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Italy’s state-owned railway has presented its strategy and objectives to 2026.
An investment package worth around EUR 94 billion is designed to strengthen domestic operations – in freight, too, amongst other things – and bring international revenues’ share to a quarter of turnover.
The Italian state railway Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane stands at the threshold of a new era. In any case, the strategic concept presented by chief executive officer Renato Mazzoncini extends far into the future. “Over the next ten years we’ll commit a total of EUR 94 billion in investment.” Of that, the rail company has earmarked EUR 73 billion for infrastructure; EUR 14 billion will go to rolling stock, and the remaining EUR 7 billion on technological improvements.
Ambitious goals
FS Italiane, which is controlled jointly by the ministries of the economy and transport, currently has a 16,700 km rail network, and transports approximately 50 million t of freight a year. In the period to 2026 the railway plans to boost revenues from EUR 9 to 17.6 billion and gross profits from EUR 2.3 to 4.6 billion, whilst simultaneously expanding its staff from 69,000 to 100,000 employees.
The rail company will continue to work on its infrastructure projects: the Brenner base tunnel, Terzo Valico; the Turin–Lyon, Milan–Venice and Naples–Bari high-speed connections; and four TEN corridors. The Adriatic line, along which high-speed trains will travel at up to 200 km / h from 2018 onwards, is in urgent need of modernisation. The Salerno–Reggio die Calabria and Palermo–Catania–Messina railway sections will also be upgraded for high-speed traffic. The plan will also see synergies with major Italian ports and logistics centres reinforced.
In the cargo field the company is planning to make investments of around EUR 1.5 billion (of which EUR 1 billion has been earmarked for rolling stock and EUR 300 million for logistics and terminals) and double its revenues to EUR 2.1 billion. All logistics activities will be bundled into the railfreight company Mercitalia. It will have 4,000 employees and three subsidiaries – Mercitalia Rail, Mercitalia Logistic and Mercitalia Terminal.
Seeking higher turnover abroad
The objectives are to continue to expand intermodal traffic and specific value-adding services, such as forwarding. The firm is paying special attention to increased internationalisation. The plan is to increase the share of revenues generated abroad from 13% to 23%. If FSI attains its planned annual turnover of EUR 4.2 billion in the freight business by 2026, then the Italian state railway will have closed the gap to its main European competitors. Read more
Source: ITJ
