Italy's state-owned railway group, FS, announced on Thursday at the presentation of its new 2025-2029 strategic plan that it will be investing €100 billion over the next five years.
Of this amount, €14 billion will come from the European Recovery Plan, of which Italy is the main beneficiary, while €86 billion will be financed in part by FS but mainly by the State, its sole shareholder, said Managing Director Stefano Antonio Donnarumma.
Referring to a 10-year plan of €195 billion in investment "because that's how infrastructure is planned," he said the next five years would include "€100 billion, most of which will be devoted to rail infrastructure."
‘The aim is to improve the quality of the rail and road network by completing certain works that are essential for the country's economic and social development," Donnarumma explained to the press in Rome.
By 2029, FS wants to have increased the number of people with access to high-speed trains by 30%, raise the number of passengers abroad by 40% - the group is present in some 30 countries, including France, Spain, Germany and Greece - and reduce its operating costs by around 5%.
"Technological transformation will be a key element, with more than €two billion to be invested in digital infrastructures to make mobility more efficient and accessible," said FS Chairman Tommaso Tanzilli.
By 2029, the group is targeting sales of around €20 billion, an operating profit of more than €3.5 billion and a net profit of around €500 million, according to the strategic plan.
Aware of its heavy burden on public finances, the group is seeking to reduce it, not through privatisation, but by opening up the capital of the high-speed network, estimated to be worth €8 billion, to investors.
FS wants to "encourage investment in the public utility infrastructure sector by guaranteeing a balance between the economic interest and the benefits for the community," its officials said.
The group is therefore aiming for "self-financing of works, including through a possible contribution of minority capital from third parties - not necessarily private ones - which would make it possible to "reduce the pressure on public finances."
Privatising FS "is not our aim," Mr Donnarumma stated categorically.
