A-Infos (en) Italy, FAI, Umanita Nova #20-25 - War leaves us stranded - No more militarization of the railways (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

The railway line between Pisa and Livorno has recently undergone a 
severe limitation because for a few days trains usually used by 
commuters 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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