Presented in Rome by the Chairman, Nicoletta Giadrossi, and the CEO, Luigi Ferraris, a plan that envisages the redefinition of governance and the new organisational structure of the subsidiaries aggregated into four business poles: “Infrastructures”, “Passengers”, “Logistics”, “Urban”. Here is the full document
by Ennio Bassi
A long-term strategic and industrial vision supported by an investment plan of over 190 billion lire over the next ten years. The Industrial Plan 2022-2031 of the Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane Group, which also envisages a profound redefinition of governance and a new organisational structure, was presented today in Rome by the President of FS Italiane, Nicoletta Giadrossi, and the CEO, Luigi Ferraris.
The 10-year plan aims to ensure that infrastructure works are carried out on schedule; to favour multi-modal collective transport over private transport; to increase, up to doubling compared to 2019, rail freight transport; to make rail and road infrastructures more sustainable, accessible, effectively integrated and resilient, also increasing their endowment in order to reduce the gap between the north and south of the country; to increase the Group’s degree of energy autonomy through renewable sources and contribute, also in this field, to the ecological transition.
In order to fully exploit the potential of all Group companies and make a decisive contribution to the sustainable development of the country marked by extraordinary events such as the pandemic and international conflicts, the need has emerged to redefine governance and revise the organisational structure into four business poles, each with clear strategic objectives: ‘Infrastructure’, ‘Passengers’, ‘Logistics’ and ‘Urban’.
The new organisation aims to strengthen the synergies of all the companies operating in the Group and to increase their efficiency also in terms of planning and design. The international scenario and the geopolitical tensions that are leading to growing inflation, the effects of the pandemic and the effects of climate change on infrastructures, all combined with the awareness of the role that transport, logistics and infrastructures can play in the sustainable development of the country, have also contributed to shaping the new corporate reorganisation.
Enabling factors of the 2022-2031 Industrial Plan, which will have to support its implementation, are innovation, digitalisation, connectivity and empowerment of the Group’s people. Particular attention will be paid to the ecological transition, with activities to improve efficiency and reduce consumption, combined with new initiatives to enhance the value of the Group’s assets by installing plants to produce electricity from renewable sources, to ensure that at least 40% of the Group’s needs are covered.
Internationally, the FS Group wants to ensure a single control over the business, aiming to generate further value in the countries where it is already present: France, Spain, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Outside Europe, Ferrovie dello Stato also aims to export integrated know-how through partnerships.
FS Group revenues in 2031 are expected to grow to around EUR 22.5 billion and EBITDA to EUR 3.9 billion, with an average annual growth rate (CAGR) over the plan period of 6.9% and 8.2% respectively.
“The Industrial Plan 2022-2031 intends to accelerate investments and, with a long-term vision, give greater certainty to the execution of works on schedule. We are working to make our infrastructure increasingly modern, interconnected and resilient and our mobility services tailored to the different needs of our customers. We intend to promote multimodal, and more sustainable collective transport also in urban areas, to double the share of freight transport by rail, to contribute to the ecological transition not only by making the use of rail, the most environmentally friendly means of transport par excellence, more attractive, but also by self-producing at least 40% of our substantial energy needs from renewable sources. The Plan envisages the hiring of 40,000 people over its timeframe and sees people as its main enabling factor, along with innovation, digital transformation and connectivity. A New Time begins for all of us, and I am certain that our people, today as yesterday, will know how to transform this plan into reality, showing themselves equal to the challenges that await us,” said Luigi Ferraris, CEO of the Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane Group.
Industrial Plan 2022-2031
Context of reference
The FS Italian State Railways Group is at the heart of the country’s mobility system and plays a key role in its relaunch and development with a view to integrating different infrastructures and modes of transport under the banner of sustainability. With more than 82,000 employees, over 10,000 trains every day, 1 billion passengers per year on trains and buses and 45 million tonnes of freight per year, Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane is a leader in passenger and freight transport by rail.
The rail network managed by Rete Ferroviaria Italiana is 16,800 km, of which about 700 km are dedicated to high-speed services. The Group also manages a road network of about 32,000 kilometres. The reference context and the significant trends taking place at international level, require a strong discontinuity and the definition of a 10-year strategy, which allows to look at new works in their entire cycle: from design to construction. The 10-year horizon will make it possible to face the great challenges that await the Group, starting with a new and different demand for passenger mobility, characterised by a return to pre-Covid levels of leisure travel and tourism by 2025, and by an increase in the efficiency of the logistics chain, to support the modal shift in favour of rail.
The Group’s activities will also be confronted with a growing inflationary scenario, the development and recovery of specific professional skills, increasingly extreme weather events that place the emphasis on the importance of environmental sustainability and the maintenance and resilience of infrastructures, and the evolution of integration between technologies and physical infrastructures.
The new organisational structure: the four business poles
Redefining the governance and reviewing the organisation of the FS Group are indispensable prerequisites for achieving the challenging objectives that Ferrovie dello Stato has set itself. The new organisational structure will enhance the potential of the different Group companies and their synergies. The four new business poles will be homogeneous in terms of mission and objectives. They will play a crucial role in developing an increasingly integrated and sustainable infrastructure and mobility system for the benefit of the country. Decisive, in order to proceed along this path, is the revision of the regulatory framework, consistent with the Group’s objectives. The business poles and their main missions, in detail, are:
Infrastructure pole: ensure the execution of investments; maximise industrial synergies; define and specialise the roles of the various infrastructures.
Passenger pole: to develop a strategy increasingly focused on the different needs of customers; modal integration solutions; to promote collective transport over individual transport; to favour policies and solutions for modal shift from road to rail.
Logistics pole: consolidate its role as a system operator capable of boosting conventional and intermodal rail transport, with end-to-end management of European relevance also through ad hoc partnerships.
Urban Pole: exploit the urban regeneration potential of the Group’s real estate assets; establish partnerships for increasingly efficient asset management; guarantee unified supervision and play a leading role in ‘Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans’.
The holding company will perform the function of policy-making, coordination, strategic and financial control over the sector’s parent companies, which will perform the function of policy-making, coordination and operational control over the companies belonging to the cluster.
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