During the first half of 2023, the Infrastructure pole of the FS Italiane Group has awarded procurement for a total value of 14,3 billion of Euro. They have also been launched new races for an additional amount of 10 billion euro.
These numbers confirm the infrastructure renewal and improvement plan announced by Luigi Ferraris, CEO of the FS Italiane Group.
Rfi: contracts awarded for almost 12 billion
Italian Railway Network (RFI), lead company of the Infrastructure Pole led by the new CEO Gianpiero Strisciuglio, has awarded contracts worth 11,9 billion of Euro. Of these, 7,63 billion come from funds allocated by the Pnrr. Particular attention was paid to Southern Italy, where contracts totaling seven billion euros were awarded.
Anas: tenders awarded for 2,4 billion
Anas, another Group company led by Aldo Isi, has instead awarded tenders for 2,4 billion euros, which include both maintenance work and new works. The awards continue also at the beginning of the second half, as confirmed today with the assignment of the works in the Verona railway junction, worth 253 million euros, to the consortium of companies formed by Pizzarotti, Saipem and Salcef, and of the Codogno line – Cremona – Mantua, worth 470 million euros (also with funds from the Pnrr), to the group of companies made up of Pizzarotti, Saipem, ICM and Salcef.
With regard to new tenders launched for a total value of 10 billion euros, 5,1 billion concern Rfi, of which 1,72 billion are funds of the Pnrr, while 4,9 billion euros concern Anas.
180 billion of investments envisaged by the industrial plan
As recently highlighted by Luigi Ferraris, more are expected 180 billion euros of investments in railway and road infrastructure in the Industrial Plan of the FS Group for the next ten years. The objective of these investments is to improve mobility and services, reduce the gap between Northern and Southern Italy and connect the South to Europe. Of these, 125 billion relate to railways and 55 billion relate to roads. So far, the Infrastructure Pole has fully complied with this roadmap, as confirmed by the data for 2022, which saw the launch of tenders for a total value of over 25,5 billion euros and the awarding of contracts for 15 billion EUR.
4.000 construction sites throughout Italy
Currently, the Infrastructure Pole has approx 4.000 construction sites in progress throughout Italy, for a total value of over 49 billion euros, which include both new strategic works and the maintenance of existing lines, involving around 8.000 companies. As for the annual goals, by the end of the year they will be another 107 construction sites started for new railway and road works, for a total value of over 12 billion euros (90 construction sites for RFI, for a value of 11 billion euros, and 17 construction sites for Anas, for a value of 1,1 billion euros). The ten-year business plan envisages around 80 billion euros of investments in Southern Italy, of which around 47 billion euros relate to railway infrastructure through RFI.
The main works under construction
Among main works that the FS Group is building through RFI are the Third Pass of the Giovi and the Genoa node, the Fortezza-Verona, where work has also begun for the Trento ring road, the Brescia-Verona-Padua, Venice-Trieste, the completion of the doubling of the Adriatic section between Pescara and Bari, the Palermo-Catania-Messina, where all the lots have been tendered out, and the Naples-Bari line.
New workforce
FS is also committed toto hire another 8.000 thousand employees in 2023 (5.100 for RFI) while over 31.000 new hires are expected over the ten-year business plan (17.000 for RFI). The aim is also for an increasingly younger workforce, as evidenced by the fact that RFI has managed to reduce the average age of its employees from 48 to 40 over the past four years.
