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Railways: Friuli-Ljubljana cross-border service was opened

'Italy and Slovenia are even closer now'

10 September, 11:35
(ANSA) - TRIESTE SEPTEMBER 9 - From today, Italy and Slovenia are even closer thanks to the reopening of the Udine-Trieste-Ljubljana railway line. The new cross-border service, established thanks to the co-operation between Friuli Venezia Giulia and Slovenia, was openend to the public this morning at Trieste central station, and the ceremony was attended, among others, by the EU Transport Commissioner, Violeta Bulc, Slovenia's Infrastructure minister, Peter Gaspersic, Italy's Undersecretary for Infrastructures and Transport, Armando Siri and the governor of the FVG Region, Massimiliano Fedriga. The service provides two daily connections per week: the Udine-Trieste-Ljubljana connection and the Trieste-Ljubljana connection, with 7 stops in Italy and 9 in Slovenia.

"This is a very important day not only for Italy and Slovenia", said the EU Commissioner. As for transport, she added, "the EU aims to invest in the development of railway networks, in order to support not only economic growth but also social and economic interconnection". The Udine-Trieste-Ljubliana connection, that was operational until March 2008, represents "a very important project that is part of strengthening relations between Italy and Slovenia", undersecretary for Infrastructure Siri underlined, and after the restoration of the Udine-Ljubljana link, the Region Friuli Venezia Giulia aims to go even further: "I hope - said President Fedriga - that from next year we will be able to connect FVG with Austria and Vienna". This link - dating back to the Habsburg empire - is part of the CrossMoby project, within the Interreg Italy-Slovenia cross-border cooperation program, coordinated by the FVG Region, which plays the role of management authority and guarantor of the co-financing of the European Regional Development Funding.

We are now hoping, said Slovenia's Infrastructure Minister Gaspersic, "to have soon an extension of the network to Venice".

(ANSA).

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