Two important innovations for the high-speed railway network. On the one hand the FS Italian group pushes the accelerator for the design and implementation throughout the national territory of the new ERTMS system with the new bando di gara European Union worth 2,7 billion euro published by Rete Ferroviaria Italiana. On the other, Trenitalia obtained a non-repayable grant of over 6 million to install technology on board its fleet that communicates with the infrastructure's ERTMS.
In detail, the call for tenders is in line with the commitments established by the PNRR which envisages equipping approximately 3.400 km of railway network by 2026. This is in addition to the tender already issued last November by RFI for 700 km of lines in Sicily, Lazio, Abruzzo and Umbria.
Once the installation is completed, the Italian network will have approximately 16.800 km equipped with ERTMS, with the renewal of the entire command, control and signaling system.
While Rfi works on the infrastructure, Trenitalia aims to install the system on its trains thanks to the contribution of over 6 million from European Investment Bank and Cassa Depositi e Prestiti. In particular, the resources of the EIB (about 4 million) will be used to equip 76 regional hybrid trains, while the 2,2 million Cdp for the technological upgrade of the 12 high-speed trains destined for cross-border traffic on the Italy-Switzerland-Germany section (seven ETR 610) and to traffic within Greece (five ETR 470).
