“FS Competition” - High Speed Ideas awarded

A competition for Engineering and Economy students and graduates from Italian universities promoted by FS Italiane to design High Speed travel of the future

Rome, 23 June 2015

Winners of the FS Competition High Speed Ideas promoted by the company to imagine the future of High Speed rail over the next 50 years in March for future generations of managers in Italy were awarded at Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane Headquarters in Rome today.

This competition raised considerable interest, as the over 250 registered candidates and numerous projects in English presented by the deadline of 15 May by participants, students and graduates from Engineering and Economy degree courses in universities throughout Italy strictly under 28 illustrated.

The best projects sent via the online platform www.fscompetition.it were presented and awarded under the watchful eyes of Group CEO Michele Mario Elia, Director of Human Resources and Organisation Stefano Savino and other Group top managers.

Six winners were chosen from leading universities - 3 in the “Engineering” Category and 3 in the “Economy” Category – due to their convincing proposals concerning the future of HS rail in terms of technology and services and their impact on the economy, territorial management and the environment and the needs of the community.

These projects were selected by an in-house FS Italiane Technical Committee according to their originality and innovation, market potential, technical feasibility and applicability, implementation schedules, economic and financial sustainability and impact and multi-disciplinary approach.

The winners will be FS Italiane’s guests at the 9^th World High-Speed Congress in Tokyo from 7 to 10 July 2015, while second- and third-placed participants respectively received vouchers worth 400 and 300 euros to travel on Trenitalia trains, including the new Frecciarossa 1000 – the non plus ultra in railway engineering and industry that has just begun operating on the Italian HS network.

This initiative is just one of the many activities promoted by Gruppo FS Italiane to drive a more innovative image of the Group by identifying talented young people to share their winning ideas regarding technological innovation that can be applied in the rail industry. These projects have led to the Group being voted by new graduates as "Best Employer of Choice 2015" among Italian and multinational companies (13^th Survey by Cesop Communication, February 2015).