization of the railways by using funds
currently allocated to civilian transport.
The collective Ferrovieri Contro la Guerra, in addition to reporting on
the massive campaign of militarization of the railways starting from
concrete territorial situations, claims the right to conscientious
objection so that workers can avoid any type of connivance with the
military use of their work performance, but they also forcefully claim
the need for safe civilian railway circulation against any use of the
railway network for military purposes. A fight that therefore unites the
work plan with the social and collective one.
A fight against war and not only.
We would like to remind you that the circulation of military vehicles on
the railway network, in addition to fueling wars, involves a very strong
reduction in the safety of both travellers and the populations and
settlements that are close to the railway networks involved.
The railway movement of war material involves dealing with "goods"
identified as "Class 1 Explosive materials and objects". And even if not
all war materials are explosive, the safety risk increases enormously in
the case of military transport, impacting an already highly compromised
situation. Just think of the "innovative" braking system of freight
trains, the one that risked triggering a Viareggio bis on 3 February
2023, when a train loaded with LPG stopped in the Viareggio station with
the start of a fire due to the brakes blocking on the wheels of a wagon.
Not to mention the numerous and dramatic derailments (Viareggio,
Pioltello, Livraga) or the head-on collisions between trains (Andria and
Corato): safety is not a characteristic of rail transit, let alone how
much the risk and danger can increase with the transport of war
material, in addition to the fact that the trains themselves and the
militarized railway sections could constitute sensitive targets to hit.
There are therefore many reasons to oppose the militarization of the
railways and that of safety is an issue that is solidly linked to the
opposition to war and increasing militarization. On the occasion of the
sixteenth anniversary of the Viareggio railway massacre of 2009, these
issues must be connected, to constitute an element of union of the
struggles and claims against criminal policies, bearers of death and
destruction.
A.P.
https://umanitanova.org/la-guerra-ci-lascia-a-piedi-basta-militarizzazione-delle-ferrovie/
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