Renfe has entered into a strategic partnership that will help the company expand into the Italian market. Renfe Proyectos Internacionales has acquired a 33% stake in the capital of Longitude Holding, a private Italian company operating under the trade name Arenaways. The first project will be the reopening and operation of a regional passenger service in Piedmont from January.
Longitude Holding is a private Italian company founded in Turin in 2021 by a group of investors with more than 30 years of experience in the sector that has the necessary authorisations to operate on both regional and long-distance routes in Italy. It operates under the Arenaways brand.
The company announced this expansion of its corporate structure as part of which, in cooperation with Renfe Proyectos Internacionales, Spanish firm Serena Industrial Partners, an independent investment manager, specialising in essential infrastructure projects with a particular focus on mobility projects and present in five countries, also holds a 33% stake.
The new holding company will begin operating imminently. The Piedmont Mobility Agency has entrusted the operation of passenger services over the following routes for the next 10 years to Longitude: the route connecting the towns of Cuneo, Saluzzo and Savigliano and the route connecting Ceva and Ormea, worth 54 million euros.
The service on the first of these routes will begin next January and the second, once the infrastructure adaptation works by RFI (Italian Railway Network) are complete.
Longitude intends on extending its operation to other public and commercial routes and has already obtained authorisation from the Italian Transport Regulatory Authority to launch long-distance connections under an open access system on the Northwest-Northeast and North-Central-South routes.
“The experience, international know-how and strength of the companies behind Arenaways will help us to achieve all our goals by constantly improving the quality of our products and services.” We have been defined as “the third national operator”; however, we do not consider competition as opposition: competition offers huge benefits for users and for the entire community, as it immediately translates into more choice, better services and diversity. We would like to firmly reiterate what we have always believed: train travel will play a key role in the mobility of the future,” Matteo Arena, CEO of Longitude said.
Renfe chairman, Raül Blanco, has also take time to celebrate this agreement saying “this operation means that we have new European partners, expanding into a new market of recognised prestige in the railway sector as is the case of Italy and at the same time, harnessing our experience as an expert operator to support an exciting project that contributes to more sustainable and connected mobility throughout Europe”.
“This project is Serena’s first milestone in the Italian market and we are confident that it will serve as a driving force for our projects in the country. We are proud to partner up as part of our first investment in Italy with Renfe and Arenaways, who are key players in the railway industry. We believe Italy is a strategic location for the development of our operations and is home to a range of opportunities in mobility, environment and social projects,” added Joaquín Camacho, CEO and founding partner of Serena.
Renfe expands its operations to a new market
With this agreement in Italy, Renfe expands its operations to a new market and advances in its strategy to become a global company and export its experience as a public service operator and leader of the largest high-speed network in Europe.
To date, Renfe has launched independent operations in France, where its AVE (high-speed) trains serve two international routes (Lyon and Marseille), with Toulouse due to be added next year, becoming the leader in cross-border services.
The Spanish company has also positioned itself in Central Europe, where it operates public and commercial services in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland in partnership with private company Leo Exprés, having acquired a 50% stake in its capital in 2021. Renfe is also participating as a strategic consultant and shadow operator in the Rail Baltica project (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania).
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