Noah’s Train stops in Italy to promote and encourage rail freight transport

Rome, 7 May 2019

Promoting and encouraging rail freight transport to reduce CO₂ emissions into the environment and increase the market share of the sector to 30% by 2030. With these objectives in mind, as part of a comprehensive European tour, Noah's Train - a special freight convoy consisting of wagons and containers provided by the railway operators involved in the initiative, painted by street artists with images of animals inspired by the world's oldest story about environmental rescue and preservation - stopped at Roma Tiburtina station in Italy today.

Noah's Train began its journey through Europe in December 2018 from the city of Katowice (home of the 2018 United Nations Conference on Climate Change, COP 24), before travelling to Vienna, Berlin, Paris, Brussels and Rome. The train was welcomed by Sergio Costa, Minister of the Environment and Protection of Land and Sea, Gianluigi Castelli, Chairman of the Union Internationale des Chemins de Fer (UIC) and President of the FS Italiane Group, Marco Gosso Managing Director of Mercitalia Logistics (FS Italiane Group), Gian Paolo Gotelli, Managing Director of Mercitalia Rail (Polo Mercitalia - FS Italiane Group), Giorgio Zampetti, General Manager of Legambiente and Sandra Gehenot, Freight Director UIC.

“Noah’s train travelling through Europe, with colorful coaches, brings around a very important message: to reduce CO₂ emissions and fight climate change we need to move freight traffic from road to rail. Rail transport emits 9 times less CO₂ than road transport, an important contribution from this sector”, states Sergio Costa, Minister of the Environment and Protection of Land and Sea. “The rail sector can play a key role in the challenge of decarbonising transport, which as a whole generates 27% of emissions in Europe”, said Gianluigi Castelli. “Noah's Train, which stopped today in Rome, is the symbol of this challenge and of the entire railway sector's ambition to increase the share of rail freight from the current 17% to 30% by 2030. Rail transport has an undisputed record in terms of safety and sustainability (-90% of emissions compared to road transport), but drastic and courageous decisions are needed from policymakers, especially at a supranational level, for example in the key area of interoperability”. “The movement of freight traffic from the road to the railway - continued Castelli - is one of the most important strategic objectives of the FS Italiane Group and we can achieve it by aiming to satisfy our customers, increasing our reliability and introducing innovative services, such as the new transport service high-speed Mercitalia Fast”.