Rome, 15 February 2019
The FS Italiane Group is aware of the key role played by mobility in responsible growth, and intends to contribute to improving the quality of life and the territories it crosses by developing integrated and efficient infrastructures and transport modes.
On the occasion of the 2019 Treno Verde, FS Italiane presented all the Group companies' initiatives for sustainable mobility.
The integrated transport and collective mobility system is a vital element in developing territories and improving the quality of life of the people who live there. At the same time, it is also a source of numerous environmental impacts, such as greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. This is because the current mobility system has an acute imbalance towards private transport. To restore a healthier balance, we need to shift the proportion of journeys towards more eco-friendly transport modes, such as rail, bus or the world of sharing (by car, scooter or bike).
Rail transport is the backbone of the intermodal connection of people and goods. Safety and environmental protection are the key factors for success in the sector, as well as for consolidating and maintaining a leading position.
Connectivity, social and territorial inclusion, growth in the labour market and in investments, safety and environmental protection are all elements that the rail sector can make a significant contribution to in the short and long term, thanks to its ability to combine sustainability and innovation.
The high environmental performance of the new fleet is the result of increasingly sophisticated procurement processes with strict requirements, such as propulsion systems, design, energy recovery and the use of lightweight materials.
The Frecciarossa 1000, besides being the first high-speed train to have obtained environmental impact certification, is built with materials that are nearly 100% recyclable. In regional transport, the new Trenitalia Pop and Rock regional trains have been designed to achieve outstanding energy performance, allowing a 30% reduction in specific energy consumption compared to previous trains. These results by the FS Italiane Group have recently been rewarded by the financial market with the subscription of the first green bond issued by a railway operator for the purchase of new trains. The Rock and Pop trains are part of the FS Italiane Group's broader regional transport revitalisation plan. This plan, which involves a total economic investment of around 6 billion euros and over 600 new trains, will ensure the renewal of 80% of the entire fleet, starting this year.
In collective road transport, the renewal of the bus fleet of Busitalia, the road transport company of the FS Italiane Group, is continuing with the purchase of Euro 6 motorised vehicles equipped with energy-saving technologies and increased load capacity. This will lead to a substantial reduction in emissions of fine particles and nitrogen oxides, compared to those of the previous generation, and a significant reduction in CO2 emissions.
In order to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Rete Ferroviaria Italiana and Italferr have launched a number of initiatives designed to rationalise the use of resources, reuse materials from excavations and transport them by rail.
The FS Italiane Group has also taken other initiatives to improve the overall sustainability of the mobility system. In addition to boosting regional transport and high-speed services, the focus is on FRECCIALink connections, the integrated service combining Trenitalia Frecce+bus, as well as setting up partnerships with car sharing services, such as Enjoy, and bike sharing in various cities (Bicincittà in Turin and Padua; Clear Channel in Milan and Verona), reducing the use of private motor vehicles.
In the freight and logistics sector, we are working to maximise the benefits of intermodal transport through the Mercitalia Hub, which will relaunch the freight business of the FS Italiane Group by developing integrated solutions to make railway transport more attractive. In 2018 Mercitalia Fast was launched, the world's first high-speed rail transport service dedicated to freight, which will lighten the load on the main Italian motorway artery (A1 motorway) by about 9,000 trucks a year, reducing carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere by 80%.
The development of digital technology is prompting us to completely redesign the way the FS Italiane Group interfaces with people, starting with the digital channels. For example, the Trenitalia app, which is increasingly complete and easy to use, and nugo, the FS Italiane Group app launched in 2018, which represents the integrated mobility digital interface. nugo, which can be downloaded from both the Android and iOS stores, allows you to purchase all the tickets for your chosen itinerary in just a few steps, promoting integrated door-to-door mobility, simplifying travel planning and meeting the needs of people. It offers public, collective and shared transport throughout Italy: trains, subways, buses, ferries, car and bike sharing, taxis, as well as booking car parking in railway stations.
All the companies of the FS Italiane Group are also involved in developing and promoting renewable energy sources, both by including explicit requests in energy supply tenders and by activating their own solar power systems. Rail transport has a particularly strong relationship with renewable energy: the Italian railway network is almost 80% electrified, which means it can immediately and directly benefit from the share of renewable energy in the electricity production mix, which is around 35% of the total