Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI) and Alstom signed a framework agreement to supply the ERTMS signalling system to be deployed in central and southern Italy.
The contract is part of the EUR 2.77 billion ETCS-wide deployment tender launched in January 2022 which is split into four lots. The signing of the contract follows the announcement of the winners in June. Thus, Alstom Ferroviaria won the EUR 900 million contract de deploy the ETCS on 1,400 km of rail lines part of Centre South lot (Lot 2). All the four lots will cover a 4,220 km rail network which will be equipped with ETCS.
“With this new contract, Alstom reaffirms itself as the reference player in the railway sector in Italy. Being selected by RFI for the second time for one of the key projects of the Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan is a source of immense pride for Alstom,” Gian Luca Erbacci, Europe Region President at Alstom, said.
Under the agreement, Alstom will provide the latest ERTMS Baseline 3 Level 2 signalling system with GSM-R and digital interlocking ACCM (Multi-station Central Computer Equipment) on 27 lines managed by RFI in the regions of Sardinia, Molise, Puglia, Umbria, Lazio, and Campania.
The system proposed by Alstom meets the technical specifications for interoperability required by the European Union and the CENELEC standards for railway safety, guaranteeing the highest safety standards.
The tender covered four lots for ETCS deployment:
- Lot 1 Centre North includes 1,885 km of lines; the EUR 1.3 billion contract won by Hitachi Rail STS (leader)- ECM- Mermec, Infratech Consorzio Stabile and Atlante consortium.
- Lot 2 Centre South covers 1,400 km lines; the EUR 900 million won by Alstom Ferroviaria
- Lot 3 Centre with 530 km of rail lines worth EUR 323 million; the contract was awarded to a joint venture of Mermec (leader) and Salcef.
- Lot 4 South includes 405 km of lines with a EUR 251 million contract awarded to a consortium of ECM (leader), useppe Mercuri, Morelli Giorgio, ESIM and Guastamacchia
In addition to these lots, RFI and Hitachi Rail signed a EUR 500 million agreement to equip 700 km of rail lines in Sicily, Lazio, Abruzzo, Tuscany and Umbria.
The ERTMS signalling system deployment programme is part of Italy’s rail and digitalisation projects selected to be financed by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) which will transform 4,800 km of rail network.
Under the PNRR, Italy intends to install the ERTMS on 3,400 km of rail lines by 2026 with plans to equip 1,377 km by 2024 and in 2025-2026, more than 2,000 km of rail lines will benefit the new digital technology. In addition, 5,000 vehicles will be equipped with the ETCS with the support of the recovery and resilience plan.
The digitalisation is a central part of the NRRP which will provide EUR 4.8 billion for the introduction of new technologies in the transport sector, with ERTMS being the most important programme to digitalise the railway sector.
Italy is also implementing the Breakthrough Programme which includes the ERTMS deployment on the corridors crossing the northern part of the country until 2023. Starting 2022, Italy intends to start the decommissioning of SCMT on-board subsystem (Sistema di Controllo della Marcia del Treno, a Class B system).
The 2022-2031 Industrial Plan unveiled by FS Italiane this spring which will see a EUR 190 billion investment is prioritising the capacity increase on the rail network including the ERTMS signalling system installation. The company introduce the digital technology on 16,700 of rail lines by 2026.
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