This is not about chasing the future, but about building it. On one hand with new, high- performance infrastructure, evermore technological and integrated, and on the other through digital platforms that enable public, collective and individual services to link up effectively to benefit people and goods, in a logic of integrated, door-to-door mobility.
The strategy developed by Renato Mazzoncini, CEO of the Group since last December, together with the Board of Directors and top management of the company, mixes the pragmatism of railway engineers with the visionary fantasy that is peculiar to the digital pathways and strategies of advanced marketing.
FS Italiane is aiming to expand its business, in Italy and abroad, supported by financial solidity, a strong balance sheet and prestigious technical know-how. A fundamental point will be the determination of the leader of this new phase of the FS. And he is certainly one who thinks big and does not merely linger on whether or not he has been able to triple the dimensions of Busitalia during his three years in command.
A lot. Today we satisfy less than 10% of the domestic demand for mobility of our citizens and 2% of the goods sector. We have extraordinary margins for growth. Sustainable growth, I would add. The key words are integration between interconnected infrastructure with adequate stations, ports, inter-ports, airports and between public, private and shared services. To achieve a truly integrated mobility for passengers and goods we need effective digital platforms that accompany customers and satisfy their needs. We will be the threshold to this system, which the more efficient, the more will make our cities attractive and our economy competitive.
In addition to having a supplier of railway services of absolute and recognised excellence, with trains that are increasingly high-performance, I would remind readers that next April we will complete the supply of 50 Frecciarossa 1000 trains. They will have a companion to support their needs, able to offer integrated, door-to-door planning of their trip that is easy, effective and economical.
No. It is the near future, in fact it is the present. As are digital travel planners, Google Transit first of all. The decisive step is to offer the opportunity to identify and purchase in a single solution all the parts of the journey. It does not make sense to take less than three hours to get from Rome to Milan, or a little more than an hour from Rome to Naples, and then get lost looking for a bus ticket, a taxi or a rental car.
Because we represent the backbone of the national mobility system. It is strategic to connect with the various players of mobility, even and especially in urban areas, to produce a common front. Using a neologism of easier comprehension, transform ourselves, where we operate, from competitors to coopetitors. Therefore, we should not surrender to others the opportunities offered by digital platforms, which can work to the benefit of all our customers.
They will always be at the centre of our attention. And, to round out their door-to-door journey, they will be able to choose among our regional trains, which are increasingly punctual, safe and comfortable, as well as other appropriate means of transport, being above all easily accessible.