RFI organised a conference on the role of infrastructure managers to improve the competitiveness of international rail transport, as part of the FS initiative “European Year of Rail: Europe without borders, on the occasion of the EXPO Ferroviaria held at the Fiera di Milano from 28 to 30 September 2021,”.

The conference was opened by the Chair Anna Masutti and saw the introductory speech given by the CEO Vera Fiorani, entitled “The contribution of RFI to the creation of a competitive and interoperable European railway network”.

Emphasis was placed on the great commitment that RFI is putting in place to comply with the challenging objectives dictated by the Italian PNRR to which, for the railway part, an important recognition has been given by the European Commission for its characteristics of completeness and strategic vision .

The RFI event was then split into the following two thematic panels:

  • International cooperation in investment planning
    Stefano Castro, Head of the International Project and European Rail Corridors Department of RFI, and Stephan Schenk, Head of International Affairs and Infrastructure Digitalisation of SBB Infrastructure provided an overview on the different platforms for international cooperation between operators and – in particular – on the bilateral cooperation between the Italian infrastructure manager and the Swiss counterpart as a European Best Practice in infrastructure investment planning, aimed at developing freight and passenger transport. In addition to infrastructural planning, the cooperation in traffic management, the harmonisation of Temporary Capacity Restrictions and the monitoring of international performance were also highlighted.
  • Rail freight corridors and the challenges of international freight transport
    Andrea Galluzzi, Head of European Freight Corridors of RFI, moderated the round table attended by the four executive directors of the freight corridors of Italian interest (Mark Adler, Emanuele Mastrodonato, Simona Di Loreto and Furio Bombardi) and by Rosa Frignola, Head of North-West Territorial Development and Marketing for RFI. During the round table, relevant issues regarding the strengths and weaknesses of the freight corridors, as tools to support the development of international freight transport,10 years after their implementation, were addressed. Moreover, the relationship between the Infrastructure Mangers’ commercial development strategies and the market consultation activities carried out by the freight corridors, were dealt with.

The conference was then concluded by the President Anna Masutti who summarized and commented on the topics discussed during the event.