FS Italiane Group: ten years of Italian High Speed

350 million passengers, a saving of 20 million tonnes of CO2 and technological know-how recognized all over the world

Rome, 5 December 2019

Three hundred and fifty million passengers in 10 years, 380 million kilometres travelled and over 80 cities connected, in 2019, with a fleet of 144 Frecce.

Five new high-speed stations designed by star architects; 500,000 new jobs created between 1998 and 2018. And above all environmental sustainability: 20 million tonnes less carbon dioxide emitted between 2008 and 2018 thanks to the modal shift from private cars and planes to the train, the perfect ecological means of transport.

These are some of the impressive results of the Italian High Speed train system since the birth of the Frecciarossa 10 years ago.

These figures were announced today in the industrial site Scalo San Lorenzo, in Rome, by Gianfranco Battisti, CEO and General Director, and Gianluigi Castelli, President of FS Italiane Group. Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati, President of the Italian Senate, Giuseppe Conte, the Prime Minister, and Paola De Micheli, Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, were also present.

Italian high-speed trains have revolutionised people’s lifestyle and mobility in Italy. It has shortened distances, shrinking the country and bringing its citizens closer together. In 2018, people travelling on a High Speed train saved on average an hour a day, compared with a trip to the same destination in 2005. Overall 18.5 million hours have been saved in 10 years.

In these 10 years, Italian High Speed has become a model that FS Italiane Group is exporting throughout the world.

Starting from Great Britain where from 8 December, through its subsidiary Trenitalia UK, Trenitalia will manage the InterCity services between Glasgow/Edinburgh (Avanti West Coast), the main train line in the United Kingdom.

In Spain the Ilsa consortium, consisting of Trenitalia and Air Nostrum, was selected by ADIF, the Spanish infrastructure manager, as the first private operator to access the Iberian market. For 10 years the consortium will provide high-speed train links connecting Madrid - Barcelona, Madrid - Valencia / Alicante and Madrid - Malaga /Seville. In France tests are underway for the international Milan - Paris high-speed route with the Frecciarossa 1000. The service should be available from next year.

In Thailand, FS Italiane Group has won the tender for the High Speed Rail Linking 3 Airports project, the management and maintenance of the infrastructure, trains, stations and depots of the high-speed rail network that will connect the country’s three main airports.

International markets recognise the results that the High Speed system has obtained in Italy in 10 years, with tangible effects on the economy. The 32 billion invested in the High Speed network have had an average annual impact on GDP of 0.15% between 1998 and 2018. High Speed trains have changed the concept of travel, making a new form of commuting possible, and has also led to the regeneration of large urban centres. And above all, by reducing CO2 emissions by 20 million tonnes, it has created important benefits for environmental sustainability, one of the pillars of the FS Italiane Group 2019-2023 Business Plan.

The Frecciarossa 1000 is the first HS train that has obtained the environmental impact certification (EPD) thanks to its recyclability close to 100%. In ten years, the kilometres run by rail connections doubled up.

High Speed railway stations marked a return to great railway architecture. Railway stations are back to being driver for urban renovation. Torino Porta Susa, Milano Centrale, Reggio Emilia AV Mediopadana, Bologna Centrale High Speed, Roma Tiburtina and Napoli Afragola redefines the concept of stations.

Not only crossing points but also urban squares where people can meet, go shopping, regain possession of their time.