“With ambitions to become the backbone of more integrated and efficient mobility, railways play a crucial role in the transport sector”. So so Luigi Ferraris, Chief Executive Officer of the FS Group, opened his introductory speech at theInternational Railway Summit 2023, on the second day of an international event that brought together representatives of the main railway companies and sector operators in Rome. In order for the railway to acquire this leading role, it is also necessary "to build new infrastructures, modernize existing ones and create the conditions to open up the railway sector also to private investment", continued the CEO, adding that "in order to promote increasingly integrated services, it is also necessary railway infrastructure e road accessible, resilient and interconnected to each other to which the FS Group is working with huge investments and thanks to an organizational model that can represent a good example of collaboration between road and rail businesses (RFI and ANAS operate in synergy in the same Infrastructure Pole)".
The goal: to create a multimodal, sustainable and reliable travel experience
For the top manager of the railways it is necessary to create a system of multimodal mobility truly sustainable. “We have to make the various modes of transport work together. A common vision of synergies in the whole transport sector is needed with a broad and shared perspective”. If the real competition is with private transport, “one of the main challenges for the railway sector – continued Ferraris – is to provide a level of flexibility similar to private cars. The goal is to create a multimodal, sustainable and reliable travel experience that goes beyond train travel through an integrated, continuous and tailor-made transport offer. In this context, digitization can be one of the main drivers of this transformation, together with the creation of a simplified ticketing platform”.
The environmental sustainability of the train can still be improved
“The electrification rate of our network is one of the highest in Europe. But we are the largest consumers of energy in the country - underlined the top manager - and for this reason we have launched a program of self-production of energy from renewable sources that will cover at least 40% of our needs". However, environmental protection also passes from disincentive measures towards the most impactful methods in terms of external costs. In France, for example, they are banning air travel for short-haul travel. "The decision to ban flights - continues Ferraris - when a more sustainable mode of transport is available and with an adequate level of service, such as the railway, is food for thought for all of us". This prohibition, in fact, managed to explicitly highlight the major sustainability of rail transport compared to the airborne one. “Obviously, there are distances that it is unthinkable to cover, or to do it in a way that is competitive with the train and then make way for collaboration. FS's agreements with two international air carriers, Lufthansa and ITA, should be seen in a broad context of collaborations and partnerships with other collective and shared mobility operators, in line with the objectives of our 2022-2031 Business Plan".
Logistics and freight transport
And finally, a focus on logistics and freight transport “where our main competitor remains road transport. The road sector is subject to lower costs than the railway sector. We have to work on this to improve conditions and make rail services more attractive and grow,” concluded Ferraris. Always with an eye to the external costs of mobility, to the risk of seeing the number of commercial vehicles on the roads grow up to one million more, the European Commission has set the goal of increasing rail freight traffic by 50% by 2030 and doubling it by 2050.
Railways protagonists of international challenges
Before the CEO of the FS Group, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Matteo Salvini took the floor. “The railway system – declared the minister – is a model. In the procurement sector, the launch of the new code is now imminent, which will be more streamlined, modern and effective and will help speed up the execution of the works. Furthermore, we are investing in high-speed rail, we want to finally bring it to the South as well, without forgetting to invest in regional trains, the ones that are taken every day. Then we will shift a portion of the transport of goods from road transport to rail, because it has less impact from an environmental point of view. Finally, the great works, such as the bridge over the Strait but also those related to Jubilee or to Rome's candidacy for theExpo 2030, . International challenges where the railways will be protagonists”.
