To enable our Help Centers to work synergetically, and to benefit both the quality of the service and the safety and security of railway areas, the Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane Group has initiated a close collaboration with the Osservatorio Nazionale sul Disagio e la Solidarietà nelle Stazioni (National observatory on social issues and solidarity in Italian stations (ONDS).

The Observatory, which is managed by a non-profit organisation, coordinates all centres and runs training courses for Help Center operators in the form of seminars relating to social problems and issues.

ONDS also proposes models for action and runs detailed analyses in relation to social issues, using specially designed computer systems.

The Observatory also collaborates with INMP - San Gallicano (Istituto Nazionale per la promozione della salute delle popolazioni Migranti e il contrasto delle malattie della Povertà - National Institute for the Health of Migrant Populations and Diseases of Poverty) to prevent and cure the illnesses suffered by those who have no fixed abode.

The number of people taken over by the 20 Help Centres of ONDS (National Observatory of Solidarity in Italian Stations) rose by 5.5% compared to the previous year, from 19,782 to 20,879. This brings the total number of women and men living in marginal conditions, who since 2016 have received concrete help in the spaces granted on loan for free use by the FS Group, to 166,538.