Road and rail hit by snow, rain (2)

(ANSA) - Rome, December 11 - Snow, rain and high winds hit road and rail links in Italy with the centre and north most affected Monday. Train traffic was disrupted in Piedmont because of snow and rain, while there was a risk of avalanches in Trentino, 150km winds near La Spezia, and ferry links suspended to and from many islands.
    Rivers were also being watched for the risk of breaking their banks.
    "The situation is more critical in Liguria and Piedmont," said rail network company RFI.
    In the northern Piedmont city of Alessandria and the surrounding area, schools were ordered closed because of ice and snow.
    Near the Ligurian seaside resort of Sanremo, several families were evacuated because of the risk of an avalanche or a mudslide.
    A car that skidded off the road and into a stream in the Apennine foothills near Bologna was recovered by divers late Monday afternoon.
    No one was hurt.
    In Veneto to the north, many mountain passes were closed because of the risk of avalanches.
    In Tuscany, a "prolonged" red alert over ice and snow was issued. In Marche, strong winds and icy gales blew trees and branches onto roads but no one was hurt.
    There was flooding and damage to electrical power networks in southern Campania and near Isernia.
    "The situation is complicated, patience is needed," said Transport Minister Graziano Delrio.
    Delrio spoke of the risk of ice forming on rail transport wires and lines, stopping traffic.
    "New technologies always improve the performance of the lines and the tracks," he said.
    "Therefore, it is clear that with new technologies and more investments they are making in in modernisation, it will be increasingly easy to tackle this problem," said the transport minister.
    "The investments of (rail network company) RFI in the last three years amount o around 30 billion euros which we have at our disposal.
    "Over the previous three years they were six billion, and this shows the effort they are making to modernise the network, a very important effort," said Delrio.