The Rail Market in Italy 2011 Brooks Market Intelligence Reports, part of Mack Brooks Exhibitions Ltd www.brooksreports.com Mack Brooks Exhibitions Ltd © 2011. All rights reserved. No guarantee can be given as to the correctness and/or completeness of the information provided in this document. Users are recommended to verify the reliability of the statements made before making any decisions based on them. Contents Introduction 4 1. Government 5 Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport 5 Political and funding environment 5 Subsidised services 6 Open access and regulation 6 European projects 7 2. Italian Railways: FS Group 8 Gruppo Ferrovie dello Stato (FS Group) 8 Rete Ferroviaria Italiana SpA (RFI) 10 High-speed/high-capacity (Alta velocità/Alta capacità 10 - AV/AC) lines Urban junctions 12 Messina Straits bridge 12 Other RFI investments 13 Major international projects 14 Trenitalia SpA 16 Passenger 16 Freight 17 Traffic 18 Rolling stock 18 3. Italian regional government and local railways 21 Abruzzo 21 Basilicata 22 Calabria 22 Campania 22 Emilia-Romagna 23 Friuli-Venezia-Giulia 24 Lazio 24 Liguria 24 Lombardia 25 Marche 26 Molise 26 Piemonte 26 Puglia 26 Sardegna 28 Sicilia 28 Mack Brooks Exhibitions Ltd © 2011 2 Toscana 28 Trentino-Alto Adige 29 Umbria 29 Valle d’Aosta 30 Veneto 30 4. Open access train operators active in Italy 31 Passenger operators 31 Freight operators 32 5. Urban rail systems in Italy 35 Bergamo 35 Brescia 35 Bologna 35 Cagliari 35 Catania 36 Firenze 36 Genova 36 Messina 36 Milano 36 Napoli 37 Palermo 38 Parma 38 Roma 38 Sassari 38 Torino 39 Trieste 39 Verona 39 Mack Brooks Exhibitions Ltd © 2011 3 Introduction In terms of route-km, Italy’s railway network is the fourth largest in Europe, after those of France, Germany and Poland. Enhancements to the national system have continued, mainly in the form of a growing high-speed/high-capacity network. The latest of these lines was commissioned in late 2009. Regional authorities are playing an increasingly important role in defining local rail transport provision, whether provided by national operator Trenitalia or by the many local undertakings that are active in Italy. This is resulting in investments in infrastructure and rolling stock to provide more attractive services. Open access opportunities have led to the emergence of new operators in the rail freight sector, while at the same time competition on the broader European stage often leads to frequent changes in the ownership and international consolidation of companies active in this challenging market. In 2011 Italy is also set soon to see the start of services by Europe’s first open access high-speed operator. Investments continue in urban rail infrastructure to improve mobility in cities, protect fragile environments and reduce carbon emissions. This is resulting in both new metro or light rail systems or in extensions and improvements to existing networks. This report is an extensively updated version of a document first published in 2009 and reflects the status in early 2011. It provides a concise overview of the structure of Italy’s national rail system and summarises key areas of planned investment. In addition, it details passenger and freight operators that are currently active. Regional authorities are also listed, together with the ‘independent’ railways that are found in each region. Urban rail transport operators and their planned network developments are also summarised. Website addresses are provided in most cases to enable users of this report to access additional information on individual projects and the organisations responsible for them. February 2011 Mack Brooks Exhibitions Ltd © 2011 4 1. Government Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport (Ministero delle Infrastrutture e dei Trasporti) (www.trasporti.gov.it) Within the ministry, there is a rail transport division, Direzione Generale per il Trasporto Ferroviario (e-mail: [email protected]) Political and funding environment The Ministry of Transport sets the overall strategy for Italy’s rail network and determines levels of funding. In 2007 the government gave outline approval to a five-year business plan for the period 2007-11 that had been developed by the state-owned national railway holding company, Gruppo Ferrovie dello Stato (FS Group). This was aimed at stemming losses (EUR2 billion in 2006) and defining investment levels intended to respond to increasing traffic demands. The plan foresees a substantial reduction in staff numbers and increases in productivity. Under the business plan funding proposals include: • Infrastructure – EUR16.6 billion • Regional passenger services – EUR10.3 billion • Long-distance passenger services – EUR1.3 billion • Freight services – EUR850 million Details of the government’s funding contribution to the period as part of its service contract with FS Group were announced in October 2007 following a review by the Comitato Interministeriale per la Programmazione Economica (inter-ministerial committee for economic planning (CIPE) (www.cipecomitato.it), which coordinates government investment. This foresees government investments of EUR26.1 billion in the network over the period 2007-11. These investments are broken down as: • High-speed/high-capacity lines – EUR8.4 billion • Classic network upgrading – EUR16.7 billion • Signalling and other technology upgrades – EUR1 billion In March 2009 the CIPE allocated EUR17.8 billion to finance new infrastructure, including Mack Brooks Exhibitions Ltd © 2011 5 • EUR2.8 billion to the Treviglio-Brescia section of the Milano-Venezia high- speed/high-capacity (AV/AC) line, the Milano-Genova AV/AC line, the Bologna- Firenze AV/AC line and the La Spezia-Parma line; • EUR1.3 billion to the Straits of Messina road/rail bridge; • EUR1.5 billion to metro systems in Bologna, Brescia, Cagliari, Catania, Milano, Parma, and Roma. On 22 September 2009 a financial bill was approved under which FS will receive EUR2.285 billion in 2010 and slightly less in 2011 plus EUR185 million per year 2010 to 2012 to continue work on high-speed/high-capacity projects. Subsidised services Central government provides subsidies to two types of passenger services: • Long-distance services which are considered essential for national cohesion, but are not profitable. These are mainly services linking the richer north and poorer south of the country, especially overnight services. • Regional services operated both by Trenitalia and by local railways which only cover around 35 per cent of costs from fares. Central government has paid the regions EUR1.4 billion per year since 2000 for these services. Several regions add their own money to allow improvements in services. This sum is not indexed to inflation and has become insufficient, leading to annual negotiations between the regions and central government over extra payments. In 2009 the Italian government granted an extra EUR480 million to the regions but linked this to their signing 12-year contracts with Trenitalia, thus effectively excluding competition for regional services in the near future. Local railways registered 3.769 billion passenger-km in 2009 compared with 22 billion on Trenitalia's regional and local services. Local train operators are listed in Section 3. Open access and regulation The Italian rail network was liberalised in accordance with EU regulations in June 2000. As a result, some of the 20 or so independent local railways in Italy have acquired open access licenses to operate freight trains beyond their own systems. Open access freight operators, including some foreign companies, also play a developing role, especially in the cross-border market. The first open access passenger operations started in 2010. Active open access operators, as well as local train operators are listed in Section 4. The rail regulatory authority in Italy is Ufficio Regolamentazione del Servizio Ferroviario (URSF). While theoretically independent, it is an integral part of the Transport Ministry and its powers are more limited than those of similar bodies in other European countries. Mack Brooks Exhibitions Ltd © 2011 6 In May 2008 the government established a national rail safety agency independent of FS Group, whose subsidiary CESIFER had until then performed this role. L'Agenzia Nazionale per la Sicurezza delle Ferrovie (www.ansf.it) has its headquarters in Firenze. Tests and inspections of rolling stock are carried out at the Centro Dinamica Sperimentale at Osmannoro, near Firenze. European projects Italy is involved in several priority rail projects that feature in EU long-term transport policy: • Lyon-Torino-Venezia-Trieste. This forms part of EU Corridor V from Lisboa to Kiev and includes the planned sub-alpine tunnel and AV/AC lines between Lyon and Torino, plus the Milano-Verona-Padova high speed line and a new 36 km Trieste-Divača (Slovenia) line. • Brennero-Verona-Bologna-Roma-Reggio Calabria-Palermo. This forms part of EU Corridor 1 from Berlin to Palermo and includes the planned sub-alpine Brenner Base Tunnel (BBT) on the section between Innsbruck and Fortezza. Doubling of the 114 km Verona-Bologna section of this corridor was completed in summer 2009. Sections of the Messina-Palermo section remain single track. Other work includes rebuilding the Verona node and widening of access to the BBT. • Chiasso-Milano-Genova. Part of EU Corridor 24 Genova-Rotterdam. Intermodal freight corridor. This includes the Milano-Genova HSL, doubling of the Genova- Ventimiglia line and work around Genova. • Bari-Brindisi/Taranto. Part of EU Corridor 8 which mainly concerns the maritime route from these three ports to Varna in Bulgaria. In addition, through the development of its high-speed/high-capacity rail network Italy is playing a key role in the introduction of the European Rail Train Management System (ERTMS). Mack Brooks Exhibitions Ltd © 2011 7 2. Italian Railways: FS Group Gruppo Ferrovie dello Stato (FS Group) (www.ferroviedellostato.it) Established as an independent state-owned company in 2001, replacing its previous status as a government agency, FS Group is the holding company that owns the two principal Italian rail undertakings: • Rete Ferroviaria Italiana SpA (RFI) (www.rfi.it), the national rail infrastructure authority.