Trenitalia enters the railway market in Great Britain through its subsidiary Trenitalia UK, a company incorporated under English law based in London. The group has in fact reached an agreement with National Express Group PLC which provides for the acquisition by Trenitalia, for approximately 70 million pounds, of all the shares of the company NXET (National Express Essex Thameside), manager of the C2C (City to Coast) for connections between the city of London and Shoesburyness on the east coast in the South Essex region. This was announced by the Italian company.
The formalization of the acquisition will take place at the end of the expected authorization process, already started by the British Ministry of Transport (Department for Transport, DfT). It is in fact the DfT that in 2014 had awarded, with a public tender, the service contract to NXET, expiring in 2029.
The acquisition of NXET – with a turnover of approximately 200 million euros, 600 employees and a fleet of 74 Bombardier trains – will represent a further objective achieved as part of the internationalization strategy, one of the pillars of the FS Italiane Group's 2017-2026 Business Plan.
The high quality of the service offered by NXET – 400 connections for over 42 million passengers/year using the 26 stations along the railway line on which it operates (London – Shoesburyness) – is confirmed by its top position in the franchise ranking British in terms of punctuality, in line with Trenitalia's customer-centric approach.
Trenitalia UK will continue to improve customer satisfaction also with the introduction of innovative technologies, one of the fundamental levers for the growth strategy.
The recent establishment of Trenitalia UK, a company incorporated under English law, is a sign of Trenitalia's willingness to enter and establish itself in the UK market, a market with significant potential. Process already started at the end of 2015 with the achievement - first among companies not present on the UK market - of the so-called Passport, an indispensable pre-condition for participation in tenders on the British railway market. Trenitalia UK is already working on the documentation necessary to participate in the tenders for transport services published by the DfT.
