Rome, 15 December 2015

Today, in Piazza della Croce Rossa, FS Italiane’s chief executive Renato Mazzoncini met Deputy Transport Minister and President of the Iranian Railways (RAI - Islamic Republic of Iran Railways), Mohsen Pour Seyed Aghaie.

At the heart of the meeting, the cooperation of Gruppo Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane in the development of the Iranian railway network, currently amounting to about 13,000 kilometres, through an imposing programme aimed at restructuring and constructing new high-speed lines.

Gruppo FS Italiane’s presence in Iran dates back to 2001 up to 2007 owing to a collaboration between Italferr - Gruppo FS Italiane’s engineering company - and Iranian Metra Consulting Engineers Co.

Recently, Italferr was selected to provide assistance to the Iranian Railways with reference to the Iranian Government’s top priority development plan, that is the high-speed railway line project Tehran-Qom-Esfahan (410 km).

Italferr is also involved in the electrification of the line Teheran-Mashhad (about 1,000 km).

Moreover, Italcertifer - Gruppo FS Italiane’s certification company - is developing the preliminary planning of RAI’s Test Centre, carrying out activities related to Independent Checking Engineering and Railway and underground certification (in collaboration with Astaneh), and working on the underground of Mashhad (the Consortium with Italcertifer – Gruppo FS Italiane’s certification company – resulted the preferred bidder).

Further opportunities could arise in Iranian’s neighbouring countries owing to FS Italiane’s collaboration with RAI as regards the installation of the ETCS - European Train Control System – that is, the automated signalling system for the management, control and protection of railway traffic.

In this regard, Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane and RAI are negotiating a Memorandum of Understanding.