With the Business Plan, drawn up in accordance with the railway infrastructure development strategy defined by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, Rete Ferroviaria Italiana fulfils its obligations under Article 15 paragraphs 5 and 6 of Legislative Decree No. 112 of 15 July 2015 - Implementation of Directive 2012/34/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 November 2012 establishing a single European railway area (Recast). The Business Plan has been drawn up pursuant to and in accordance with art. 11 quinquies of Italian Legislative Decree no. 112/2015.

In accordance with Article 8(1) of the Directive, Member States shall in fact develop their national railway infrastructure through the “indicative infrastructure development strategy” in order to meet future mobility needs in terms of maintenance, renewal and development of the infrastructure on the basis of sustainable financing of the railway system. As part of this strategy, covering a period of at least 5 years, the government, through the Programme Contract, provides the Infrastructure Manager with sufficient funding according to the tasks of the Network Manager, who in turn draws up the Business Plan.

Who does it target?

The focus is railway transport companies, local authorities and all interested parties who are thus able to plan their business better in terms of transport services, being aware of the developments in infrastructure in the near future.

In line with the provisions of RFI’s Business Plan, its publication makes all the information on railway infrastructure and its development available and more easily accessible.

How is it structured?

In order to represent the development of the network from the perspective of the customer, the Business Plan describes the actions that RFI is enacting according to the three business lines: Local Public Transport, Long Distance, and Freight. The 2022 edition also includes a new chapter outlining the main plans for development at a national level, which impact all three businesses across the board.

► Local Public Transport. With over 16,000 kilometres of network and more than 2,000 access points serving passengers, 205 million train-kilometres for Local Public Transport were effectuated in 2022. This annual output, equal to about 50% of the volumes circulating on the network managed by RFI, is the most important traffic segment. With the aim of improving quality standards to revitalise the sector, RFI’s main actions to develop the Local Public transport business involve:

• Improving rail and road integration;
• Increasing hub capacity;
• Reducing major interference between flows;
• Speeding up suburban routes;
• Developing interchange points in the urban area;
• Improving the accessibility of in-station services, both for Railway Companies and for passengers.

► Long Distance. In the current timetable, there are more than 400 trains as part of the High-Speed service. In addition, are some 90 trains per day on the National and International Open Access service and over 120 trains a day on the Universal service, for a total of around 600 trains daily. RFI is committed to increasing the network’s performance of the network to make the transport system more competitive by:

• Upgrading the performance and development of the HS/CA network;
• Speeding up HS line sections;
• Upgrading the main long-distance traffic routes;
• Eliminating interference and traffic conflicts;
• Upgrading the entire national network to ERTMS.

► Freight. The freight network has around 172 stations for freight traffic, with over 340 terminalization facilities connected to it between private sidings, ports and freight terminals, in addition to the 27 stops that RFI provides for loading and unloading freight. In recent years, one of the main challenges for the European Union and its member states has been the modal rebalancing of passenger and freight transport in favour of more sustainable transport systems. To improve interconnections between national networks, the European Commission has identified the Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T), a set of linear (rail, road and river) and punctual (urban nodes, ports, freight villages and airports) infrastructure considered “relevant” at an EU level. By 2030, RFI will adapt the more than 5,000 km of the TEN-T Core Network to the quality standards required by the EU. In this context, to generate/attract new traffic by placing the Italian peninsula at the centre of freight transport streams from the Far East to Central Europe, the freight transport development plan is based on three fundamental pillars:

• Improved network performance;
• Development of the main port and land logistics terminals;
• Widespread development of links with industrial districts.

► National Plans. This new section describes the main development plans that RFI is enacting throughout the entire network, which have traversal benefits on the three service businesses:

• Level-crossing abolition plan;
• Breakthrough Programme;
• ERTMS implementation plan;
• Migration plan from SSC to SCMT;
• Plan to upgrade the electric traction system for heavy freight trains;
• The Intermodal hub and metro line plan for the development of sustainable mobility
• The functional upgrading and improvement plan for accessibility and intermodality in southern stations;
• The plan to enhance extra PMdA (Minimum Access Package) services.

Other news

• A new regional network station/km indicator has been introduced
• The details of the “Last Mile” project have been included;
• The Integrated Station Plan has been completely revised, adding, in addition to the implementation date, also the start date of the works.

In the November 2023 update of Business Plan July 2023, observations from the stakeholders have been implemented in the following pages: 8, 69, 142, 214, 279, 301, 425, 429, 484, 516, 519, 524, 525, 530, 554, 670 e 714.