Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane and Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) agreed to work together to develop new urban subway networks in Italy.
The agreement signed in Rome by FS Italiane Chief Executive Officer Renato Mazzoncini and CDP Chief Executive Officer Fabio Gallia represents a response to the growing need to invest in urban transportation, a crucial sector for sustainable growth.
The agreement confirms the commitment of FS Italiane and CDP to actively cooperate in identifying and promoting projects related to new works to be carried out (greenfield initiatives) and to expanding existing infrastructures (brownfield initiatives), using an approach which encourages the participation of private capital, including public-private partnership schemes (PPPs).
In this context, FS Italiane and CDP are committed not only to improving urban mobility, but also enabling the process of the urban transformation of Italian cities through the creation of a network of new generation integrated services, in favor of the individual person as well as the community.
The role of cities as an economic growth hub and growth generator is significantly increasing. Around 68% of the Italian population lives in urban areas where over 40% of Italian GDP is produced.
The development of metropolitan networks is a strategic factor in integrated and sustainable collective mobility that can reduce levels of urban congestion and pollutant emissions, with a positive impact on productivity levels and social and economic integration between the city center and periphery.
The infrastructure gap to be filled is significant and with a notable impact on the competitiveness of Italian urban centers. In Italy, rail transport meets only 36% of local mobility requirements, compared with just over 60% in Germany, France and the United Kingdom.
CDP is the leader of this process in Italy with an investment plan aimed at transforming abandoned structures into redeveloped urban areas, providing new opportunities for cities and their inhabitants.
FS Italiane, in turn, intends to increase its participation in the project of promoting integrated public mobility, the main pillar of its Industrial Plan 2017-2026, of which Italian cities are at the same time protagonists and first beneficiaries.
Fabio Gallia, CEO of CDP, commented: "Local infrastructure development is at the heart of the CDP strategy to support the country's sustainable growth. The partnership with FS Italiane operates in this direction with the aim of accelerating investment in urban mobility, pushing for a process of 'urban transformation' with multiple positive, economic, social, and environmental impacts helping local communities."
"Italy is lagging behind other European countries in the field of rapid-mass transport infrastructure," said Renato Mazzoncini, CEO of FS Italiane. "Particularly with regard to the metropolitan network. Today, nationwide we have mere 230 km of network, compared with 300 km only in Madrid. The efficiency of the metropolitan urban transport network is crucial to the development of integrated door-to-door mobility. FS Italiane, having facilitated high-speed travel between Italian cities with our Frecce trains, now commits itself to overcoming the urban infrastructure gap by designing, implementing and managing, in cooperation with local partners and local authorities, the necessary infrastructure."