Saipem e state Railways would be working on the creation of a group of companies to participate in one of the tenders for the three sections entrusted to consortia or private companies for the construction of the Moscow-Kazan high-speed railway line: 770 km long for an investment of approx 26 billion euros.
The line could be completed by 2018, the year in which Russia will host the World Cup. The project, therefore, is part of the modernization plan of services and transport to allow an excellent performance of the most important sporting event.
The choice of the Italian oil services fits into the diversification strategy strongly desired by CEO Stefano High which, to deal with theimpact of mini-oil, announced a change of course on the occasion of the publication of the results for the first quarter of 2017.
While on the one hand Saipem will focus strongly on alternative businesses (renewables above all, but also the decommissioning of oil platforms), the company also aims to enhance its important skills in engineering, procurement and construction. Saipem is also particularly strong in the high-speed infrastructure sector, working for years, through the Cepav 2 consortium, on the Milan-Verona line.
It is not the first time that Saipem has experimented with this type of participation with other companies: already in 2011, in a consortium with Maire Tecnimont and Dodsal, it obtained a contract for the first phase of the Etihad Rail railway network in Abu Dhabi.
As far as Ferrovia dello Stato is concerned, however, the collaboration would be part of an already consolidated plan: the Russian front would help to reach the targets set in the latest industrial plan, which aims to quadruple the current foreign turnover with 4,2 billion in revenues per year 2026.
