Italian rail firms could lose 140 million euros over Alpine links closure - study

By Federico Maccioni

MILAN (Reuters) - The closure of Alpine tunnels linking Italy to its northern neighbours could hit Italian railway operators to the tune of about 140 million euros ($149.52 million), a study showed on Thursday.

Since August Italy has been facing serious disruption to its transport links under the Alps due to bad weather and necessary maintenance work, putting its export performance at risk.

The Mont Blanc road tunnel between France and Italy was set to close for maintenance in September, but the work was postponed for 12 months.

Other key rail and road crossings such as the Brenner and Frejus tunnels, which link Italy with Austria and France respectively, were totally or partly shut in August after thunderstorms caused landslides in the neighbouring countries.

A derailment in the San Gottardo tunnel around the same time brought further havoc, cutting traffic between Italy and Switzerland.

The Frejus is not expected to reopen before the end of 2024, while the San Gottardo could return to full capacity no earlier than next summer, experts and entrepreneurs said at an event at Milan's Bicocca University on Thursday.

Around 30% of the Italian logistics sector's goods passing through Alpine crossings to France, Austria and Switzerland travel by rail.

The direct impact of the closures is estimated to cost Italian railway operators shipping goods through the Frejus and San Gottardo tunnels an overall 50 million euros per year due to a drop in revenues and extra costs, the study showed.

Mercitalia, DB Cargo Italia and Captrain Italia are among the operators involved.

The hit could rise to an additional 141 million euros in the longer term taking into account factors such as a loss of clients that might shift to road transportation, according to the report.

When clients are forced to switch to trucks for 18 months it is difficult to get them back, said Mauro Pessano, the chief executive of Captrain Italia.

"It won't be so easy, to put it mildly," he said.

Transport economist at Bicocca Andrea Giuricin, who authored the study, said the closure of the tunnels had "an important effect on the economy".

A 5% increase in rail logistics costs could cost Italy's wealthy north-western regions up to 870 million euros per year, the research estimated.

($1 = 0.9363 euros)

(Reporting by Federico Maccioni, editing by Gavin Jones)