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Railways, Donnarumma calls for greater cooperation in Europe to create a “common project”

In an interview with the Financial Times, the CEO of FS said he had proposed to colleagues from other European companies to connect cities "like with a subway"

Railways, Donnarumma calls for greater cooperation in Europe to create a “common project”

There is a need for greater cooperation in Europe to provide faster and more frequent services between major cities on the continent. He said Stefano Antonio Donnarumma, CEO of the Group state Railways in an interview with Financial Times.

“European cooperation is essential for railway development,” he said. Donnarumma, inviting 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, the number one of Ferrovie underlined how "national interests have often undermined efforts to improve cross-border rail connectivity, despite growing demand after the pandemic".

Donnarumma said he wanted to connect European cities “like with a subway“, but he admitted that this would be unrealistic without the cooperation of competitors. “I had an open discussion with my colleagues from other companies and I said exactly this: why don't we think about a common project in which different companies can also participate?” continued the CEO.

He also said other nations should consider introducing limits on short-haul flights where there is a viable rail alternative, citing France's 2023 ban on some flights where a two-and-a-half-hour train journey is possible.

The FS group intends challenge the Eurostar monopoly investing one billion euros 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, meeting 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.

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