Donnarumma (FS CEO): 'European cooperation is essential for railways'

'European cooperation is crucial for railway development,’ was in short FS Group CEO Stefano Antonio Donnarumma's statement to the Financial Times, calling on European operators to cooperate and create a 'common project' to provide faster and more frequent services between the continent's major cities. In the article by Philip Georgiadis and Alice Hancock, Ferrovie’s CEO pointed out that 'national interests have often undermined the efforts to improve cross-border rail connectivity, despite a growing demand after the pandemic'.

FS Group intends to challenge the Eurostar monopoly by investing EUR 1 billion to launch a high-speed service from London to Paris by 2029, using trains inspired by the Frecciarossa 1000, produced by Hitachi Rail. Just last April, CEO Donnarumma presented the plan for the launch of the new service in London, during a meeting with Robert Sinclair, CEO of the St Pancras Highspeed company that manages the English section of the London-Paris line, and Yann Leriche, CEO of Getlink, the company that manages the Channel Tunnel infrastructure.

Donnarumma stated the will to connect European cities 'in an underground-like manner', and admitted that this would be unrealistic without the competitors’ cooperation. 'I had an open discussion with my colleagues from the other companies and said exactly this: why don't we come up with a joint project in which several companies can also participate?’ continued the CEO.

He also stated that other nations should consider introducing limits on short-haul flights where a viable rail alternative exists, citing the French ban in 2023 on certain flights with destinations that can be reached with train journeys shorter than two hours and a half.